Thursday, September 1, 2011

Geek Rant Topic 21: Horrifying

When All Else Fails, the only person afraid around here is Mousa The 14

I pose a question: Horror. Why?

I'm seriously asking you here folks, what is it with geeks and horror? Next to Science Fiction and Fantasy it seems the next genres that seem to appeal to our base is Horror and Monster Movies.

Dare I ask why exactly? Why is it whenever the best episodes of Doctor Who come up they're the horror episodes like Midnight where a copycat creature that exists as nothing but a voice that takes your mind by repeating everything you say until it overtakes you and nobody listened to the solutions from the main hero. Or The episode Blink where if you look away from the stone angels statues they'll come alive and kill you. Those are considered some of the best for many reasons but many report to how scary it was.

Then there's zombies. I hate zombies, but normal geeks can't get enough of them. Zombies are so prevalent among geek culture they're bonus content in our military First Person Shooters. And many acclaimed games are horror based or involve zombie apocalypses like Eternal LinkDarkness, Resident Evil, Silent Hill, Left 4 Dead, and so... Much... More....

Want to know a geek's favorite movie? Evil Dead and it's ilk. Favorite movie maker? Sam Raimi. New anime they just got into? High School of the Dead. Favorite writer? None other than our eldritch horror writing non-euclidean maniac known as H.P. Lovecraft. There's so much geek-driven merchandise and tributes and games as tributes to Lovecraft's stories that we have Cthulu plushies! Plushies!

And dare I mention that we have "zombie apocalypse survival guides"? I mean really, of all the novelty items one could create... And yet I've seen it, I've heard it, entire discussions about surviving a possible zombie apocalypse.

I'm a geek, I understand many things, I understand the love for science fiction, mystical creatures, speculation, mythology, astrology, legends, fantasy, Lovecraft (I mean really, Elder gods and The Necronomicon were all his ideas and briliant ones at that), werewolves, vampires, all that stuff, but horror as a genre does not make sense to me.

I'm not ragging on anyone's tastes, I mean not everyone loves superheroes like I do, and I'll never understand the market for a movie like The Expendables, but at some point something stops becoming a personal taste thing and starts becoming a pattern of thought and when you are on the very outside of this pattern of thought, everything within it confuses you and I want answers. Even my own sister is in love with Chiller TV and she's the least geeky geek I know. What. Am. I. Missing?

What does it all have in common? What's the appeal? I'm all about answers and instead I just have questions, there's just too many questions.

Geeks of all walks of life, tell me your secrets: What's with the Horror and zombies?

-Good Bye, Good Luck, and Imagination is Your Greatest Power
Mousa The 14

9 comments:

  1. Zombies aren't horrifying, they just have an unusual aptitude for fitting into almost any setting whatsoever.

    As for horror proper... I have some thoughts, speaking strictly from my own experience (AKA - pretty much everything on your list of 'favourites' does not apply to me, save for Eternal Darkness and Silent Hill), but they're not really organised at the moment. Sorry.

    ReplyDelete
  2. A great man, Michael Barnes, once said:

    "Zombies are the Metallica of monsters, you never thought they'd sell out, did you?"

    Every time I see people complaining about zombies becoming mainstream, I think of that quote. Every time. Because Michael Barnes is a board game critic who has encountered many a zombie-themed board game in his time, and that was his (hilarious) response to it.

    Me, I've always been into the underrated monsters like Changelings, Onryo and Yuki-Onna (VERY DISTINCT CREATURES I MUST ADD, and no, onryo do NOT need video tapes to get ya, that's what makes them have so much potential, the shift from VHS to DVD would not wipe them out AT ALL!) - maybe when I feel like it, mummies (there hasn't been a decent mummy movie since Brendan Frasier made people not take mummies seriously, and I think since the Egyptian Riots that pillaged museums a new take on the mummy trope is nigh, and needed).

    Also, you ever noticed that most paranormal romance novel plots could be improved if one supernatural creature hooked up with another werewolf/vampire/ghost/angel of similar interests? That would be an eldritch love connection I'd read!

    ReplyDelete
  3. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hi every one, here every person is sharing such knowledge,
    therefore it's nice to read this blog, and I used to pay a visit this website all the time.

    Also visit my web blog; garbage disposal disposer insinkerator installation

    ReplyDelete
  5. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

    ReplyDelete
  6. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Nice answer back in return of this matter with real arguments and explaining everything regarding that.


    Also visit my website: weight loss program

    ReplyDelete
  8. Just make sure that how to do p90x workout order the exercise
    agenda for near to a single hour six days weekly. Balanced Plan: Our Balanced Plan will give you informed about the best food
    intake. You choose where you want to start based on P90 X includes cardiovascular, resistance-training and flexibility routines.


    Feel free to surf to my page; browse around this website

    ReplyDelete
  9. I know this website presents quality dependent articles and extra stuff, is there any
    other site which gives these stuff in quality?


    Here is my web-site - animated explainer videos toronto

    ReplyDelete