Welcome to the Tragedy in Horror

 This past week, I watched the Netflix original The Haunting of Bly Manor. Based on the classic gothic horror novel, The Turn of the Screw, and a spiritual successor to the fabulous The Haunting of Hill House, I was excited to see how this mini series was going to do. 

I wasn't disappointed. 

Though I don't think The Haunting of Bly Manor is nearly as good as The Haunting of Hill House, I did enjoy watching it. And like the first miniseries, it left me crying my eyes out by the end.

Ghost Stories are Never Just About the Ghosts

At least good ghost stories are never just about the ghosts. 

At their heart ghost stories are about people. Their actions, their emotions, and what they leave behind. My favorite ghost stories not only scare me, but also leave me in tears. The tragedy is part of the horror. 

One of the first ghost stories I remember watching as a kid was The Others (2001). I'd seen other horror movies as a kid (Arachnophobia might have hindered my interest in spiders for a few years), but not many serious ghost stories.

And boy did I have an interest in ghosts and haunted houses as a kid.

One of my favorite shows as a kid was the History Channel's Haunted History series. They'd go to cities, visit some haunted locations and explain the history with some ghost stories thrown in. It wasn't like the ghost hunting shows that are on now. You can find a lot of them on Amazon Prime (though it takes some digging to find them) and a few channels on YouTube.

So, when I watched The Others, my kid self was expecting a haunted house story. I was not ready for the twist ending or how much I was going to cry (and I was one of those kids that cried at the drop of a hat). 

I freaking loved it.

The Others is a ghost story about ghosts not knowing they're dead and their need to come to terms with that. Their feelings of isolation, hopelessness, and guilt permeate the film. The horror isn't that there are ghosts haunting a house, but how they handle the stressful situations they are in. 

Going back to The Haunting of Hill House and The Haunting of Bly Manor, much of the horror is realizing who was fated to die, how they were unable to prevent it, and the response to those deaths. Nell's death in particular ticks all of these boxes. 

We learn that Nell is dead in the first episode of The Haunting of Hill House. Her spirit is waiting in her brother Steve's apartment when he gets home. He grumbles to her for a bit, then he gets a phone call from his dad stating she's dead, and finally we get that awesome jump scare. Much of the rest of the series that takes place in the present focuses on how her death brought her family back together.

However, we do get a full episode dedicated to Nell's life. We see her falling in love, getting married, and then losing her husband to an unforeseeable health problem. We see her pain and deepening depression as she struggles with her husband's death. I wanted to see her get better. I wanted her to be happy.

Throughout the episode, we also see the bent neck lady haunting Nell. She shows up at some of the worst moments of Nell's life - including the death of her husband. Right before going back to Hill House, Nell sees her again. I don't know if this vision was the final straw for Nell to go to the house or if she would have gone regardless of seeing her, but she goes back to the house. And she relives some of her happiest moments with her family. She even dances with her husband again like she did on her wedding day.

She seems so happy, even though we, the audience, know it's not real. We want Nell to be happy. But she's destined to die. We've known this from episode one. When she does die (and we find out who the bent neck woman is) we're horrified. I was so upset that I burst into tears. 

Same thing happened at the end of the series, when Steven is learning the whole truth of his mother's death. The ending of Bly Manor also left me in tears between the lady of the lake (though I honestly didn't need an entire episode dedicated to her), Hannah, Rebecca, and the inevitable death of Dannie.

I was horrified and full of sorrow.

I seem to like these types of horror stories a lot.

A couple of nights ago, despite knowing that I was going to cry again anyway, I decided to put on the movie Paranorman (2012) after finishing Bly Manor. Paranorman is one of Laika studio's best all around animated films. It's got horror, humor, and one of the biggest tear-jerk moments in a movie about witches and zombies. 

If you haven't seen the movie, I recommend going and watching (because I might spoil a couple of key plot points) it. Norman is a little different - mainly because he can talk to dead people like the kid in the Sixth Sense. He's given the responsibility of reading the spirit of a witch a bed time story to keep her asleep for another year. He fails, zombies rise from their graves, and the town descends into chaos.

The resolution and ending is so sad.

(Spoilers - next paragraph)

Nothing bad happens to Norman. It's the witch's story that's depressing. Because of course the witch wasn't actually a witch. She was a little girl like Norman - a little different. She was killed because they were afraid of her.

(Spoilers - ended)

No matter how much I'm enjoying the movie, I know that I'm going to be in tears by the end. That doesn't stop me from watching, but I do have to prepare myself for it.

Go watch Paranorman, it's great. Plus there is this hilarious scene where you find out one of the characters is gay and it's one of the best reveals I've ever watched. 

