Stephen King, "Desperation"
Ever wonder why nobody can make a good horror movie anymore? Indeed, it seems that these filmmakers don�t even know what the differences are between a good one and a bad one.
Good horror movies involve a lot of creepiness; something that gets under your skin, something where your imagination takes over. Take Blair Witch Project, for example. While I don�t think it�s a �great� horror film, I was genuinely unnerved while watching it in the theater. What I did love about the film was that they didn�t need to spend millions of dollars on some computer-generated effect, they just TURNED OUT THE LIGHTS AND LEFT THEM OFF. Sitting there in total darkness and just listening? Posture all you want � I was nervous. (By the way, is Blair Witch 2 as stupid as I�m betting it is? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?)
There�s some other great horror films that utilize that same premise � The Exorcist, The Shining, The Evil Dead, � sure they all have effects and visuals, but a lot of it still comes from allowing the viewer to let their imagination do the scaring. (Or maybe it�s just that they all have the word �The� in the title.)
I think the slasher genre ruined it. Sure, if you have a person leap out and pump up the music to get a reaction, people get scared. But it�s cheap, and if you keep doing it, as most of these movies do, the audience resents you for it.
I mention all of this because I was positive � POSITIVE � this was going to suck. It was written around the time I declared King to be a total hack. I remember my sister saying something about it sucking as well but then again, I remember sitting in her car while she sang along to Paula Abdul.
Now THAT�S Scary.
But it didn�t suck. It was actually pretty damn good. Not a masterpiece by any stretch, but it managed to walk a thin line between filling in visuals and letting my imagination take over. About halfway through I was getting sick of the cliffhanger-type chapters, and when I put it in my mind to complain, it stopped.
It�s actually kind of nice that he managed to put out something fairly decent amidst a sea of crap like �Rose Madder,� �Gerald�s Game� and �Nightmares and Dreamscapes.� Still, I can tell when they get around to making a movie out of this one (and you know they will), there�s going to be lots of shots of people and animals making sudden appearances accompanied by a blast of music.
