Family Movie Night
by Karyn Bowman
Recently at a job interview, I learned an interesting tidbit of information.
At stores that sell DVDs and BluRAY, it is horror movies that are flying off the shelves. And then the interviewer told me that horror movies sell in greater volume in rural areas than in urban areas.
Image from Fishmuffinsofdoom.blogspot.com
I thought about that when I was picking out a movie the other week for our movie night at home. The racks were filled with horror movies. Even a lot of the family movies had a horror element to them. ParaNorman, Hotel Transylvania, Frankenweenie. Each one of these movies involve ghosts, zombies, vampires or some other element that we might expect from some old campy horror movie from the 30s or 40s.
It makes me wonder what are we so afraid that we have to explore it in our entertainment. I understand why zombie movies might be so popular. With the sluggish economy, people with jobs are being asked to do the work of three people and are so tired they might wish they were dead. Or people are afraid that they will become shells of the people they once were.
While that might be a mid-life crisis issue, I can see how people would think that. They wonder what happened to their passion for life, their joy in the everyday when it has been beaten down by the routine of daily life of going to work and coming home to deal with the family only to do it again the next day.
How can one find a passion for life when they are eating the same fried eggs (over easy) with the same raisin toast and the same green tea that they have had for breakfast for the last 20 years. Where is the joy when you are yelling at the kids or the husband for the clothes that hit the bathroom floor but not the hamper less than a foot away for umpteen years?
We need to see how to fight against it, how to rage against the dying of the light. No matter what our age, people want to see how a person fights against demons and other evil entities in order to survive. We want that secret.
Or maybe people just like watching gory movies and getting scared silly. I like my explanation better but I am sure some one out there reading this is saying “that chick thinks too much.”
Now this weekend, we did watch ParaNorman.
Poster Image from IMDb.com
The story is about an 11-year-old boy who sees ghosts everywhere. Even his grandmother visits with him because she promised to always watch over him. He is seen as weird and different, including by his own family although his mother tries to make life easier for her son.
Unfortunately, the anniversary of the witch approaches. The undead bodies of the seven men who tried and sentenced the witch will roam the town until the sun rises. To make things more tense, it has been left to Norman to settle the witch and help her find peace for one more year.
It is a family movie with some PG swearing that is dark and brooding. Norman is relentlessly bullied and tries to keep a low profile in order to be a part of the scene and not the center. When another bullied kid tries to befriend him, he brushes off the other kid, choosing to remain alone to protect himself.
I find it is a movie about regrets, of a past that needs to be fixed to solve the present.
The kids like it and I found it interesting to watch. I might watch it again just to see the little bits of good stop-action animation that I missed. Are there greater lessons to be taken away from this movie for the kids? Well, yes there are. But I will leave that to you to ponder.
Until next week, see you in the rental aisle.
Notes from Rumbly Cottage 
I find your discussion about the popularity of horror films very thought-provoking! I have also wondered why this culture is so attracted to this cinematic genre. I am wondering if for the adult population, this phenomenon mirrors the horrors of present day culture. As of late, in the United States alone, we have dealt with the Boston Bombings, the Newtown Massacre, Superstorm Sandy, and the Aurora, Colorado mass shootings, to name a few. The media saturates the public with coverage of these events. If we follow these stories closely, we begin to feel that these events are actually “happening to us.” Hence, these chosen horror films may be attractive as a means to purge the dreadful events that have become so common in today’s culture. I imagine that for male adolescents and young adults, the films may have a different source of attraction: satisfying the cravings for intense emotions such as fear and anxiety…
It is my belief that this ratcheting up in horror movies actually started during the latest Iraq war. Those who didn’t go to armed services wanted a safe way to feel the emotions that their buddies who were in the service would be feeling on a daily basis. That is the only way I can justify the existence of the Saw and Hostel series, which rely on kidnap and torture scenarios.
Interestingly enough, we now have the taken series in which kidnapped people are rescued by a person with a particular set of skills.
I have a confession I have lost interest in zombie movies – I use to think they were neat when I was a teenager and I did love Zombieland. But that is as far as it goes…
The last movie I watched was “Gone” it was a suspense thriller which was well done without the gore and a lot of thought put into the storyline.
Well, I can’t watch them or I get nightmares. I guess I am curious why they seem so very popular again. In my mind we work through our fears. In the 50s and 60s, the monsters were created by nuclear radiation. In the last few zombie movies, it has been a secret virus (aids?). The origin story often tells what fear is being addressed.
I think we are all slaves to the machine and are consumers that don’t think about the consequences technology has over us with a consistent need to be fed information.
I never liked graphically violent scary movies. Zombies, vampires, etc., never attracted me (well, I watched Dark Shadows as a kid, but that was pretty milk-toast).
I think we are a culture addicted to sensory stimulation. Movies have gotten louder, have more quick-shots, the violence in them is more graphic, there are more and bigger explosions…
Many people lose patience with watching anything that isn’t loaded with stimulation.
I am not one of them. I can’t watch this stuff (even on the small screen). My brain can’t handle all the chaos. But most people’s brains crave it.
Overall, “Tokyo Zombie” isn’t especially groundbreaking or edgy as a horror film, but it is entertaining – probably even more so if you can understand all of the dialogue. It’s worth a view, and the soundtrack is pretty good, too. Also, don’t forget to check out the original Japanese manga that this movie was based on – it’s got a bit more kick to it than the movie, even if the pictures don’t move.
Thanks for the suggestion. I will have to put this on my list. Also, I find the source material to be very interesting in the details they bring about. Have you ever read “Frankenstein” by Mary Shelley? There are very interesting facets to this work that never made it to the movie version which adds breathe and depth to both the monster and Dr. Frankenstein.