After watching the brilliant film, From Dusk Till Dawn, I took a moment to contemplate what people are really afraid of and what they should be afraid of.
If we go into a movie theatre to be scared by something it is usually one of the following:
- Vampires
- Werewolves
- Zombies
- Supernatural or Unnatural Beings
- Mega Crazed Murderous Rapists
- Demons
- Hell Spawn
- Aliens / UFOs
- Secret Government Groups - such as the Men in Black (X-Files not Will Smith)
- Various other things that have never been proven to be in / of this world now or ever before
As you can probably determine by the above list, none of the things listed are real - apart from the Mega Crazed Murderous Rapists (but it's not like you will come across one on a daily basis or even yearly - perhaps biyearly). And it is for this reason that I started to wonder why we are actually afraid of these things in film. None of these things have ever been reported on in local news or even national news.
Whilst having these thoughts I took myself outside of my house in the early hours of the morning to have a cigarette. At that point I thought of the things that people should really be afraid of. I was there smoking. Doing something that in all probability will be the end of me, unless I quit. But you will never see a film that depicts a man dying of cancer to be classified as a horror. When really, if you think about it, with the statistics, facts and figures - it is incredibly scary.
People will do this all the time - they will watch a horror movie and be afraid to venture into darkness because a vampire or ghost or UFO might be there. And the reason they need to venture into the darkness of their own home is to get their cigarettes or tenth drink of the night. Two things that could kill you. Is that not scary?
Now I'm not trying to put out any anti drink or anti-smoking message, if I was I would be being a hipocrit. Plus if people started to stop then that would drive the prices up for me. And that would be a fearful thought to have.
Before watching From Dusk Till Dawn I also watched a film with Will Farrell called Everything Must Go. This film was about a guy who loses his job, his wife and his home, due to his long running drinking problem. To many people, the prospect of that happening is scary. But this film was an excellent comedy. And I know the same story filmed and written in a different way would have probably become a drama. But never would it be a horror.
Obviously all of these irrational, and albeit silly, fears of things are not contained just to film. There are so many examples of people being afraid of things, that they don't need to be - in the real world, but as there are so many, I wouldn’t want to bore you with a list of them right now.
After having all these thoughts I decided to come up with a list of the things that would scare me if they were put into a horror film. So here goes.
Maybe if anyone from Hollywood is reading and they would want to make something on this list into a horror, I would add some of those sudden flash scenes in horrors that make the industry thrive.
- Losing your job
- Not being able to pay bills / rent / mortgage
- Loved ones dying - family, wife (some may hope for this), husband (and this too), girlfriend, boyfriend or friends
- Becoming painfully, violently or fatally ill
- Being infected by various diseases
- Etc.
