Who's Afraid of Horror Movies?

Horror movies are lucrative for film companies. Most of them cost less than $10 million to make and earn back about $30 million. That isn’t including the DVD sales and rentals either. For example, The Strangers starring Scott Speedman and Liv Tyler cost $9 million to make. That figure probably includes things such as advertising, too. As of right now, boxfficemojo.com shows it has earned $53 million, and the DVD won’t be coming out until this October.

Because horror movies are so cheap to make, and they almost always make a profit, film companies don’t particularly care about the quality of the horror movies. They look for blood, gore, and nudity, and if all three are present, then the movie is good to go. If the film companies are making money from doing this, then more power to them. However, it’s killing the genre. The artistic ability once required to make a good horror movie has been replace with the overuse of fake blood and CGI effects used to show decapitations. Hollywood has forgotten how to make a good horror movie, so here is a refresher course.

The biggest mistake Hollywood is making regarding horror movies is the dependency on blood and gore. It is understood there was once a time where film companies couldn’t film gory horror movies because they either didn’t have the technology or the social standards at the time wouldn’t allow them to. But, Hollywood is far beyond making up for lost times. Now they are filming gore in excess and completely forgetting what made horror movies great to begin with: suspense.

Sure, see a slasher jump from a bush and attack an unsuspecting teenager is shocking, but it isn’t scary. The ambush will make you jump, but it won’t be the thing that keeps you up at night. Suspense can best be explained by my favorite urban legend. Say there is a young woman babysitting for a family. The babysitter cooks the children dinner, plays with them, and then puts them to bed. While watching TV with a bowl of popcorn in the living room, she gets a call on the house phone. The caller is some creep who is panting into the phone. The babysitter hangs up disgusted. Then the phone rings again. It’s the same creep. His pants and grunts are deeper than before. The babysitter hangs up immediately. She gets a couple of other calls like this throughout the night before she calls the police. The police say they can trace the call if the creep calls again. The creep does and the police call back quickly to inform her that the call is coming from inside the house.

That example may be trite by now, however it still works to show how suspense is built up. It begins slowly. The babysitter was by herself, it was night time, and she was in an environment that she wasn’t used to. Then it started picking up when she got the phone call from the creep. Then it began gaining momentum when the creep called more frequently and started sounded more perverse. Then it climaxed when the cops told her the creep was in the same house as her. Most horror movies released nowadays don’t take the time with the suspense building and jump straight to the “Oh my God!” action, such as The Hills Have Eyes remake and sequel.

Besides taking time to build suspense, another trick to use when making a good horror movie is to not show everything. Yes, seeing a person cut in half is disturbing, but it isn’t scary. Why are people afraid of the dark? Because they can’t see what is going on. To make a good horror movie, this feeling should be duplicated. For instance, in Silence of the Lambs, when Hannibal Lecter escapes from his holding cell, he beats a guard to death with a night stick. But, instead of showing the audience the guard’s head crumbling in on itself, it shows Lecter. It shows small splats of blood splashing on his face, while Lecter has a crazed look. That is scary. And example of the opposite of this can be found in 30 Days of Night. There is a scene near the end where one character is taking an axe to a vampire. It is shot similarly to the scene in Silence of the Lambs, however, it shows you exactly what is happening to the vampire. It shows the axe connecting with the vampire’s body and all of the fore that goes with it. It was gross, definitely, but not scary.

Creating a good plot for a horror movie has gotten more difficult over the past couple of decades. The 80s was the decade of slasher films, and just about every plot can be found in a movie from the time period, whether it being a horror movie set in a summer camp, a prom dance, or just a regular suburban neighborhood. It is important, though, to make the plot relatable to the audience. When you take something a person is accustomed to, such as a summer camp, then you make the experience more real for them. The more real the experience, the scarier the movie. One plot that is overused is the “a traveling group that finds trouble” plot. You can find this in Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The Hills Have Eyes, House of 1,000 Corpses, and many more. This plot is used so much, though, because it works. People, especially teens or young adults, take road trips to far away places. This fact makes the plot relatable. And when they’re out in the middle of nowhere, there’s nobody to help them, whether they need help with a flat tire or rescuing from a maniac with a chainsaw.

