Nerve Endings Firing Away

Yup, you heard that right. Bill O’Reilly, the patriarch for all things loony and conservative (values-wise) is now going to “look into this” [video link]; ‘this’ being America’s fondness for horror movies. Horror fans are already ranting against his asinine opinion, which I completely agree with.

Admittedly, I am not fan of horror movies that is, those filled with blood and gore but I love the thrillers like Psycho, The Ring, The Shining, The Omen, Silence of the Lambs, etc. I have also wondered who in their right mind would be watching those gore fests especially the intensely violent ones like the Saw series, Hostel, etc. But it turns out that many people do. Saw III released this past Halloween weekend and zoomed to the top of the charts. The first two editions have already grossed $250 million; this for movies made under $10 million [both of them combined]. I found those figures astounding and can only marvel at the film makers for discovering their meganiche.

Just the past week as I was wondering on the consistent release of horror flicks around Halloween time each year, I read an enlightening article in Wired (damn! can’t find an online reference now). The horror film makers are perfectly normal people and not psychotically twisted individuals who are venting their weird fantasies. They are just individuals with a different kind of creative imagination and smart businessmen who are raking in the moolah for giving people what they need. Of course, they aren’t foisting their wares on all and sundry and their movies come with a strong ‘R’ rating which ought to and mostly does warn off the easily offended. Ash cannot handle even the light-horror stuff and rightly claims that her imagination haunts her with the visuals that she sees in a horror movie when she is alone. So she doesn’t watch them even when I sometimes plead her to. That’s like making a smart choice – not watching something that you don’t like.

Bill O’Reilly can do with similar and mostly common sense advice. It is strange to see a guy who otherwise supports inflicting untold horror on people in form of torture just because they might be suspected terrorists winces at the sight of fictional horror. He parades so-called experts in favor of his value judgment to make a sweeping generalization against horror movies.

For a guy who thought that southern plantations that employed slaves were efficient than most businesses today has some difficulty trying to understand that a similar concept is in place here except, of course coercing someone to do your bidding. If people were strapped to their chairs and their eyes held wide open to watch the latest edition of Saw, he would be justified but we all know nothing of this sort happens. Also, his sweeping attempt at labeling horror as something twisted misses the ‘glorious’ tradition of Halloween that effectively makes kids dress up in garbs of ghouls, living skeletons, and other horror monsters. For a Christian nation that he fights for, I don’t see him ranting against the much-pagan festival of Halloween. His grouse that women are being defiled in horror movies doesn’t say much for a falafel-wielding man who would put a cigar to shame. If anything that affects your sensibilities is reason enough for something to be banned then all evangelical channels and movies with Himesh Reshamiya music should also be ‘looked into’. Considering the company that signs his paychecks also makes horror movies, he should stop digging his own grave lest he is buried alive *devilish laughter*.

Why the hell am I ranting against something Bill O’Reilly said? If I ranted for anything offensive he says, I would have a 24/7 dedicated blog devoted to the cause. There are others who do that and also do a better job while at it. Also, Saw 3 director Darren Lynn Bousman has penned his response too and he brings up the exact same issues of non-coercive products that you can easily avoid.