1928 - Alderson High School - 1968

 

Unhappy Halloween

Herman King  Nov 1, 2010

Halloween has come and gone so there's less gore on television. No more repeats of Freddy Krueger. No more repeats of Michael Myers, Jeepers Creepers, Pumpkinhead and that indestructible psycho in the hockey mask. Whew! One channel (AMC) even boasted "gore matters here." I know there are better, more subtle films in the archives. For instance, The black and white versions of "The Haunting," "The Uninvited," and in color, "Ghost Story." The last named had its grisly components but not as intrusive as recent Halloween fare. Evil prevails over good in these movies until the very end, after most of the characters have been slaughtered. Often the evil continues through several spinoffs. When young I enjoyed spooky feelings (a shiver, rising of hair on the neck, etc) but never gory horror depending on people and pets being diced and sliced. I quit reading Stephen King and Peter Straub because their fiction became repulsive. Dean Koontz was far less so and his plots more interesting. In the kind of film and fiction I'm talking about, the forces of evil usually win out. There is seldom a force of good (I suppose it wouldn't be scary otherwise). There is one novel where supernatural good defeats supernatural evil at the end. "Son of the Endless Night" by John Farris is my favorite demon story. Good plot and satisfying conclusion. I don't think a movie has been made of it. After all, Hollywood is more attuned to violence and evil. Perhaps if someone sent a copy to Clint Eastwood......