And pending on what kind of horror movie you’re making, a good antagonist is important. Once upon a time, Michael Meyers was the best horror movie antagonist because the audience knew just enough about him to make him scary. The audience knew he killed his older sister for seemingly no reason, but beyond that they knew nothing. Meyers just killed, as though there was nothing else for him to do. This blank face of evil was spooky. However, latter reincarnations of the Halloween movies have damaged the franchise and the character. The antagonist should be mysterious, but not random. Jason Voorhees from Friday the 13^th was mysterious. A pig-bear hybrid would be random.

What scares people is different on a person by person basis. Some people are afraid of sharks. Some are afraid of dogs. Others are afraid of goalies with chainsaws. However, people generally share the same basic fears. Dark places are scarier than bright places, and being alone is always scarier than being with a group. If Hollywood were to pay more attention to the basics, then some decent horror movies could be made again. But until then, you might as well look forward to Freddy Vs. Jason II: The Blood and Guts Edition.

House Vs. Holmes

Unique ideas for movies or plays are hard to come by, so if one is going to emulate something, it might as well be something good. For example, the Sergio Leone movie Fist Full of Dollars starring Clint Eastwood was directly inspired by Akira Kurosawa’s Yojimbo. The musical West Side Story is an adaptation of Shakespeare’s play Romeo and Juliet. Even the animated movie Lion King was influenced by Shakespeare’s Hamlet. And currently, Dr. Gregory House from the show House seems to be inspired by the literary character Sherlock Holmes. But while these two characters share a lot in common, they are significantly different.

Both Dr. House and Mr. Holmes work on unique cases. They both need the mental stimulation difficult cases provide, or else they'd be restless. House refuses to accept cases unless they appeal to his sense of curiosity, and probably take his mind off of his leg pain. Also, he tries as hard as he can to avoid clinic hours where he’d have to deal with average individuals with average ailments. Holmes prefers unique cases, and is thoroughly excited when somebody approaches him with a singular mystery, but he isn’t above helping the run of the mill person either. Holmes, however, does need interesting cases to keep his mind stimulated, or else he falls into a cocaine addiction. According to his friend Watson, Holmes craves mental stimulation, and while he prefers cases, he’ll go to drugs when there’s nothing else to turn to.

House and Holmes are both above average intelligence, to say the least. House is a doctor, so a certain amount of schooling and practice is expected. Holmes is a detective, which of course takes brain power, but he is also a scholar, and when he isn’t working on a case, he could likely be found in a chemistry lab running experiments. The origins of these characters’ intelligence come from different means, though. Holmes, as mentioned, is a scholar. He practices chemistry, biology, and physics. He studies cigars and where they are made, and just about any other piece of seemingly trivial information. He keeps up in politics and the legal system on a global level. Watson, through his narratives, explains how Holmes is as intelligent as he is. However, House is not given as good of an explanation. Yes, House is a doctor. He’s one of the best in the show's world. In one episode, Cuddy mentions she and House went to the same medical school and he was a huge figure even then. But all this does is explain why House is good at medicine. For unaccounted reasons, House also knows about foreign cultures and languages (as shown in the episode Whatever It Takes in season four). House contains heaps superfluous of information, which might supposed to be a testament to how smart he is, but a brief explanation occasionally wouldn’t be a bad thing.

House and Holmes aren’t what you’d call "people" persons. There is, however, a great difference. House hates people for a myriad of reasons. He thinks they’re dumb, they’re a waste of his time, they’re boring, etc. These are shallow reasons, but House usually sticks to them vehemently, especially when it comes to avoiding clinic duty. Holmes, rather, doesn’t see a point in creating a rapport with a person unless they have some higher role to fulfill. Besides Watson, which Holmes senses something special in, everybody else either doesn’t matter or only has a limited use. Holmes is hardly ever mean, even to the criminals he snares, but that’s only because it is less efficient to have enemies than it is to have a positive relationship with somebody. Honestly, though, general people bore Holmes just as much as they bore House.

Also pertaining to their general outlook on their clients, House is a general misanthrope. He doesn’t discriminate against hating people. Men, women, Jews, blacks, dwarfs, homosexuals, and the list goes on. Holmes is a bit different. To be fair, in most Holmes stories there aren’t blacks or Jews or many different minorities to discriminate against. Holmes does, however, discriminate against women. He sees them as the fairer sex, and generally not as smart as men. This doesn’t arise too often throughout his tales, but he does note when a woman surprises him with their intelligence. In one story, Holmes comments the only woman he ever could have loved was a thief who actually outsmarted him and escaped the country.

