If you ask me to talk about something I almost can’t stand, I’d probably start to talk about this specific movie genre. I hate horror and thriller movies.
One of my first experiences with horror/thriller was with the first “Paranormal Activity,” released in 2007. I was pretty young, about eight years old, and it gave me nightmares for several weeks.
I know what most of you are thinking, “‘Paranormal Activity’ isn’t even that bad…” Well, for eight-year-old me, it was terrifying. I’m a very skittish and nervous person in general - just ask my family or roommates - so that, mixed with intentional jump scares and tension is not good. Every time I try to watch a scary movie, I’m in my own personal hell.
To top it off, most of these movies in my experience aren’t even written well! So really what’s the point?
I’m a movie critic at heart, if you can’t tell by my previous articles, so sitting through a production with bad acting, an awful story, and little to no artistic consideration is bad enough by itself - let alone having to endure all the cheap jump scares and creepy monsters.
If you’re wondering what other films I’ve seen in this genre, here they are (the ones I can remember):
“The Exorcist”
“Insidious 3”
“The Conjuring”
“The Shining”
“Jaws”
“Paranormal Activity”
There are a few more that my roommates forced me to watch, but they’re apart of “The Conjuring” and “Insidious” series and I don’t remember which ones they were.
Cut to the end of the Spring 2018 semester and I found myself watching “Get Out,” for the film class that I was in, and “A Quiet Place” because, well, John Krasinski and Emily Blunt are amazing.
I can’t say much about “Get Out” because I only saw the second half of it so far, I skipped the day of class that they started it because I wanted to sleep in, but I’m planning to watch the whole thing sometime very soon.
What I can say, however, is that I could clearly see the artistic intent and purpose throughout every camera shot. The half that I saw was directed well, with intense acting and a great ending (I preferred the alternative ending because it hit the message home a bit harder).
“A Quiet Place,” on the other hand, I saw in the theater. Before watching it, I had heard nothing but wonderful reviews for Krasinski’s masterpiece, so obviously I had to give it a try - even if it was in my least favorite genre.
I loved it. Like Jordan Peele's "Get Out," "A Quiet Place" is shot beautifully, the acting is marvelous, and the story has an intense purpose.
Horror and thriller movie writers should strive to write films that reach the bar set by "Get Out" and "A Quiet Place."