But this is my opinion on horror stories. I can't just be terrified or in a state of anxiety the whole time. Tragedy rounds out the story and adds depth to characters' back stories...especially if they're ghosts. 

Why are some of my favorite horror movies also ones that make me cry?

Probably because I like ghost stories, where the ghosts aren't what's really doing the haunting.

If you enjoyed this post (or it really pissed you off) please like, share, and/or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope you guys like hearing from me.

Until next week.

Welcome to the Haunting Horror

Happy belated Halloween! Did you guys have a spooky time? I was suffering from some extreme jet lag as I had spent the past week exploring the Pacific Northwestern region of the United States. Then I decided to take the red-eye home. The only thing scary about my day was the lack of sleep.

When was the last time you felt scared?

The feeling doesn't have to be because of something major. I feel scared for many reasons, some of them even silly. Fear, horror, and terror are all associated with feeling scared. I tend to find myself terrified of some social situations (none I will specify here) or when one of my cousins decides to take a mountain pass road on the side of a cliff...in the rain (“it’s only 8 miles” my foot).

Fear is subjective.

As a child I was always fearful of mysterious monsters in my closet or under my bed. I would build a wall of stuffed animals to keep vampires and ghosts away. Don’t even get me started on zombies. I can’t stand zombies even to today (if only they weren’t a real probability of occurring right?).

Did someone say monsters?

It took a long time for me to be able to watch or read horror stories. There are some stories I still won’t watch (mainly of the torture/slasher variety). I don’t like blood and gore at all. Even in college I wouldn’t watch the show Supernatural after a certain time.

Except things started to change.

It was a slow process. I was always aware of stranger danger, but it wasn’t as big of a reality until I moved away from my friends and family. The idea that I could fail didn’t seem as scary until I was responsible for providing for myself. The future always seemed bright and shiny until I realized there was very little I could do to control it.

My fears went from imaginary monsters to intangible realities. I can’t punch a fear that doesn’t have a physical form.

I also started embracing more of the horror genre as a way to deal with my own nightmares. Slowly at first with kids shows and cheesy movies from the 30s, 40s, and 50s. I became drawn to the beautiful side of horror. Gothic sets with ominous lighting and music scores that could draw out every emotion the characters felt. I really liked horror video games with their intricate stories and emerging the player as both the protagonist and omnipresent observer. Fatal Frame and The Haunting Grounds are two great titles that pull this off.

Now, it’s become a lot harder to horrify me with movies, books, and even video games. It’s not that I’ve seen it all or that I know the genre too well. It’s more that a lot of horror mediums these days rely on cheap scares to jolt their audience into an adrenaline rush.

The type of horror I’m drawn to is subtle. It isn’t a sudden jump scare or loud “boo” to the face. It’s seductive, able to draw their victim in to a beautiful trap that leaves them shaking for days after wondering when the next bout of terror will come. It’s a horror that stalks its prey long after the prey has escaped.

A great example of this horror done well is the new Netflix original The Haunting of Hill House. I was surprised by how off putting and truly terrifying the mini series was. The very few jump scares were on point and not cheap thrills.

The new Suspiria movie that just came out is an equally terrifying experience (though I wasn't so keen on the Epilogue portion of the movie). Much like 2018's The Haunting of Hill House, this remake of the 1977 classic takes things in a completely new direction while keeping the bar bones of the original. It's a slow burn horror movie that draws the viewer in and isn't shy about being upfront with the supernatural aspects of the movie.

However, these examples might not be seen as scary or engaging enough for everyone.

The thing about horror is that its incredibly subjective. A movie like the 2017 It doesn't scare me for a couple of reasons: 1) I'm not scared of clowns, 2) I know that there's a whole other part because I watched the original 1990s miniseries, and 3) the imagery that's supposed to shock me - doesn't. That doesn't mean there weren't a few good scares in the movie. I definitely jumped when I first saw the headless boy following Ben and the scene with Pennywise coming out of the projector was creepy as all get out. I still enjoyed the movie, I just wasn't scared by it.

I may find it creepy, but it's not scary.

As my taste in horror media changed, so too did the things that scared me. I'm no longer scared of ghosts or witches or vampires. Now I'm scared of things that are a lot more abstract and less straight forward to fight back against. I'm scared of the a future I can't predict. I'm scared of hypothetical situations that I can neither control nor account for. I'm afraid of isolation and being forgotten about.

People have different fears, anxieties, and feelings. What one person finds scary another finds invigorating. Some people like being scared, others hate it with every fiber of their body. Fears morph and change as your life does the same.

Just remember one thing: whatever your scared of, no matter how mundane - it's okay to feel that fear.

Just try not to let those fears take over your life.

Until next week.

If you enjoyed this post (or it really pissed you off) please like, share, and/or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope you guys like hearing from me.