Why Most Horror Movies Bother Me

Hello! Look I finally enjoy horror movies. I think it is being older and living with my wonderful husband. I won’t watch slasher movies for a variety of reasons, but a good old horror movie filled with ghosts and monsters, I’m there. 

However.

As I write this post I realized that I have complained about horror movie – Movie Snippet: “Hell No”. But right now I really want to complain about one thing: Lighting. 

I look at lighting in two ways: 1. It’s a movie and lighting  is important to story telling, and 2. Real people turn on lights when they enter rooms. Let’s look at 2 first. 

Ok, I’m watching Dark Skies. Decent enough because good actors. HOWEVER! Like other horror movies when characters enter a room they don’t turn on the lights. WTF?!?!?!@#$%^&*()_)(*&^%$#@#$%^&*()()*&^%$#@!q@#$%^&

There is nothing special or interesting about people who are too stupid to NOT turn on lights when they enter a room. Especially if that room has a screaming child in it. Ok, maybe parents are more concerned to comfort the child, but, turn the damn light on. How can you ease a child’s fear of the dark by keeping it dark. 

Basically it makes the characters look STUPID. I can’t relate to people who are stupid because they don’t do the basic sensible everyday things. I guess you could say I am pulled out of the movie and therefore don’t care. 

This then leads to point 1. Horror movies are dark. You have a hard time seeing the action. Ok, ok, valid perhaps. Frighten the audience by not be able to see. I call cheap trick. 

Remember The Exorcist? Quite possibly the greatest horror movie ever made? The lights are on. We the audience can SEE what is happening on the screen. No cheap thrills. 

So horror movies, be like The Exorcist. Turn the lights on, rely on coherent storytelling, let the actors do the work, and reap the benefits. Oh and The Woman in Black has lights on too. When it doesn’t, there is still enough lighting to see the action. It is also freaking terrifying.