As we continue our run through the wonderful month of October, home of the best holiday, Halloween, what would make it better than some horror flicks? I’m not talking about those dumb jump scare movies where you know what’ll happen. No, I’m talking about the good, old-fashioned '80s slasher flicks. I may have grown up in the '90s, but I remember my first horror flick was "Nightmare on Elm Street. "My aunt had my cousin and I watch it with her because she was too scared to watch it alone. From then on, I sought for thrills and chills when it came to horror movies. Little did I realize at the time that almost every horror movie from the '80s was actually a Public Service Announcement (PSA), piece of media released to let people know of a big, current issue like kidnapping, strangers, sex education etc. etc.
I can hear you groaning about this crackpot theory, but hear me out. Check this out, and you’ll never be able to watch these movies again without acknowledging that these directors were showing their audience deeper meanings than dumb teenagers getting their faces ripped off.
FRIDAY THE 13TH
Let’s start off with the obvious ones here as we take a shot at Jason Voorhees from the "Friday the 13th" franchise. Now, if you haven’t watched at least one of these, I’ll give a quick sum-up. Camp Counselors at Camp Crystal Lake let a boy drown due to their raunchy activities distracting them. The boy dies, is revived…something like that. Either way, he is out to kill. What’s the hidden PSA in this movie? Easy: Don't have sex at unnecessary times! Most of the characters killed within the movie are "going at it" when Jason comes in and lops their heads off. Granted, high libido at the moment can distract you, but it shouldn't be enough to let a kid drown and then come back as a crazy serial killer.
HALLOWEEN
Next we have Michael Myers from the "Halloween" franchise. OK, OK, another easy one. Story-wise, we just have a mentally deranged serial killer who can’t talk and wears a William Shatner mask (I’m serious, they wanted something scary but iconic, so they made a mold of William Shatner’s face and went with it) as he chases teenagers (who always want to have some "crazy action" with one another) and kills them. The obvious PSA here is…. Well, here is an example. You see a guy following you everywhere you go, but you think it’ll be OK. Wrong! He keeps following you everywhere you go and BAM! Dead. Stranger Danger is the key phrase here, folks, and you just gotta call the cops on that.
NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET
Lastly, we have the ever so wonderful Freddy Krueger from the "Nightmare on Elm Street" franchise. This one is a doozy, but stick with me here. Freddy kills the teenagers on Elm Street in their dreams, so the protagonist tries to stay awake and yadda yadda yadda. What’s our PSA here, folks? Well, some characters are frequent drug users and at one point our hero resorts to taking several drugs to force herself awake. THIS IS A NO GO, AS THAT IS BAD, AND DRUGS ARE BAD! Your body needs sleep, and forcing yourself to take medication to stay awake can then make your body weak and fragile.
I have plenty more to tell, such as Chucky from "Child’s Play" is about the issue of gender identity or "The Thing" being about exploring identity, but sadly I am out of space. Now go out there, and pop some popcorn to watch people be dismembered!
