Horror Movies & Series

I finally got access to Hulu and thus finally watched What we do in the Shadows. I'm a huge fan of the movie and I guess I'd assumed there was no way the show could pull that magic off.

I am in love. The show is basically pop culture perfection. I truly can't recall an episode that was even close to weak, let alone a season.

But basically I just wanted to talk about the writing. I won't be able to do my thoughts justice, but damn the writing was so spot on. The writers clearly love every character and had an incredible grasp of what made them so funny, endearing and memorable. And sure you could vaguely situate them in sitcom character tropes I guess, but to me everyone/everypire was pretty multidimensional.

Not just that, the dialogue always goes in directions you don't expect. Like in small ways, or even just in a Laszlo 'fuck off' but so perfectly timed and never gratuitous. Like even Colin Robinson's Colin Robinsonry is unpredictable.

In a way past life I tried to write for tv, but I simply couldn't do it. It seems so easy and dumb (reminder, this is tv from 30 years ago), but I realized there is barely a line of Shadows I could have written.

Anyway, just my little sex-sual thoughts!

We all know the pattern.

Weird stuff is going down, nice building of horror in the unknown, we feel really tense and almost like detectives trying to figure out what's happening. Then right before the 3rd act the lead will visit a mystic, or a librarian, or a grown up previous victim. This character will then proceed to explain everything about what's been happening in extraneous detail, then outline how to beat the bad guy - usually the focus of Act 3.

I'm finding it a BIG issue in Western Horror, the need to over explain everything. While it works for some stories', I've seen too many play out as above. Especially noticeable in American remakes of overseas horror, which is more into letting viewers stew in the mystery. They shove these characters in films they weren't before to demystifying things. Or the FNAF film where they had the policewoman keep popping up to just to constantly explain in detail who everyone was, and what was happening.

I find its much more effective to hint at possible explanations, but leave us mostly in the dark. Or give us answers visually, not through a lecture.

Kind of like how Blair Witch 1 let us ruminate on what was in the woods, humans or something supernatural, if there even WAS anything. Then 2016s Blair Witch just... showed the witch.

Currently watching Coven and my god she is such a fantastic actress. Her Voodoo goddess is SENDING me. Absolutely class act queen.