[from left to right] Shota (guitar) & ADAM (vocals)
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I found this duo on my Tumblr dash and checked out the two PVs they had out at the time. Initially, I wasn't completely blown away with their talent, but there was something about them that still kept me interested. Fortunately, I did not regret my decision of keeping tabs on them as their music and concepts progressively got stronger and stronger over time. I must admit their music isn't loud, in your face, and possibly not super memorable, but there's definitely something special about them that makes their music charming. The music is admittedly minimalistic and simple, but the lyrics and delivery is what makes it truly enjoyable. They have a strong sense of what they want to do with themselves and their concept, while keeping their bond with each other and their fans. ADAMS has something important that keeps me following groups with potential: chemistry, charisma, and charm. Whether you're watching a music video, a promotional commentary, or samples from their lives, you can feel the drive and love they have for their art and their fans. I truly hope they reach their goal as a duo and continue to improve.
For example, the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre had plenty of uncomfortable, gory moments. Whenever Leatherface successfully captured his victims, you knew things weren't going to be pretty. But the fear didn't lie within the horrific gory imagery, it was solely him and his behavior or the thought of his potential actions. For a current example, American Mary decides to leave its gory imagery off camera and allow audiences to use their imagination.
To show you how moviemakers are doing it wrong, check out the new Evil Dead. Because technology and props have upgraded since the original, the movie relies on severed parts, blood, and gore to scare its viewers. Every characters' gory actions toward each other and themselves are taken to the extreme. Hostel is another movie that depends on gore to get its scariness across. Nearly every torture scene is on camera and the consequences are amped up.
Not sure what I'm talking about? Well, here are a couple examples. Let's start with Michael Myers from Halloween. I will admit I've never seen the original to completion, but I know enough to gather that this towering, silent antagonist has intimidated and haunted many devoted horror fans. The thing that made him memorable and frightening was his emotionless face/mask and the fact he killed his family at a young age with no explanation. He is a supernatural force that appears to be unkillable and very few know what he looks like behind the mask. In the tragic retelling of Halloween by Rob Zombie, we get to experience the stereotypical broken home Michael lives in. His mother works late night hours as a stripper, his mother's boyfriend is an abusive jerk, and his older sister is simply rude and possibly out of control, like those teens you would see on Maury. As we follow young Michael, we sympathize with his living situation and bullying he puts up with in school, but the movie tugs its audience back and forth between sympathy, concern, and fear. He displays signs of psychopathic behavior, yet audiences could connect this behavior to his unfortunate and unpleasant surroundings. Aside from an unsympathetic protagonist and other terrible characters Michael encounters in the sanitorium, we lack fear in his future violent actions.
Next is a villain I thought was safe from the dreaded remakes, A Nightmare on Elm Street's Freddy Krueger. Although the original touched on Freddy's backstory, it was quite brief and told by Nancy's mother. Freddy murdered children and was never prosecuted by the authorities, so the parents took action by burning him alive. In the remake, they show Freddy as an innocent school janitor that happened to be close to the children and, at first, show that the parents burned him alive without too much explanation. When the end is near, it was revealed that there was questionable evidence that Freddy molested the parents' children. The difference between the original and the remake pertain to the parents' actions. In the original, they informed the authorities of the murders. They didn't bother reporting Freddy's molestation actions in the remake. Although Freddy isn't completely portrayed as a sympathic character, the structure of the story makes you believe Freddy is a nice guy, if you're unfamiliar with the original, and that he was wrongfully executed especially with the flashbacks the teenagers have of him. The details put into the backstory gives us way too many emotions for Freddy aside from fear among other "creative" choices, like showing his face right off the bat as opposed to the original's decision to shadow his appearance.
I think sex was purposely incorporated into horror when the slasher sub-genre was born. It was used as a commentary to the AIDS epidemic and sexual liberation of the 70s. Every character that engaged in sexual activity were "punished" with death and the virgin was "rewarded" with life (and perhaps some emotional scars). Examples of this can be found in classic slashers such as Halloween, Friday the 13th, and Nightmare on Elm Street.
Here's a quick example of what I mean. You'll probably get tired of me picking apart the notorious Hostel, but there's a lot wrong with that movie and reasons I dislike it so much. For a good chunk of the beginning, the main characters' focus is on drugs and women...not really women, but sex. I remember sitting in the theater and just wondering when the horror elements would pop in in this "softcore porn" of a movie. Yes, it really seemed that way. The guys would go out, drink, obtain some drugs, and hook up with these prostitutes or whatever. It seemed like that was the whole purpose, especially the guy who knew where to get the girls at. For a more visual commentary on unnecessary sex in horror, check out Cabin in the Woods.
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