Joystory

I'm on a bit of a horror movie binge this week. On Netflix DVD I watched the remake of John Carpenter's The Fog. I've never seen the original so I don't know how to compare. The FX are more extreme of course with over 20 years between them. In the extra features they showed clips from the original and compared them side by side with the remake. I'd like to see the original though. Special effects are not enough to salvage a bad script or mediocre acting. I don't know who starred in the original but the stars in this one did not impress me all that much. But I'm not really sure how to tell whether it is the actor's, director's or writer's fault when I'm finding myself noticing the acting, FX, or plot hiccups instead of remaining caught up by the story. Something was just a bit off though.

It probably stood little chance of wowing me so soon after watching The Orphanage though. That one, which I streamed off netflix, I even had to read captions as it was Spanish and I still wasn't shook loose from my engagement with the story. I would like to see more of Juan Antonio Bayona's directorial efforts. The actress Belen Rueda also. But I believe the script itself must have been excellent to begin with. The story worked as well as Turn of the Screw. Same flavor too.

I'm about to watch The Mist based on the Stephen King story. And waiting at the library for me is a movie called The Gift.

Recently I had the Netflix DVD of Stephen King's Misery starring Kathy Bates and The Others starring Nicole Kidman. Those were both very well made stories. The Others especially, was on a par with The Turning of the Screw as well.

In the last month I streamed Dragonfly, Lake Mungo and The Haunting in Connecticut. Of the three, Dragonfly was the best--well made, well acted, well written.

I like a well told ghost story. I prefer the subtle to the overt, the spooky to the horrific. I don't care for the stories that depend on a lot of in your face stuff to scare you. In fact, though I may be startled by certain sudden motion or sound I am seldom truly frightened by it. And once I notice those manipulations I fail to be manipulated and am no longer in the story but outside it as an observer/critic and am no longer captured by it.