If you think watching any instalment of the paranormal activity is a waste of time even if you get free tickets, join the club. Every year, never ending lists of so-called horror movies with catchy tag lines are released followed by awesome trailers and gripping claims that guarantee a trip down the “sheer-fear-lane”. Unfortunately, every important element of the flick is in one way or other indicated in the trailer. Nearly all films share this error of improper discourse.
If you think watching any instalment of the paranormal activity is a waste of time even if you get free tickets, join the club. Every year, never ending lists of so-called horror movies with catchy tag lines are released followed by awesome trailers and gripping claims that guarantee a trip down the “sheer-fear-lane”. Unfortunately, every important element of the flick is in one way or other indicated in the trailer. Nearly all films share this error of improper discourse.
Films like The Amityville Horror, Shutter, Gothika, Exorcist, Haunted, Unborn, Resident, and The Woman in Black are worth applauding as they progressed in terms of casting and opening of the story. The screenplay looked more or less alike with the same winds blowing, doors smashing, furniture dragging and crockery breaking.
Fiasco ventures like Saw, Final Destination, Hills Have Eyes, Constantine, Creeper, Evil Dead and Jeepers Creepers failed to demonstrate an entwining storyline and swept aside the general standards of common sense.
Evolution is great and few film-makers tried their hand at inducing a novel domain to this field of shivers - the serial-killing movies. Some flicks relating to this category like all the installments of Scream, Orphan, Case 39, I Know What You Did Last Summer, 1 Missed Call and Friday the 13th make you shiver and scream initially. Sadly, as the plot unfolds, with story progressing towards its climax, we tend to forget every bit of what we watched soon as the much speculated sneaky killer is identified.
Some movies like 30 Days in a Night, Mama, 28 Weeks Later, Rest Stop, Mirrors, Child’s Play, Zombies, The Grudge, Uninvited, Nightmare on Elm Street, Omen, Legion and 13 ghosts were comparatively a success as they clinched the audiences’ minds and opened new doorways to fright. While others like Dawn of the Dead, Halloween, Boogeyman, Dead Silence, White Noise, Tall Man, The Ring, House of Wax, Drag Me to Hell, Haunting Two Ghosts of Georgia, Phantom and Pulse were an apparent show of failure and mockery. I mean, seriously, bald octopus dude emerging from your Wi-Fi failed to even scare my eight year old cousin.
Siyah, the first ever Pakistani horror movie was decent; an attempt to fill in the dark and cold vaccum in our film industry. Personally, I consider movies like Grave Encounters and Wrong Turn an insult to horror movies and anyone who loves horror flicks as much as I do would agree with me. The question arises that if all these movies fail to impress “terror-devotees” then what will? Honestly, I yearn to watch a movie that would scare me out of my wits, make me think twice before opening my closet and shiver in my quilt before sleeping.
Now, with every horror-movie ticket that I buy I pray that the film-makers did justice to the category they dedicated their energies to. My top movies are: Insidious, The Possession, Sinister, The Conjuring and Dracula Untold. You all should watch these movies at least once! The best thing about these movies is that you can watch them with your family. The violence and the scare factors are obviously rampant, but they are free of scenes that will bestow upon you - your mom’s icy-stare. As for the ultimate scariest movie, I believe that is yet to come, let’s wait and watch. I am desperately waiting for Crimson Peak and Victor Frankenstein. FINGERS CROSSED!