There’s nothing wrong with imitating something. Virtually everything is inspired by something else. And sometimes the new creations can out perform the old inspirations. Or, at the very least, the new creation could be a reincarnation of the old for a new generation. And that is House compared to Holmes. Just with a few personality tweaks.

How to Make a Hero

Creating a super hero isn’t easy work. There’s enough proof of this in the annals of comic book history. For instance, virtually every member of the Great Lakes Avengers from the Marvel universe is a dud. There’s Flatman, whose power is to have a flat body. That's pretty much it. Then there’s Squirrel Girl, who has the ability to communicate with squirrels. She, as some kind of comic book joke, has actually defeated worthwhile super villains, such as Dr. Doom. And also there is Grasshopper, who has robotic grasshopper legs that allow for super-sized leaping. These heroes aren’t quite on the same level as Batman or Spiderman. So, with duds like these, what exactly makes a good super hero?

The origin story is the start. If you’re hero doesn’t have an interesting and believable origin story, then it’ll be that much more difficult for it to take off. Origins can be assigned to different categories. There’s the science origin, like Spiderman, where he acquires his powers by means of scientific happenings. There’s the mutant origin, such as the X-Men, where the heroes are either born with their powers, or their powers develop without external coercion as they grow up. There’s the technology origin, such as Iron Man, who doesn’t have any actual super powers, but uses machinery and gadgets to fulfill his duty. There’s the magic origin, such as Dr. Strange, where the hero’s powers are based in spells and other sorts of mysticism. And lastly, there’s the natural origin, such as Superman and the Punisher. Superman’s powers are natural because where he comes from, Krypton, everybody has those powers (or would if they were in the presence of a yellow sun). His powers are normal for his species, so they would be considered natural. The Punisher also has a natural origin because he has no actual superpowers. Anything he can do anybody could do with the proper training.

The origin of the hero’s powers makes a difference because some origins, such as mutant and natural, are more believable to the audience than other origins, magic and science. Of course, comic books aren’t real, but there is an amount of believability in every comic book, and if that believability is pushed to far, the audience may decide the comic is too preposterous and stop reading.

The second important thing regarding the origin of a super hero is how exactly he or she receives his or her powers, and what instigated the hero wanting to use their powers for heroism. Spiderman is a well put example. He received his spider-like powers by being bitten by a radioactive spider while at a science facility. The science origin works well enough, although slightly pushes the believability. But when Spiderman realizes his powers, he doesn’t want to use them for good. He instead wants to make some money by winning a wrestling match. He doesn’t decide to use his powers for good until his Uncle Ben’s death, which Spiderman felt responsible for. This feeling of guilt and responsibility led Spiderman down the path of becoming a super hero.

So, a popular and effective characteristic when creating a science or technology origin for a super hero is tragedy. The death of Uncle Ben, the murder of Batman’s parents, and Iron Man being kidnapped by terrorists all use tragedy. It makes the character relatable while still granting them super powers. And along the same lines, although slightly different, is the use of prejudice in mutant origins. In the X-Men, people fear the mutants and hate the mutants because they’re different from them. This sense of unjustifiable prejudice is something most people can empathize with, whether it’s a minority facing racism or a fat kid being made fun of his weight.

Besides the origin, the main component of a super hero is his or her power. The power needs to be original, but still be based upon a sort of standard. Robotic grasshopper legs are definitely original, but it strays too far away from the standard. Leaping high is OK and robotic legs are OK, but actually specifying the legs to be “grasshopper” legs is a push too far. Super strength and stamina are necessary for most super heroes, but those powers wouldn’t make the grade by themselves. There is a list of already created super powers, and most of them would be good for a stand alone character. A large pitfall for any super hero, though, is for them to have too many powers. Martian Manhunter and Superman are both examples of this. Having too many powers makes the hero too powerful. If the hero is too powerful, then his ordeals aren’t so dramatic anymore. If there’s no drama, then there’s no pull to keep reading. An ultimate, unbeatable super hero is a nice idea in theory, but would get boring and repetitive fast.

And lastly, every super hero needs a worthy super villain. Some super villains are cool because of their own merit, such as Dr. Doom. But at the very minimal, the super villain must be the antithesis of the super hero. The relationship between the hero and villain must be more than the fact the hero doesn’t let the villain do bad stuff. Every great hero-villain relationship has deep rooted emotion in it. Batman and the Joker, Wolverine and Sabertooth, Superman and Lex Luthor, and Thor and Loki each have their own personal histories with each other. This long term relationship adds more drama into the comic, which creates more interest.

