Funny Games Wasn't Funny... at all

          One thing that has never crossed my mind is why people enjoy horror movies. At its very base, horror movies contain some of the most gory and grotesque events imaginable to the human mind, and yet people get a thrill watching these movies. I think we can all agree if that a machete wielding maniac showed up at our door, thrill would be the last thing we feel. Some people cannot stand the sight of blood, but when a scary movies on that goes right out the window. But why do people get an exhilarating rush watching scary movies? Is it because they know it is not real and nothing in that movie can harm them? But while this is physically true, we do know for a fact that any form of art can be real for a specific person- a sort of stimulation of the mind.

          This concept is discussed by Carrol in his writing, "The Paradox of Horror," and in it he talks about the various reasons people enjoy the horror genre. At one point during his essay, he cites H.P. Lovecraft and states that within people lies a form of cosmic fear (almost like a fear of the unknown that peaks our curiosity) and the only way to tap in this feeling is through the gore and grotesqueness within horror. But this view is only a part of the spectrum of why people enjoy horror films. Another reason is that we are allowed through film to feel the emotion of the characters without the danger they are in, which in turn allows us to feel the adrenaline rush of being scared without having to fear for our lives. Another source of our horror sensation that we discussed in class and that I found interesting is that feeling of understanding why the antagonist is doing what it is doing, or even who the antagonist is exactly. We wish satiate our curiosity and know everything to know about the thing bringing about our horror.

          Most movies satisfy these reasons of why we enjoy horror movies, but others go against the norm. One such movie is Funny Games. In this movie, two psychotic maniacs hold a family hostage and kill them one by one (and it is even shown that they have done it recently and are about to do it again). But what makes this movie so messed up was not the horror necessarily, but the fact that the horror did not tap into anything inside me to bring about an emotional response. There was nothing in the form of plot development, and the movie goes out of its way to ensure that the main characters, the family, die. At one point, the mom musters up her strength and steals a gun and shoots one of them, only for the movie to "rewind" and her act is undone. When she does it there is a feeling of "Yes! Thank you for doing something to end this madness! Get those guys!" But when it is rewound, all emotional attachment is gone. Also, this movie does not satisfy our curiosity of who the two guys are and why they do what they do. So overall this movie did not draw me in and give me the exhilaration an average horror movie usually does. But in a sense, this movie is truly horrific because the events that transpire are truly inhuman and messes with a person's mind. But since it does not give us that emotional rush that usually given in a horror movie, we are not drawn into the movie and the experience is not overall as enjoyable.