Monsterfest X on AMC

Yah! It has returned!

As I said last year at this time (I looked for the post from last year - it's missing, sorry): I like the old horror films, and I like the newer films that rely more on suspense and atmosphere (as opposed to gore,random killings, and scenes of torture) to bring the thrills. I greatly dislike the modern gore-filled films, although I will watch the TV-version of Halloween (which has less gore than your average CSI: episode). I enjoyed recent films like The Others and The Ring, but I won't be seeing Hostel or the Saw series.

By the way, I did catch Children of the Corn yesterday afternoon. Interesting story (evil children follow a twisted 11-year-old "preacher" and kill all adults), but very silly in the telling of it - it wasn't the least bit scary, except perhaps Courtney Gains' hair - Peter Horton's and Linda Hamilton's characters made ridiculous decisions throughout the movie (Let's go into a cornfield where some kid was just slashed to death! Let's go to a town when we're warned not to! Let's stay in a town that's obviously deserted!) that no one in their right mind would make - cheesy effects for the monster/demon at the film's end. If you haven't seen it, I wouldn't necessarily recommend renting it - it will come on TV again sometime, and you can catch it then. I do, however, want to say this: If you drive through some lonely little town and someone starts screaming "Outlander!" at you, just keep on driving.

Go here to check out AMC's site, which gives the schedule of the films.

W. David O. Taylor has written an interesting article, arguing that a Christian can make a "good" horror film. He also argues that the good horror films invite us to consider, and to stand up against, the true horrors of the world - our very selves.

Denis Haack has written an article on writer/director Scott Derrickson, who claims to follow Christ. Derrickson said of horror films, "No other genre offers audiences a more spiritual view of the world, and no other genre communicates a more clearly defined moral perspective.” Derrickson directed last year's The Exorcism of Emily Rose. Christianity Today interviewed Derrickson last year, which you can read here.

Here is the site for horror's "sinister minister," Maurice Broaddus. He's a church-planter who enjoys - and occasionaly writes - a good horror story. Broaddus lives in the Indianapolis area and is a contributer to INTake's "The Blog Squad."

For the invasively curious: The Wife hates - nay, loathes - horror films and will not watch them. The last one she saw was Se7en, only because she didn't know anything about it (and I didn't tell her about the plot) beyond that it starred Brad Pitt and Gwyneth Paltrow.