Thursday, October 11, 2018

Thursday Movie Picks - The Dark/Night

Written as part of the weekly blogathon hosted by Wandering Through the Shelves. Join us by picking three movies that fit the week's theme and writing a bit about them!

Clever theme title this week! I have to admit, but biggest fear, still to this day, is being alone in the dark. It's not as crippling a fear as it used to be, thankfully. When I was younger, it could take me hours to go to sleep in my own bed because of how scared I was of the darkness. The darkness is the unknown, it obscures what we know and twists it into something other. It can be difficult for movies to truly capture that, since a large part of the experience of watching a movie is... ya know...being able to see what's going on. But these movies do a good job of capturing the terror of the darkness and nighttime.

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (David Hand, et. al., 1937) In a deviation from my usual modus operandi, this whole movie isn't about this week's topic, or even mostly about this week's topic. BUT, the sequence above is about as perfect a depiction of being surrounded by darkness as it gets - it shows very artistically and VERY effectively how in the dark, things become something far more sinister than what they actually are, and how everything - EVERYTHING - has eyes that seem to follow you as you get more and more lost. This was the first thing I ever remember seeing in a movie that well and truly scared me.

The Blair Witch Project (Daniel Myrick & Eduardo Sanchez, 1999) Sometimes, it's not about the things that surround you in the dark, but the darkness itself. The absence of anything, the inability to see beyond a few inches in front of you. No movie I've seen captures that feeling quite like The Blair Witch Project, which made my entire family so afraid of the dark that after seeing it, it took all four of us to bring one garbage can from our garage to the end of our driveway. By now, everyone knows the story of the three student filmmakers making a documentary in the woods of Maryland who disappeared, leaving only this footage behind (and how the marketing was so effective that many people believed it actually was a documentary). It basically created the "found footage" genre, and has all the positive and negatives one associates with films of that ilk. But as with so many trendsetters, it became famous for a reason, and that reason is that Blair Witch gets down and dirty with our fear of the dark, and what unknowns lurk just beyond our sight and our grasp. And because it knows that when shit hits the fan, most of us wouldn't serve up a clever quip and stand our ground; we'd curse to high heaven and run like hell.

Lights Out (David F. Sandberg, 2016) One of the movies I've seen as part of my 31 Days of Horror this year, and specifically with this week's theme in mind! I don't think I would have survived seeing this in the theater, although honestly the 2013 short that it's based on is maybe better. But that's only because in service of making an entire feature, there had to be, ya know, a story to build the concept around. And the story, which is a metaphor for depression, is a bit too obvious and the film sort of runs the metaphor into the ground. BUT. The scary scenes, dealing with the ghostie who only appears in darkness, are SCARY. Had I seen this when I was younger, there would have been NO WAY I would have been able to sleep with the lights out, which is surely the exact reaction the film was going for.

12 comments:

  1. LOVE your first choice, if only all animated films were as good as Snow White I might be more of a fan, and the singling out of that scene.

    The Blair Witch Project just didn't do much for me. Perhaps I watched too long to see it and the freshness was gone.

    Haven't seen the last though it might be something I'd watch on a sunny day.

    I'm not a big fan of films that are disquieting which I know was the direction that the theme was nudging us toward so in lieu of them I went with three that are set in the nighttime.

    Night on Earth (1991)-Quintet of narrative tales set in cities around the world as a taxi driver in each city picks up a fare at the exact same moment and we share their lives and stories during the rides. A fable directed by Jim Jarmusch populated with quite a cast including Winona Ryder, Gena Rowlands, Rosie Perez and Armin Mueller-Stahl.

    The Night Before (1988)-Nerdy high school senior Winston Connelly (Keanu Reeves) regains consciousness late at night in an alley dressed in a tux. Problem is he has no idea how he ended up there, where exactly in L.A. he is nor where his car, wallet or more importantly his date (Lori Loughlin) are either! As he stumbles around he recalls getting sidetracked on the way to the prom and that now Tito the pimp is trying to kill him. It sounds like a drama but is played for comedy, goofy but harmless.

    After Hours (1985)-Oddity of poor snook Paul Hackett (Griffin Dunne), a button down computer processor who through a series of crossed wires and misunderstanding spends one surreal night in downtown Manhattan in a seemingly futile attempt to get back uptown. Dunne is perfect in the lead surrounded by a bunch of zany characters enacted by among others Teri Garr, Rosanna Arquette, Linda Fiorentino, Catherine O’Hara and Cheech & Chong. Nominated for the Palm d’Or with Martin Scorsese winning the Cannes director prize.

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    1. lol Snow White is probably one of my least favorite animated films.

      I think Blair Witch gained a LOT from the cultural moment when it was released, especially when it was still possible to believe that it was real.

      I've not seen any of your picks but I've been curious about Night on Earth and After Hours.

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  2. I was not expecting to see Snow White when I clicked on here, but way to make it work. I've never had that issue with the dark, other than a few isolated childhood instances. Each time I was able to shake it off pretty quickly. On the other hand, Mrs. Dell still struggles with darkness. And if that's what it's like for you guys...yeesh!

    I hate The Blair Witch Project. 'Nuff said.

    Lights Out wasn't bad, but yeah, they run that metaphor into the ground and then bury it.

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    1. Yeah, I'm MOSTLY over my fear of darkness, but every once in a while it creeps back up on me.

      I get why people hate Blair Witch Project, but what can I say? It worked like gangbusters on me.

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  3. Snow White is surprising but I love that you went there with it. I enjoyed all three of your picks to varying degrees. I agree there's no way in hell I'd be sleeping with lights off in Lights Out lol

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    1. Good lord, if Lights Out had made the scary thing JUST a scary thing and not also a metaphor, it would have been completely terrifying. Although it's plenty scary as it is.

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  4. Lights Out has been on the tip of my tongue for the whole week but I just couldn't remember the title so I went with something else instead. I kinda hated it anyways.

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    1. Yeah, it's not great. It is pretty scary, though.

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  5. Blair Witch is just horrifying. It's still one of the scariest horror I've seen

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    1. Unlike a lot of other found footage horrors, Blair Witch Project really feels REAL. Of course, that's in part because the actors didn't know all of what was going to happen, so for a lot of it they really were scared out of their minds.

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  6. I haven’t seen any of your picks. I know...I have not seen Snow White partially because I always hated the way she was drawn because I had read the Grimm Fairy Tale and knew she had long black hair and was not chubby cheeked, I do want to see it now and hope to in the next year. I have no desire to see Blair Witch because I hate that type of filming. The last one looks too scary for me

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    1. Snow White is good but far from my favorite Disney film. It's.... VERY old-fashioned.

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