Many have suggested to me that such films are entirely worthless and that they consist merely of exploitative tripe which should not be allowed to exist in the first place. Should we even mention films such as Saw or Hostel (and any of their sequels) and I will most likely agree with you. My defense of horror movies mostly stems from my enjoyment of style over scares. This is perhaps a somewhat juvenile comparison-- but I like to think that I enjoy horror movies in much the same way that your average accountant might enjoy taking off the tie, putting on a black t-shirt and spikey armband and going off to bang his head at a Metallica concert. Scares are expected, of course, but I do not base my sole enjoyment upon them as many horror fans do. For instance, one of my true favorites is Sam Raimi's Evil Dead II.
It is somewhat strange, even to me, that I can glean such excitement from this film. It's flaws are pretty blatant: the acting is mediocre (though I hold firm in my thinking that lead-actor, Bruce Campbell, does a great job), the make-up and stop-motion effects look extraordinarly fake by modern standards, and the lack of big budget is very apparent (I do not actually consider this a flaw, but I include this to sympathize with the standpoint of many readers). These flaws may be so blatant, in fact, that they cause the average viewer to be distracted from the inventive, ingenious tidbits scattered throughout the film.
For me, it seems that the presence of limitations only emboldened Raimi to stretch his creativity to its limit; creating a fun, energetic, stylistically impressive movie. Much use has been made by amateur filmmakers of Raimi's 'Plank Cam' trick-- this consists of taping the camera to the very center of a 2 by 4 (or some elongated piece of wood) and two operators, one at each end of the plank, will run towards the subject while tilting the plank, lifting and dropping the plank, swaying the plank, etc. This technique keeps the camera more steady than handheld use (without the budget for a steadicam) and allows the operators to make some unique, visually-disorienting camera movements as well.
Other cool stylistic choices Raimi makes in the film include the combined use of landscape lighting with fog. With much of the film shot at night, this adds an ethereal, not necessarily scary, glow to the setting. Also, when many of the characters are transformed into zombie-like, demon-monsters (eventually referred to as 'deadites') Raimi highlights them with a red backlight. Many of his trademarks were developed in this film as well, trademarks which have found their way into his later Hollywood-blockbusting Spiderman films. These include shots that are focused on flying objects while the background blurs past (I've never quite figured out how to copy that shot exactly), and his comic-book inspired closeups of his villainous...um...villains.
Also, I find do not find the material in the film to be too disturbing. Obviously, I don't believe in werewolves, zombies, ghosts, etc. Only horror films with human antagonists will occaisionally get to me-- because I do believe that there are some genuinely evil people in this world. But, for the most part, movies don't really frighten me. Perhaps because I know something of how they work-- it all looks like latex and corn-syrup to me.
That being said, this film does contain moderate amounts of gore effects as this promotional picture may suggest:
Many find such material to be a good enough reason to write off the horror genre, but where this film's predecessor, The Evil Dead, became mired (in my opinion) in over-indulgence of its nightmarish use of gore, Evil Dead II keeps itself checked and balanced by its toungue-in-cheek sense of humor. The film knows what it is, thus, it doesn't take itself too seriously. This greatly enhances the film for me-- it allows itself to be a fun movie for people who have fun watching movies.
I should say that Evil Dead II is by no means the only horror-genre film that I admire-- some of my favorite films also fall into the category of horror and take themselves far more seriously; such as Ridley Scott's sci-fi-blended horror pic, Alien. However, Evil Dead II stands as a prime example as to why I can watch a horror film that is deeply rooted in the genre-- managing to overlook the inherently unpleasent conventions that such films bring with them-- and find stylistically enjoyable tidbits buried (no pun intended) inside. Furthermore, I think it represents a sort of filmmaking 'mode' that allows even modern films such as the recent Zombieland to be so successful and entertaining. And that movie certainly picked the right month to hit the theaters-- after all, Halloween is on its way! So grab a horror film and watch it with some friends.
On a side-note. I might enjoy genre movies, but I DO place extreme importance on script as well. I can make an exception for something like Evil Dead II, but script is typically one of the key elements I look for in a film. I plan to touch on this in a later entry.
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