Horrible

They don't make good horror movies anymore. I'm pretty sure I know why this is, too. Because we can show the monster now.

I'm not saying that all old horror movies were good. Far from it; many old horror movies are terrible. I don't buy into camp value for horror, anyway. Horror isn't supposed to be campy.

Let me define terms for a moment. A horror movie is one which is intended to be scary, but not viscerally scary. It is supposed to horrify, not simply disgust or titillate or whatever surface emotions they seem bent on scaring up these days. Horror might have some elements which scare, but it's not just about shock, or fright; people should be afraid of the monster throughout the movie, not just in the moments when it might jump out and offer a cheap thrill.

Most so-called horror movies these days are either gory or surprising or a combination of the two. That's fine, as far as it goes. I won't say that I don't get scared at movies any more; the most disturbing movie I've ever seen was disturbing because it was both gory and surprising. It wasn't a very good movie, and I'm in no hurry to see it again, but it did its job and made me afraid. Horror, however, is not "afraid." It is horrible, horrifying, all of that kind of thing.

And now, my thesis: just because we can see a scary monster doesn't necessarily mean we should. The most horrible monsters I've seen on screen were the most normal-looking, because it reminds us both that the everyday can be terrifying in the right context (or perhaps the wrong context, if you're the victim of it) and it makes us look at our surroundings, normal though they might be, and wonder just what is lurking beneath the surface.

Not seeing the monster, or seeing the monster and not realizing it's a monster, is much less viscerally scary, but it can be horrifying. Zombies stumbling around looking for brains can be scary; a demon that inhabits the bodies of your friends is horrifying. The supernatural doesn't have to look unnatural; it's above reality, not separate from it.

Watch Fallen and tell me that John Goodman doesn't kick ass. That's it.