Fear of the unknown in real life

By: JWBM

"The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown." 

Love? What about all those heartfelt and sad songs and poems, guys? I digress.

The great H.P. Lovecraft, known for his short stories and creative mythos in the earlier part of the 20th century, made infamous his opening phrase—from a larger essay—"...fear of the unknown" that gave ominous, who's-that-behind-you presence throughout his work. Countless artists have capitalized on it, such as the wave of modern Japanese horror films relying on superstitions and ghostly apparitions appearing and disappearing before you can say hello or sayonara. Going away from the unnameables and creatures from beyond that might suddenly require you to make a snap decision to fight or run for cover, my question is: What does it mean to have fear of the unknown in real life and not just in an anything-can-happen world?

Let's take the example of going hiking and camping in an uncharted terrain of woods with someone who has always lived in the city, or has a sheltered life that is oblivious of the potential dangers. Would that be fear of the unknown in this context? Would this person just suddenly become irrational and conjure up their own horrific scenarios because it's unknown to them? It's possible. The jitters and anxiety get the best of some. Though, let's say someone is about to go hiking and camping in an uncharted terrain of woods but they've previously watched a few animal attack videos or they read an article about that thing you lug around called a human body only being able to last so many days without food and water. Now, this set of woods is unknown to them but they have a prior set of separate circumstances that they have to fall back on. A partial experience and a partial knowing.

What I want to know is: do you need at least some knowledge prior to be afraid of an unknown situation? People do questionably unsafe things with a dab of innocence and no fear all the time; just ask any ranger at a National Park when someone toys with a bison, or stands too close to a cliff edge. That exact situation sparked the thoughts behind this piece. These people might be intelligent in other contexts of day to day life, but got put into a situation where their instincts didn't kick in or they simply had no alarm bell going off in the back of their head. So, is a blank slate of unknown still terrifying because you can't grasp your head around it? Or is it just because you're unable to control the outcome when throwing out the dice? Is it sacrilege to question H.P. Lovecraft? Will he rise for revenge from the grave? These are the kind of questions that keep me up at night. Well, maybe the first few.

Here's another that puts it into perspective more: "The ignorant and the deluded are, I think, in a strange way to be envied. That which is not known of does not trouble us, while an imagined but insubstantial peril does not harm us. To know the truths behind reality is a far greater burden." - H.P. Lovecraft

Atmosphere and horror films (article)

By: JWBM

The intention of this blog is to explore subjects that range from the dark, strange, controversial, to ones that create an outright bloody mess. To me, the layered or boundary-pushing features seem like the interesting ones, and often come with the most to dig into, or even reasoning why to shy away from due to missing the mark. Incidentally, a portion of films that fall into that scope are horror films.

Some time ago, it dawned on me that other folks are looking at horror a little differently. Which is great that we all have alternate view points and interpretations, though—since horror isn't something the normal person puts on everyday—I sometimes notice some people go in with the perspective of other genres. Comedy is self-explanatory: without a few laughs in the beginning, the rest of the feature is destined to decline. With action, the viewer only has so much patience till things start to heat up and move. Then there's drama: character to character interactions are a key component. However any of these might be interpreted is where the creativity or inspiration of the filmmaker comes in.

In my days of working in a video rental store, I used to recommend "Session 9" quite a bit. This being a popular rental chain, the shelves weren't littered with great, modern horror features, though that film felt an experience in itself and delivered in a way that took away the screen and put you right there in the chilling, walls-getting-smaller setting. One day two customers came back and said they didn't like it because the story wasn't original. They said it with a little bit of annoyance and dismissal. I gave them that. It was a simple setup after all that requires patience, just the right mood, and letting yourself go. But then I asked them, "Well, what about the mood and atmosphere? Creepy wasn't it?" Their response: "The what?" Their arms were crossed so hard they didn't allow themselves to escape and breathe the air of this other world that was painted with more intrigue and feeling than it was explained outright in pages of dialogue or action-packed scenes.

To me, the number one feature of any horror movie is its atmosphere. No doubt the script, acting, cinematography, score, and effects are important features and can help amp up the experience in a number of fashions. But without a solid mood—however that may be done in the many dark shades lurking out there—you will not have a solid horror film. Look at the classic "Carnival of Souls." You couldn't quite put your finger on it as the whole experience felt surreal. Let's just say at times it had more mood than Dracula's castle at midnight on Friday the 13th in the month of October overlooking a windy cliff with an ocean view on a full moon night on the anniversary of something nostalgic. *exhales* From the moment of its setup to the closing credits, its grasp got tighter and tighter till those iconic organ melodies were still ringing in your head, and wherever you looked people lost their color and formed dark rings around their eyes. On the other hand, you could easily point out flaw after flaw. Plus it's old and didn't just come out last week, er, yesterday... now. For some, those imperfections could distract from the experience and take one out of the trance. But there's no denying the film had a unique atmosphere and presence that could influence the viewer in ways another slicker film isn't capable of encapsulating.

Some high ratings here have gone to films that you could tear the acting and effects apart. You could even find plot holes in the story. Though it's less common for me to give disparaging remarks to a horror movie that has a consistent, genuine, well-worked through mood to it, but did so badly at everything else that it bombed. Usually that doesn't go hand in hand. Then there are others—as I'm sure we all have—on our imaginary lists that are almost there but didn't quite do it for us. But, of course, everything deserves a case by case analysis and not just some strict rule to go by each time. Rules create walls; horror should be free to roam. What are your thoughts?

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