Donovan
beer, I want beer
We generally assume that a horror flick is pretty universal stuff, but I had occasion this weekend to witness the glaring, sometimes overpowering, difference between horror movies aimed at women and those aimed at men.
The movies in question were both equally bad in terms of real scariness, but as I am kinda snowbound I had nothing better to do than watch them, and I began to notice some real differences in approach.
In the first film, called "Dark Water," the protagonist is a young, hot mom involved in a divorce. The scare-factors are, in no particular order, a creepy bastard husband, creepy bastard landlord, creepy bastard doorman/super, dirty creepy shitty apartment, unexplained leaks from walls and ceilings, malfunctioning elevators, and ghosts that resemble her dead mother she has unresolved issues with. Underlying theme: creepy guys spying on her and fear of being late. The hero is the mom who wins by being an absolutely great mom, being on time, and being stronger than any of the useless creepy men in the film give her credit for.
The second was called "Stay Alive," about a killer video game inhabited by a nasty witch, has a young male protagonist who is a computer gamer whiz. He has a great job and awesome friends, including two hot chicks who like gamers and have convenient collections of ancient witchcraft texts. You know, just in case they need it later. The things that scare are a strong but ugly witch girl dressed in Freudian Red from head to foot, who wields a long pair of scissors and kills anybody who dies in the game. The protagonist wins by being the best ever at video gaming, doing amazing athletic stunts when called on, and generally being a man of instant thought and action. The useless doofuses in this one are of course cops who scoff at the teens' theories (shades of the Blob).
It was funny to watch the two movies and realize what scares the sexes in different ways. For women, it was plumbing, being alone in the dark, and being watched by creepy men. For guys, it was evil women who make them give up video games. The girl in Dark Water spends scene after scene staring up at a stained and leaky ceiling like it's the devil, where a guy would just shrug and say, "move my porn outta that cabinet before it gets wet, okay?" Meanwhile the girls would take one look at the "Play this game and die" scenario and say," Well don't play it then, jeez!"
Just thought I'd share...
The movies in question were both equally bad in terms of real scariness, but as I am kinda snowbound I had nothing better to do than watch them, and I began to notice some real differences in approach.
In the first film, called "Dark Water," the protagonist is a young, hot mom involved in a divorce. The scare-factors are, in no particular order, a creepy bastard husband, creepy bastard landlord, creepy bastard doorman/super, dirty creepy shitty apartment, unexplained leaks from walls and ceilings, malfunctioning elevators, and ghosts that resemble her dead mother she has unresolved issues with. Underlying theme: creepy guys spying on her and fear of being late. The hero is the mom who wins by being an absolutely great mom, being on time, and being stronger than any of the useless creepy men in the film give her credit for.
The second was called "Stay Alive," about a killer video game inhabited by a nasty witch, has a young male protagonist who is a computer gamer whiz. He has a great job and awesome friends, including two hot chicks who like gamers and have convenient collections of ancient witchcraft texts. You know, just in case they need it later. The things that scare are a strong but ugly witch girl dressed in Freudian Red from head to foot, who wields a long pair of scissors and kills anybody who dies in the game. The protagonist wins by being the best ever at video gaming, doing amazing athletic stunts when called on, and generally being a man of instant thought and action. The useless doofuses in this one are of course cops who scoff at the teens' theories (shades of the Blob).
It was funny to watch the two movies and realize what scares the sexes in different ways. For women, it was plumbing, being alone in the dark, and being watched by creepy men. For guys, it was evil women who make them give up video games. The girl in Dark Water spends scene after scene staring up at a stained and leaky ceiling like it's the devil, where a guy would just shrug and say, "move my porn outta that cabinet before it gets wet, okay?" Meanwhile the girls would take one look at the "Play this game and die" scenario and say," Well don't play it then, jeez!"
Just thought I'd share...
