For many years I've looked at horror movies with a single thought in my head: maybe this one will finally scare me. Maybe this scary movie can do more than just provide a momentary jump scare or gross me out. Certainly I won't burst into laughter this time. This will be the one to truly terrify me. At least that's what I have been telling myself every time I watch a horror movie. With "Friday the 13th", "
For years Western cinema has largely failed to produce a nightmarish horror movie. Many nights have been spent laughing about how a horror movie villain was comical, or how the heroes of the story were too stupid or clumsy to survive. While several remakes of Eastern horror classics, like "The Ring" or "The Grudge" were better in this regard, even they had their shortcomings. None of them managed to haunt me for more than a few minutes after viewing.
With the advent of the 2010s, a new generation of horror movies debuted. Movies like "Paranormal Activity" and its host of sequels. Made in the mold of movies like "Blair Witch Project", "Paranormal Activity" was an attempt at something fresh, if not terrifying. Even this movie, I only found to be mildly disturbing. Still I give the original low budget film a lot of credit for becoming the pop culture entity that it is. Following the wake of the "Activity" movies, came "Insidious" and "The Conjuring". Both of these movies and their contemporaries, movies like "Sinister", and "Annabelle", provided new looks into classic horror motifs. Inside the "Insidious" series especially, many traditional horror movie conventions were re-imagined.
Recently at Sundance Film Festival, a new horror movie premiered to much acclaim. "The Witch", a movie set during early colonial times, was picked up by noted film distributor A24 Films. A marketing campaign was launched and before long, previews were playing on televisions and YouTube. I heard the hearsay. Friends told me it could be the best horror movie of the year. I saw the trailers. Admittedly, they were all quite creepy.
I saw "The Witch", and was once again deeply disappointed. Most of the best parts of the movie were shown in the previews. I found myself a little creeped out at several points in the movie but ultimately these feelings were replaced by thoughts of confusion. "The Witch" is a movie of very little pay off and even less explanation. I don't need everything to be spelled out, but I shouldn't walk away from a movie feeling like every character is an idiot and the plot was pointless. Oh well, I suppose I can take solace in the fact that "The Conjuring 2" will premier later this year. Here's hoping this