In the spirit (haha get it?) of Halloween, this week I wanted to discuss the staple of almost every horror flick, the monster.
Monsters have been terrifying audiences on the big screen for as long as there has been a big screen. Classic Hollywood created the Universal Studios' monsters, such as, Dracula, the Wolfman, the Creature from the Black Lagoon– and the second half of the 1900s saw a surge of the stalking killer trope including Jason Voorhees, Freddy Kruger, and the constant identity changing Ghostface.
But what makes these freighting figures so scary? Is it the fact that they lurk in the dark, in your dreams, and even your subconscious? Is it the fact that they all seem immortal or unkillable?
In a recent episode of the "Filmhaus" the Funhaus podcast, Elyse Willems argues that what makes Freddy Krueger the most scary, amongst favorite movie monsters, is his iconic look: the brown fedora, red and green striped shirt, his burnt/melted face, and of course his horrifying knives for fingers. And although Freddy isn't in my shortlist of horror icons, I have to agree.
The details of his character make him unforgettable, and much more likely (god forbid) to invade your dreams. Despite him not being my favorite, this argument does ring true for my favorite slasher movie villain, Ghostface. Unlike Freddy, Ghostface possesses the personas of multiple characters throughout the series, including the scream queen Sidney Prescott, when she uses the costume to end the first string of killings.
For me, the anonymity of Ghostface is what makes him so scary, after all, he could literally be any of the characters being followed throughout that particular film. The first "Scream" has a great, but dated, fake out, when Billy's cell phone falls out of Ghostface's pocket when he surprises Sidney when coming through her window. Over 20 years later, everyone has a cell phone, which makes this scene a little cheesy in current day, but the reveal in '96 threw audiences for a loop. . . 'Could Billy, our protagonist's boyfriend be the psycho killer?' (The answer is yes)!
Going back to classic horror cinema, this anonymous killer is seen in "M" – a movie where the killer is almost exclusively seen in shadows until his identity is revealed. By keeping this subject literally in the dark, a staple of horror cinema ever since, audiences are left fearing the dark after the final reel is rolled. This feeling is why if we are smart, we don't watch horror movies after dark, after all, what if Dracula is on the other side of the door waiting to be let in?