Really, there's no hard and fast rules to making super heroes. Different ideas appeal to different people at different times. Heroes like Flatman and Squirrel Girl might be popular in the future. Also, heroes like Batman and Spiderman may eventually be forgotten. However, for right now, at least, this seems like a good set of rules to follow when making your own super hero.

House Season 3: The Best Yet

Good television is hard to come by. Most of what is aired consists of reality shows. American Idol, Dancing With the Stars, and Flavor of Love are examples of what’s popular now. However, there are gems out there, one of them being House. House, for those of you who don’t know, is a medical show on Fox that stars Hugh Laurie as a very mean, but very brilliant diagnostician. He has a team of three doctors, each member with their own expertise, which handles the patients directly while House stays as far away as possible. House is a good show, as proven by two Golden Globes and a myriad of other awards, and has just finished up its fourth season. Each season was good in its own way; however, season three stands out from the others as the best season.

The first reason why the third season of House is the best is because it starts off with House having his bum leg fixed. House’s leg was the reason he used Vicodin so much. His leg pain was merely intolerable on good days. On bad days he could hardly leave his bed. To manage the pain he popped a pill about once every five minutes. House’s drug use became a major characteristic, and with his leg being fixed, he no longer needed the drugs. The pain didn’t just go away, his leg made a major recovery in muscle growth, too. After a couple of months of rehab House was running to work. He was feeling better than he had felt in years.

However, like every good TV show, you can’t have the main character remain happy too long. The experimental procedure House went through after he had been shot and the end of season two started to wear off. The pain was coming back. It wasn't too long until House started ingesting his favorite pain meds again. By the middle of the season House was hobbling around with his cane again and was as ornery as ever.

Creating this drama was great for the show. It allowed the viewers to see what House would be like with two functioning legs. He was just as mean as ever, but we saw him running places and how happy it made him to be normal again. And then to see House fall back into pain and Vicodin, see him degenerate, was almost painful to watch. This was a great move on behalf of the writers.

Secondly, the third season was the season to introduce us to Detective Tritter. Tritter started off as just another patient House was rude to. But once House was rude with him, Tritter stood up to him, something most other patients wouldn’t dare do. House, not to be out done, embarrassed and insulted Tritter. However, one night shortly after that incident, House got pulled over by Tritter while driving home. Tritter noticed House popping pills and wanted to get after him for drug abuse and drug dealing.

Tritter’s harassment started off relatively small, but became more aggressive. Soon Tritter interrogated Cuddy, Wilson, and even House’s team about House’s actions. Then, to step it up a notch, Tritter began freezing the bank accounts of Wilson and House’s team. Things escalated until it came for House to go to court and defend himself. House, of course, got off thanks to Cuddy lying for him.

Tritter is one of the most important characters of the third season, and possibly the entire show. House is a terrifying figure to some. He is tall, mean looking, and bad-tempered. He intimidates people on a regular basis. However, Tritter is the first character to really challenge House. Tritter was bigger, cutthroat, and clever. He was the perfect nemesis for House. Tritter got Wilson to betray House, the police to raid House’s apartment and confiscate hundreds of pills, and, most shockingly, Tritter got House to go to rehab. Sure, the rehab was rigged, but nobody else has pushed House that far. For that, Tritter will be one of House’s greatest opponents.

And what is House without bizarre cases? The third season had some of the weirdest and most interesting cases to date. Early in the season was the kid who was admitted and claimed to have been abducted by aliens. Tests ran on him were inconclusive, and the kid dug out a piece of titanium from the back of his neck, allegedly put there by aliens. House’s team was confused by this, and when they found DNA in the boy that wasn’t his, the case gets that much trickier.

Another notable case is the one with the CIPA (Congenital Insensitivity to Pain with Anhidrosis) patient who was in a car accident with her mom. They ran tests on her, and even though everything seemed fine, her condition kept getting worse. The fact she couldn’t feel pain made it much harder to diagnose her problems, which made the team resort to more intense exams. One of these tests included having the girl stick her hand in scalding hot water. By the end of the episode, the answer to her problems was one you’d never expect.

And lastly, the third season is the best because it marks the last season House’s original team was together. House, in a fit of anger, fired Chase. Foreman resigned after deciding he doesn’t want to end up like House. And Cameron resigns to be with Chase. This first team carried the show for three years and left a lot for the new team to live up to. So, maybe the best of four seasons isn’t too amazing of an accomplishment, but any new season will have to try hard to beat it.