31 Days of October, Day 20

image taken from: http://theghostdiaries.com/category/ghosts-3/page/3/

So...today we'll bounce back to the lighter side of Horror again. (Obviously, it's a part of the spooky forest that I tend to prefer since I don't enjoy torture porn--like Saw. Nor do I handle dismemberment very well.[1]) I'd like to start with The Frighteners. It's one of my favorite Peter Jackson films, and does a fantastic job of tap-dancing on top of the border between Comedy and Horror. The acting is also pretty great. It seriously doesn't get enough love.

Oh, and bonus points for the R. Lee Ermey appearance. Ever wonder what my muse is like? That's him. :)

Next, up... another Comedy+Horror mash up, An American Werewolf in London.

Don't bother with the sequel set in Paris. It sucks. However, the first one is a classic. I remember when it came out virtually no one knew what to make of it. It was the first time anyone had paired actual Horror with Comedy. Sure. There'd been Dark Comedies before but this one tossed in gore on top, it was genuinely scary, and it didn't end on an up note. I remember a lot of critics calling it 'uneven.' I, of course, disagreed--not that my opinion matters that much in the scheme of things. :) In many ways, it's the standard Beauty and the Beast story. However, don't look for a happy ending.

And now, Buffy the Vampire Slayer--the movie.

I saw it in the movie theater because I thought the concept of a vampire-fighting cheerleader was the funniest thing I'd ever heard of. I figured it'd be cheesy and dumb, and pull the standard "boy rescues girl" shit because that's all there was at the time. And hey, just look at that trailer. It tries so hard to center the white male. Instead, the movie blew my fucking mind.[2] I'll be forever grateful to Whedon for that sea-change. Years later, when the series appeared it took me a while to warm up to it because the tone had changed ever so slightly. Still, Joss Whedon had me in his clutches, and the whole thing turned out to be a genre Juggernaut. You know the rest, of course. If you haven't seen the movie and love the series, I definitely recommend you watch it--for Paul Reubens, if nothing else. ;)

------------------------------------------------------------
[1] As a former cancer patient and amputee...it's a little too close to home.
[2] I even went to Whitby Gothic Weekend and dressed up like Buffy for the fancy dress ball. To top it off, it was (in part) celebrating the 200th anniversary of the writing of Dracula. (Best inside joke ever.) That was around the time the series first began, and I remember overhearing someone say, "Who invited the cheerleader?" I just grinned, waved my wooden stake at the vampires, and thought, Just wait, y'all. The penny will drop in a year or so.