Horrific Magic

With the magic of Disney movies ingrained into our childhood’s subconscious, it is a giant leap to the magic of horror movies. Here there are no wonderful enchantments that make life better, or spells that break at the last minute so that everyone can live happily ever after. Here we are talking about magic, alright, but it is of the dark kind.

Horror movies are meant to cause fear and terror, and naturally, horror. This genre is often looked down upon as consisting mostly of B movies, but anyone who has seen The Exorcist will attest to the fact that that is a gross understatement. Many respected directors such as Alfred Hitchcock (Birds), Sam Raimi (Drag Me to Hell) and Tim Burton (Sweeney Todd) have dabbled in this type of movie. The earliest horror movies were more or less depictions of classic horror books like Frankenstein, but as time progressed, so did the movie themes. After the second World War there were quite a few horror movies dealing with that topic.

Horror movies attempt to get a fearful reaction out of the viewer in some general ways, most notably, by displaying either a horrifying personality (Saw), an end-of the-world scenario (The Book of Eli) or something to do with dark magic (Rosemary’s baby). Special effects and makeup play a great role in creating the desired scary effect, and now, with the advent of blue screens in the film industry, the possibilities for creating the most terrifying spectacles imaginable are endlessly increased.

Horror movies can incorporate a lot of other genres, especially science fiction and fantasy, and in some cases, even comedy (Ghostbusters comes to mind). We all have a spot within ourselves that can be terrified by something or someone, and it is the magic of horror movies to find it.