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The horror genre is full of excellently crafted stories and clever use of practical effects, and I can never get enough of either. I go in wanting to be spooked, to lose sleep, or constantly look over my shoulder. What bums me out the most is when someone suggests something popular, and I walk away feeling disappointed. I really tried to like these horror movies, but for one reason or another, they left me wondering what made them so special in the first place.
4. The Purge
I’m aware that horror movies in particular ask for you to suspend your disbelief. I don’t believe in demons, but The Exorcist is still a chilling experience because the movie’s so convincing with its lie. The Purge had me asking so many questions that I just couldn’t be convinced of its edgy premise.
In the movie, it’s revealed the Purge was meant to cull the “undesirables” in the country, right? Wouldn’t it be easier to simply let the recession continue? Why even spend years reducing unemployment to 1% if the goal was to let wackos and wannabe Jokers run rampant, anyway?
What sticks out like a sore thumb to me is the fact the movie would never happen if the Sandin family’s advanced security system wasn’t undermined by a child pressing a single button. I really wish horror movies would stop dumbing kids down to advance the plot.
3. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)
In trying to encapsulate my distaste for The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, I kept looping back to the same word in my head: unsatisfying. The film spends a good portion of the time on the cast, only for their lives to be quickly and unceremoniously ended by Leatherface. Where was the tension?
What bugs me the most is the lack of a central character to root for. Sally just doesn’t have the sauce. You’d think after her friends ended up as victims, she’d zip her lips, but she shrieks so often, at one point she gives herself away!
Sorry, but Sally should’ve bit the dust. At least she does in the 2022 reboot, so perhaps someone, somewhere, thought the same.
2. The Babadook
The Babadook was such a polarizing horror movie to me. I rather enjoyed Essie Davis and Noah Wiseman’s performances, of which the latter was particularly impressive since he was just a young kid. The sound design for the Babadook’s movements were pretty effective too, like a mass of bugs moving in unison.
It stops there, though. The Babadook itself is no scarier than a corny costume from Spirit Halloween. And for a movie called The Babadook, it sure is incredibly light on its appearance. I get the point was to question whether it was real or not (and mental illness, too), but come on. There is such a thing as too subtle!
My question, then, is, why bother having the Babadook at all? Either lean into the monster or don’t. If the Babadook had been removed entirely, the movie wouldn’t have changed much.
1. Paranormal Activity
Paranormal Activity is solely responsible for my dislike of found footage horror films. It shatters my immersion when a character is far more concerned with recording than they are surviving or helping their friends. I’m looking at you, Micah!
If my wife stood over my bed, like Katie did, I’d be urging her to see a doctor, not recording what I would assume is a mental health episode. But I guess I’m slightly pleased the dirtbag got his comeuppance in the end.
Which brings me to my other gripe with Paranormal Activity—Katie herself. It’s established early on she’s been harassed by a demon as a child and continues to do so. But every time something paranormal happens, she can’t put two and two together. How in the world did she survive all those years?
