Yesterday I was over at my mother's helping her get a compost heap torn down. Her first suggestion was that I use a sledge hammer. My thought - I don't know how helpful a tool that I can barely lift is going to be. Instead I used a hammer and crowbar - much more manageable.
Sometimes the most difficult problem is addressed with a simple tool. I wish the horror movie I just watched had followed this strategy. Instead they went for the most outlandish solution to the problem. Why is it that we allow film to take this shortcut? Why do we keep buying in and buying that ticket. While horror is often about happenings that just wouldn't occur in the real world, they're supposed to be believable. There's a whole audience courting period that gets us to that place where we'll accept where the story is going - at least there should be. But that doesn't seem to be happening, at least too often for my liking - we're expect to believe the most unbelievable without anything to help us choke it down.
Why?
I mean, we the viewers must allow it because they do it over and over again. The most unbelievable option is the one they choose every time. I mean this time I was even saying - no don't do it. You wouldn't. No character can be that stupid. Yep, they were and they did. This movie even went a step further than that - let's take the obvious and make that the solution. Maybe that was the simplicity of their solution it was both outlandish and obvious. How hard is it to combine those two options. But I've completely veered. The topic was the outlandish and not, well the other.
There were so many other ways to go that would have made this movie so much better - believable and as a result, much more frightening. Why didn't they go there? My thought is time. It's easier and faster to be outlandish because once you're over the top you've surpassed boundaries. With the rule book thrown out you just forge ahead with no thought to logic. Okay, maybe not that easy but you know what I mean.
Simpler is better - I don't care what Hollywood thinks. Just look at the compost heap. It's down - and I didn't take the fence with it. As I might have had I used the sledge hammer.
Simple isn't an option just for movies maybe I'll just bear that in mind as I bring another story to the end.
Meantime - Don't forget to check in on October 24 for the blog hop. There are going to be hundreds of prizes up for grabs on as many blogs. Begin here at Once Upon a Time... and join the fun!
Ryshia
www.ryshiakennie.com
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ReplyDeleteI'm not allowed to watch horror movies with my daughter, she claims that I complain about the same things you were talking about! lol
ReplyDeletemamabunny13 at gmail dot com
I suppose we aren't too much fun to watch a horror with are we :)if we're picking out all the problems.
ReplyDelete