Guest Author - Michelle Taylor

Written By: Guest Author Michelle Taylor

When I was a kid, Friday night was my favorite night of the week. Not because there wasn’t any homework; but because on channel 17 was scary movie night! (I live in Georgia, so we got TBS back before Ted Turner became an international name.)

We always got takeout pizza from Pizza Hut (because there wasn’t a Dominoes to deliver back then), my mom would bake homemade cookies for dessert, and then we would get down to the real business at hand – the shows. First on was “The Twilight Zone”, then came “Night Gallery”, and finally whatever the feature horror movie of the night was. I distinctly remember Vincent Price’s voice and laugh as I would peek from behind my hands or out from under a blanket.

This was my favorite way to watch a movie; with both hands in front of my face, one pointing up and one pointing sideways – peeking through my fingers. That way if I forgot to close one set of fingers, I always had the other set to protect me. If the movie was really bad, the blanket was over my head and I would peek out from under it.

The music is what would warn me when I needed to get my fingers or blanket ready. You know, that creepy heart racing music that makes you just know something is going to happen – and it’s not going to be good! And since most of these were the classics I grew up with an appreciation of the nail-biters; the psychological thrillers. There wasn’t much blood or gore in these films, but they made you sit on the edge of your seat and wait. Films like Hitchcock’s “The Birds” or “Psycho”, or “The Tell-Tale Heart”, and “Magic” kept me from watching Johnny Carson for I don’t know how long.

But then movies began to slowly change. Blood and gore was added for effect and many writers started relying on the shock factor rather than good story-telling. Don’t get me wrong, the first “Halloween” had me gripping the edge of my seat and pinned to the cushion (and no way was I going to the restroom by myself!). But by the time the 5th one rolled along, the thrill was overplayed and it was just fake blood and special effects. This is how I’ve always felt about the zombie movies – I mean we know they are going to eat people, how much surprise is in that? (Sorry, Andy.)

Give me a good thriller; “Sixth Sense”, “The Others”, or “The Ring” for instance. I need a movie that makes me think, that keeps me guessing. That’s what keeps me glued to my seat, wondering what’s going to happen next. The creators of these movies almost roll over three or four genres: horror, thriller, mystery and drama, sometimes with a little comedy thrown in just to relieve the tension so they can sneak in and grab you with the next terror that comes along. Of course the “wannabes” can overdo it: you guess the ending too soon or there are so many twists and turns that you can’t remember how the movie started by the time it ended. (“The Butterfly Effect” just narrowly escaped being one of these.)

But think about the movie “Alien” – one of the best horror movies to date. Everyone thinks it’s a monster movie with gushing graphics. And while there is some blood and gore, did you ever realize that you only ever see the alien’s tail or arm up until the end of the movie? That’s right, we never see the entire monster until the last few scenes. And while the alien is obviously a bad guy, the true horror is the android, who has been among the crew the entire time.

And we never saw that coming because we were so distracted…

That is the kind of story that keeps both hands in front of my eyes and my blanket over my head. Can someone go to the restroom with me now?