Horror Movies We Refuse to See

We all have our personal tastes when it comes to movies.  There are popular antagonists, directors, and actors that we love, and ones that we absolutely can’t stand.  For example, Paranormal Activity came into theaters and scared the hell out of me, while one of my friends thought that it was the stupidest movie he’s ever seen.  The impact on taste as perceived by viewers of different background is a conversation that I’ve already had, so I would like to take this idea in a bit of a different direction and run with it.  Let’s just forget for now about the entire reaction part to that film in question, and talk a little bit about what movies we have already predetermined that we are never going to watch in our lives.

I’ll start with my example first, I never intend to see another movie made by Uwe Boll.  I’m do not want to sit here and slander the man (because that would be unprofessional) but I have personally not cared for a single aspect of any movie that I have seen him be involved in.  These include Alone in the Dark, The House of the Dead, and Bloodrayne.  I applaud his enthusiasm for film and his extremely successful business sense, but I simply can’t get on board with this man’s projects.  Being someone who writes about horror movies, I realize that this stance may lower my credibility, but I simply do not care.  I do not get paid to specifically watch Uwe Boll films, and since I have the chance to ignore his features, I will continue to do so until a trusted source comes to me and says that I must absolutely see FILM X and that it has revolutionized everything I know about the medium.  Then I will give it a shot, but until that day, no thank you.

Of course, that is just me and my personal tastes and feelings towards one director.  I know people who have gone on sort of a different path to avoid watching movies that include subject matter that they simply don’t feel that they can handle.  Now, for the first time ever, I will give you an example that includes my wonderful sister whom I have never mentioned existed before.

I feel that The Thing is one of the best horror movies ever made.  I feel so strongly about this that when I find myself in a position where a group of people are around, if even one of them has never seen The Thing, I’m popping in the HD DVD (haven’t picked up the Blu Ray yet, and the player still works so, why not right?) and forcing them to watch.  My sister is an avid dog lover, who owns two beautiful Siberian Huskies (Jazz Machete and Annie Geo! Geo!).  When I told her a little bit about the film, she asked me if any of the dogs were hurt in the story.  Obviously, this was a major studio horror film from the early 80s and it was well past the production code created so that no animals were actually harmed, but that didn’t matter to her.  She still refuses to watch it until this day because of one alien Husky who is a pretty big jerk. 

Sure, I don’t want to see poor defenseless animals suffer, but I know it’s a movie.  It’s not real and no animals were killed just to entertain me.  So yeah, this is going to be the part where Cannibal Holocaust gets it’s mentioning in this hot button conversation topic.  In Cannibal Holocaust, there is a scene where a native villager kills and skins a turtle.  Now it has been said that this turtle didn’t die in vain and was used for actual purposes (food I’m guessing) during the filming, but when you also kill a muskrat, snake, tarantula, spider monkey, and pig in the film, then yeah it’s going a little bit over the top.  There are people from every walk of life and opposing political beliefs who refuse to watch this film just because of these depictions. Simply put, they don’t want to see defenseless animals get killed for entertainment purposes, so they don’t watch.  So the very logical question I pose to you is that if you disagree with a director’s principals, will that stop you from watching a movie?

One of the things that I absolutely love about horror fans is that if they chose to not watch something, they simply don’t watch it.  If it’s a movie that goes against their viewpoints and principles, they don’t rent it, buy the DVD, or buy the t shirts.  They do not go out and protest these films at the multiplex or go out of their way to tell everyone who liked the movie that they are sick and twisted for watching a film.  Sure they may go online and voice their opinions about the film in question, but it is most often times done in a respectful manner.  These people realize that there are films out there they just aren’t interested in, so they don’t watch.  Some pretty popular social “leaders” can take a cue from these people.

Ok, so I went on a little tangent there but what I’m trying to say is that even though you choose not to watch a film, there is at least a base level of respect that should be given.   But what if you’re set of morals, preferences, and bloodlust lead you in another direction?  Take for example, a film like Martyrs where there are extremely long and brutal scenes of torture.  Would something like that deter you from watching the film?  What about something like Salo, which you have probably already read is essentially teenagers getting tortured for two hours, despite the artistic merits that have been widely garnered in respect to the film?  Would you still watch a film even if you were certain that it’s something that you really have no interest in seeing?  Do you see it as a test of endurance, where you want to watch the movie just to see if you can stomach it?  Are there any other films out there that you know you will never see?  I started this as more of a discussion topic, so let your feelings be heard!