"It's not called 'The Wizard of Creeping Dread.'"

But yeah. Posting is hard. (Let's go shopping!)

So, the creators of The Wizard of Gore (I swear I'm not obsessed with that movie -- it's been about three years since I watched it, but it was actually just a recent re-watching that reminded me I have this blog and then I was like, dude, I should post there again. Anyway) mentioned that people asked them if the movie was going to be gory. According to the DVD commentary, the above title was their response. By way of saying, I've been thinking a lot lately about what I like about horror.

First there's gore. I do quite enjoy a nice splatterfest, drive-in style. But that's really not about scare so much as excess. I get the same thrill out of watching a splatter movie as I do from the food fight at the end of Daisies.* 

I have gotten a lot more into Creepy Things as opposed to straight-up horror movies. I've never been fond of jump scares and much preferred the disturbing and morbid, and I feel like movies are so reliant on the "building tension and building tension and building tension and BWAH!" cycle that I get a little frustrated with them. Like The Woman in Black? I feel like that's the kind of movie I'll need to see a couple of times to really appreciate, because I spent a lot of it with my head in my shirt going, "Ahhhhh something's going to jump out at me and if I keep holding my breath I will pass out." After we saw the movie, my companions and I joked for hours about BWAH SCARY LADY FACE! Because it got silly after a while. And my constitution is too sensitive to put up with the constant assaults on my heart rate, so I just check out after the seventh or eighth jump scare. And yet, Woman in Black has a gorgeous dark waterlogged aesthetic that I think I would enjoy if I could relax a little.

These days I spend a lot of time reading creepy stories, looking at creepy art, and listening to creepy music. I think I'll try to post about some of those things for a while, with women and horror film as a background thing. Consistency be damned! 

SO. I saw a movie a few months ago on Netflix streaming called Yellowbrickroad. With a twee title like that, I wasn't expecting much, but I was completely gripped by the movie by the end. I totally forgot about computering or whatever else I was planning to do at the same time and was enthralled. Gotta take issue with the sound recording -- bleagh. Glad the actors were good, otherwise I would have had no idea what was going on, because a lot of the dialogue is just totally submerged. And yeah, maybe there's some ripoffs from Blair Witch, but man. Honestly? Just as gripping, maybe moreso because real photography means you can actually see what's happening. It's kind of the standing definition of Creeping Dread for me now. So much atmosphere you could cut it with a knife. Really quite good. Must suggest it if you're looking for a couple of hours of tense, vague unpleasantness.

*Which, if you haven't seen it, is definitely worth a watch. I think I'll have to post about it next, horror be damned.