I loved this beautiful piece, and I'm a kindred spirit when it comes to "listening" to scary stuff sometimes (though more often, I just avoid it in favor of "spooky" stuff). I'll recommend the new season of Goosebumps that just came out on Netflix; it's pretty fun and definitely inhabits that spooky / uncanny space. And of course I love the nods to what I consider "classic" 90s teen spooky shows.
Signed, your American friend who swiftly left the room and did not return when bad stuff started happening to children in the Haunting of Bly Manor
I really enjoyed this but I’m not sure that I entirely agree that the slasher flick is reinforcement of the mainstream. As I see it, the slasher picks off the most popular archetypes first. It is not the slasher who is the outlier but rather the misfits who are most likely to defeat him. Admittedly, most of the hapless teens end up dead but these films never feel like the triumph of the popular to me. I do like your idea of the uncanny though. Suspense is the most effective form of horror as far as I’m concerned.
That's a really good point, though. I guess I was thinking about how the 'slashers' themselves are mostly flat out villains, rather than the misunderstood outsiders of monster movies. Also, of course, I probably haven't watched enough slasher movies to pronounce on them, to be fair - although aren't the killings usually reinforcing cultural norms: have sex or take drugs or disobey warnings and you pay the price?
Yes. That actually is a very fair comment. I guess they act in the same way as traditional fairy tales or fables in that respect - toe the line or else! I suppose on screen it is more often the popular kids who get away with flouting those cultural norms so, in that respect, I still like to see it as redressing the popularity balance in some way.
Thank you! I’ve heard good things about the Netflix Goosebumps, tho I was too old for R L Stine, so it wasn’t really part of my childhood.
By the way, I also write ‘spooky’ stories for Halloween each year - here’s this year’s: https://youtu.be/bmtCfVLQO-A?si=f1oiqw62B9xwiJW4
I loved this beautiful piece, and I'm a kindred spirit when it comes to "listening" to scary stuff sometimes (though more often, I just avoid it in favor of "spooky" stuff). I'll recommend the new season of Goosebumps that just came out on Netflix; it's pretty fun and definitely inhabits that spooky / uncanny space. And of course I love the nods to what I consider "classic" 90s teen spooky shows.
Signed, your American friend who swiftly left the room and did not return when bad stuff started happening to children in the Haunting of Bly Manor
I really enjoyed this but I’m not sure that I entirely agree that the slasher flick is reinforcement of the mainstream. As I see it, the slasher picks off the most popular archetypes first. It is not the slasher who is the outlier but rather the misfits who are most likely to defeat him. Admittedly, most of the hapless teens end up dead but these films never feel like the triumph of the popular to me. I do like your idea of the uncanny though. Suspense is the most effective form of horror as far as I’m concerned.
That's a really good point, though. I guess I was thinking about how the 'slashers' themselves are mostly flat out villains, rather than the misunderstood outsiders of monster movies. Also, of course, I probably haven't watched enough slasher movies to pronounce on them, to be fair - although aren't the killings usually reinforcing cultural norms: have sex or take drugs or disobey warnings and you pay the price?
Yes. That actually is a very fair comment. I guess they act in the same way as traditional fairy tales or fables in that respect - toe the line or else! I suppose on screen it is more often the popular kids who get away with flouting those cultural norms so, in that respect, I still like to see it as redressing the popularity balance in some way.