Surprisingly, even during the pandemic, horror is a genre growing in popularity. You’d think our real lives held enough horror, but the key thing about reading a horror novel or watching a scary movie is that these horrors are not yours, they belong to someone else and you’re just borrowing them for a moment. Not only that, but you’re viewing these particular horrors from a comfortable distance. Maybe that gives the horror fan some semblance of control in an otherwise chaotic world and at a somewhat exhausting point in human history, that could be useful.
Horror allows us to reflect upon and even master some of the more distressing experiences of the human condition, so you could say that it’s particularly useful as we process all the stress, strain, grief and constant low grade anxiety we’re all enduring. I submit that horror isn’t all blood, gore and jump scares. It also explores themes and situations that are somehow familiar to us all, but with an over the top scenario to really get your blood pumping. What drives a person to attempt to murder their own family? (Isolation mixed in with a little madness?) How would I react when facing a monster? (All real monsters are human, of course.) Can one enjoy a gratifying relationship with a blood sucking vampire? (Ex-spouses, anyone?) Where’s the line between fandom and insane possessiveness? (I hope we all know it before we cross it!)
Given all these pronouncements, can we say that horror is a comfort for some? Perhaps we can! Horror is imaginative, deeply affecting and filled with cathartic thrills and chills. Fitting in with our Comforts of Winter reading program theme, I’ve gathered together some classic and some newer horror films all set in the deepest darkest depths of winter. Enjoy!
Stanley Kubrick’s “The Shining,” based on a Stephen King novel, is a perennial horror classic, which probably hits a few chords with those of us cooped up in a house with the same people all through the winter. Luckily, we all get to break out of our isolation from time to time and come to the library to check out great books and movies! Heck, you won’t even need an axe to persuade your housemates to join you! In fact, if you wanted to do a horror book vs. movie club with your friends, we also have the book in a variety of formats.
This is John W. Campbell Jr.’s 1938 novella “Who Goes There” faithfully made into a movie. Scientists at a research station in Antarctica stumble upon a 100,000-year-old alien life form buried in the snow. After that, things get suspenseful, then they get really gross when the alien learns to take the form of humans. The acting is pretty good and it’s nice to see Kurt Russell in his heyday. The special effects, while obviously special effects to the modern eye, are effective, if perhaps a little overly juicy and meaty looking. The characters are forced to play a tense game of wits with each other and you see how paranoia and distrust among humans can get particularly ugly. The movie really has you riveted watching every moment, wondering who will turn out to be the “Thing.”
This is the original Swedish version of the film, the American version being titled “Let Me In.” This stylish yet stark film, set in a snow covered suburb of Stockholm in the early 1980’s, follows Oskar, a young boy enduring the agonies of puberty and daily bullying. He meets Eli, a girl roughly his age, and they begin a friendship. Eli is unusual. She smells funny, she only comes out at night, and she kills a lot of people. I found myself having a lot of visceral reactions to this one and also feeling very conflicted about the apparent budding romance between two 12-year-olds (though the actual age of vampire Eli is never disclosed). While you can check out the DVD from our collection for free, Hulu customers may also stream the movie from their devices. Like most interesting films, this one was based on a book of the same name by John Ajvide Lindqvist. The Swedish bestseller is available in English translation in the DBRL collection.
“Misery”
Author Paul Sheldon (played by James Caan) is injured in a car accident during a blizzard. He is rescued by former nurse, Annie Wilkes (the amazing Kathy Bates), who turns out to be his “number one fan” and a major psychopath. While being held in her remote country home, Sheldon is forced to burn the manuscript of his latest novel and write a new one, resurrecting Annie’s favorite Sheldon character, Misery Chastain. The horror of being held at the whim of a crazy person for days and perhaps months is conveyed to the audience in a series of increasingly tense scenes. The “hobbling” scene in particular is hard to watch. If you don’t already know about that scene, perhaps it’s all for the best.
“Misery” is based on an equally frightening Stephen King novel of the same name. I recommend checking out both the book and the DVD, simply because it’s fun to compare the original work to the choices made by the filmmakers.
The majority of the action takes place at a girls boarding school in upstate New York. The students go home to visit with family over the holidays. Two students are left behind. Rose, a senior fearful of an unintended pregnancy and Kat, a freshman experiencing dreams of her parents death. A second later timeline, that of “Joan” who seems to be on the run from a mental institution, will eventually merge with that of Rose and Kat. This twisty plot will have you confused until the end and you start to realize who is who. I admired the muted performances of Emma Roberts and Kiernan Shipka, but found the soundtrack overbearing for a film that already seethed with atmosphere.
