Today, as I'm sure you're well aware, is AMC day. This week I wrote about serial killers and movies based on them. It depressed me. I can't deal with real-life crime for too long; I'll see that there's a marathon of Forensic Files on some Sunday and I settle in to watch, all psyched. Then after two episodes I quit because I can't cope with the notion that, you know, you live your life the best you can for 80 years, then it all ends in terror when some stranger stabs you and robs you and your body is found 3 weeks later stuffed into a fucking dumpster.
So anyway. It's a cheery column. Now little robots stabbing people, I can get with.
ASYLUM pic?
ReplyDeleteI agree with you, Final Girl. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre is a lot more fun to watch if you don't really think about Ed Gein.
A friend of mine told me she will never watch Texas Chainsaw because her father used to be babysat by Ed Gein. Really.
ReplyDeleteTiny homicidal robots = way more fun.
Gah! My sister used to watch those damn forensic shows all the time. That stuff is so depressing I can't stand it.
ReplyDeleteThere are a few big differences between my girlfriend and I. Mostly having to do with genitalia.
ReplyDeleteBut another one is that she can sit down and watch any documentary or show on serial killers for hours at a time, while I can't stand that stuff.
Of course, I will watch just about any film on serial killers. Happily. With a big tub of ice cream between my grubby paws.
Just as long as I can keep 2 and 2 from adding to 4, if you know what I mean.
I've long thought about writing a post about this very topic, because when Ted Bundy and Dahmer and so forth all started hitting the shelves, I watched...well, not all of them. Four or five of them. So many of the movies are so bad, though, that the whole prospect, as you indicate, started to seem way too sleazy and depressing. You can't even make jokes about them.
ReplyDeleteFor the record, in my experience, the best of these films is Dahmer, and the worst is, easly, Nighstalker.
“Imaginary evil is romantic and varied, full of charm; imaginary good is tiresome and flat. Real evil, however, is drear, monotonous, barren. Real good is always new, marvelous, intoxicating.” —Simone Weil
ReplyDeleteDahmer is a really great film and Jeremy Renner gives an amazing performance in it.
ReplyDeleteAnd that's my two cents!
Well, LA DI DA, Mr Plaid Pants! :D
ReplyDeleteShould anyone pick a fight with me over horror movies desensitizing folks, I'm going to point him to this thread.
"Pick a fight"...yes, I'm still in 5th grade.
Real murder typically lacks whimsy, that's why it's hard to embrace. There's no touchstone to real life experience, apart from your worst nightmare realized, which isn't good either.
ReplyDeleteReal murder typically lacks whimsy, that's why it's hard to embrace...
ReplyDeleteI've also always thought that this was real murder's primary drawback. Where's the sense of fun??
Also, seriously: "typically lacks whimsy"??? Which implies that sometimes whimsy is a feature of real murder? Which further implies that it is then embraceable?
ReplyDeleteHelp me out here. I'm hoping you're not actually saying any of this.
ASYLUM pic?
ReplyDeleteI agree with you, Final Girl. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre is a lot more fun to watch if you don't really think about Ed Gein.
bill r.
ReplyDeleteSorry to be too dense. What I mean to say is that serial killer movies don't have the appeal of a fictional horror movie because of the 'really happened' aspect.
Ah. Okay, that makes sense.
ReplyDeleteI thought Steve Railsback was brilliant in "Gein". He injected some real pathos into what is arguably the most surreal slice of American Gothic on the record books.
ReplyDeleteAlso based on E.G. was "Deranged", a 70's low-budget oddity which might be worth a look for those who haven't heard of it. If you're a pea soup lover, however, you might want to keep your thumb on the FF button near the beginning...