By Emily Tartanella
As Halloween approaches, there’s more and more talk about the spirit of the holiday being somehow diluted. Last year’s Harry Potter is this year’s sexy [insert profession here]. My personal favorites are Sexy Freddy Kreuger and Sexy Ghostbuster, but that’s beside the point. Decorations and bobbing for apples are rapidly supplanted by rounds of shots, so they say. Oh, for the days when a razor blade in the apple was all we had to worry about.
I personally don’t buy it—most typical Halloween complaints stem from typical “kids these days” paranoia, a longing for the days when Halloween was sex- and violence-free. I’m not even sure that time existed, but there is something to be said for a good old-fashioned frightfest, with or without the sexy costumes. That’s where FAB’s Halloween movie marathon comes in, with six hours and three films full of classic old-school scares. From the perspective of the Eli Roth era, they seem almost tame—but then again, "Halloween" has barely a drop of blood, and it still makes "Paranormal Activity" look like "Troll 2."
How do you choose just three classic horror films to show on the night before Halloween? Do you go for the real classics, all the way back to Vincent Price and Peter Cushing? Do you stick with more modern fare? And not just "Saw XVII," but more thought-out selections like "The Orphanage" or "Let the Right One In"? Luckily FAB has chosen some of the best, or at least the most influential: 1983’s "Nightmare on Elm Street," 1996’s "Scream," and "Friday the 13th," all the way back from 1980. While tonight’s event might have been sparsely attended, the loyal few were well-rewarded—and not just with free candy provided by the school. They came across some true classics of the genre, ones that combine wit and style with genuine thrills.
While Sexy Freddy might be in all the costume shops, it’s hard to find a film villain less sexy than the illustrious Mr. Kreuger. But maybe that’s because he plays next to the adorable Heather Langenkamp and a baby-faced Johnny Depp in his feature film debut. "Nightmare on Elm Street," like "Halloween" before it and countless films after it, explores the horrors lurking unexpectedly in the suburbs. Its pristine houses and pastel hues conceal the evil that is hiding where we thought we were safe and that the sins of the parents will always be inherited by their children. Freddy has become one of horror’s most iconic villains thanks to this smart, thoughtful genre number that asks how powerful dreams can be.
Another effort by Craven, "Scream" is probably the smartest of the bunch, and it still holds up after more than a decade. Maybe that’s because the basic rules of the horror genre remain fundamentally unchanged—pretty girls getting chased by maniacs with ever more impressive implements, torture porn and hand-held cameras be dammed. As the teenage victims try to navigate a minefield of horror clichés in a perfect parody of 90s irony and disaffection, "Scream" reminds us that even if we know the rules, even if we know the heroine will still go up the stairs when she should flee the house, we can still be frightened. Also, death by garage door? Now that’s a classic horror death.
It’s no coincidence that the first two films screened tonight were directed by Wes Craven. After John Carpenter, Craven was one of horror’s most important, interesting and downright brilliant figures. The man knows how fear works, and more importantly, he knows how to make it funny. This is a director who loves horror, who knows the “very simple formula” that he both mocks and treasures in "Scream." While it’s loaded with quotable moments, my personal favorite from "Scream" comes from the film’s conclusion, where the murderer reminds our not-so-helpless heroine that “movies don’t create psychos — movies make psychos more creative.”
If "Scream" is the smartest, then "Friday the 13th" is undoubtedly the simplest of the night’s trio, riffing off of the massive success of 1978’s "Halloween" with less ingenuity and more gore. It’s not necessarily a bad film, but both "Nightmare on Elm Street" and "Scream" continue to give us chills, while "Friday the 13th" has lost much of its staying power. Knowing the film’s twist ending (and who doesn’t?) puts most of the scares in perspective. But there are some good frights to be had, and Friday presents one of film’s great Oedipal complexes (think Norman Bates in reverse).
Together, these films play off of our shared fears: what if our nightmares come true? What happens when the parents leave the kids alone for the summer? Or, most chilling of all, what if knowing all the rules, and sticking to them, isn’t enough to save us? Now that’s scarier than any horror movie.
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Editor's note: Articles that appear in the Last Word section are works of satire.
