Horror Convention or Cliché?
Recently managed to catch both Wrong Turn and The Hills Have Eyes (2006) in the same few days. (Hey, do I ask you what you do with your holiday? No. I do not.)
The similarities in terms of conventions-- and where convention careens into cliche-- interested me. Thus, here's my analysis. Gather ye story lessons where ye may.
RANDOM CHARACTER DEATH TEASER
Check, and check. Hills opens with the skewering of an entire HAZMAT team, and Turn opens with the death of two rock climbers. Both openings are reasonably satisfying, but I've got to go with Wrong Turn on this one: the climbers are organic to the story (they become two more missing people reported in this area) while with Hills, I just can't buy no one would have investigated-- thoroughly investigated-- the disappearance of an entire HAZMAT team. ("Hmm, that's weird. Bill, Jim, John, and Nick never came back after lunch. Huh. Oh well, I'm sure they just got transferred.")
THE GAS STATION
Both Turn and Hills have that gas station in the middle of nowhere with a pay phone that doesn't work, run by a single dirty, leathery old man who's no help at all when the weirdos are after you.
Is someone out there still finding the gas station thing creepy? Don't you just kind of want to get through that part, so you can get into a scene that could possibly have some surprises? This definitely falls under cliche and not convention. But I give Hills the point here, for at least making that leathery guy a character in the story (he appears to have fathered some of the mutants, and he actually has an arc... sort of... if you consider breaking down and killing yourself on the can an arc... and I do).
Both films lose credibility for including gas station pay phones that just don't work. I understand that our characters can't successfully use the pay phone, or there'd be no horror story. But the pay phones always just being dead? Come on, that's lazy. At least have the line intentionally cut or something. Or have someone make a comment about how, in the age of cells, the world is now full of dead pay phones no one's in any hurry to fix.
OUT OF CONTACT
Again, both stories take place in a remote landscape apparently out of cell phone range. And again, of course the cells can't work. But Hills wins the point on this one as well, by having one of the characters actually be a cell phone salesman who notes: "97% coverage in this country, and we have to be in the 3% with no coverage". Sometimes all you need to get away with something your plot requires is to acknowledge it. Or, as a smart guy I worked with said, "When you can't fill the hole, shine a light on it."
STOCK CHARACTERS
The "characters" in Wrong Turn are: STONER GIRL, STONER GUY, PRETTY DITZ, FUNNY NERD, ROBOT DOCTOR GUY, and ELIZA DUSHKU.
Hills easily wins this round, with characters that feel a lot less stock: the ex-cop dad and his former-hippie-but-now-spiritual mom; their oldest daughter, who seems to have happily given up thoughts of a career for her husband's business, and to raise their baby; the middle child, a spoiled, sullen teenage girl who keeps her affection for her family tight under wraps; the youngest, the teenage boy who's not a pushover, yet also doesn't seem to need to prove anything to anyone and who unabashedly adores the family dogs.
Not to mention, the characters in Wrong Turn seem to exist purely within the confines of this story. You simply don't believe these are people. (The robot doctor guy's on his way to a job interview? I don't think so. I think he's on his way to a WRONG TURN!) There isn't even any tension within the group. These characters are clearly set up to be knocked down.
In The Hills Have Eyes, though, the characters seem to have full lives and problems before they ever get to Mutanttown. The liberal son-in-law's sick of conceding to the conservative redneck father-in-law. The teenage girl's just starting to want to spend holidays away from family. Etc. They feel, more or less, like people who don't know what's coming yet. Which is great for tension.
FIRST CHARACTER TO DIE
Is it predictable? Wrong Turn: you betcha. Come on, if the stoners who are left to watch the broken-down car decide to kill the time by having sex aren't gonna be the first to go, then I'm Eliza Dushku.
Hills surprises, though. I think you're led to believe the whiny son-in-law's going to be offed early. But not so much. Again, the benefit of having slightly fuller characters: no one feels expendable.
CREEPY SET PIECES
Well, Wrong Turn's got the trapped-in-the-burning-watchtower bit, which I don't think I'd seen before. Pretty solid stuff. Hills? Mmm... I guess the incredibly disturbing scene in the trailer is the central set piece. Both movies were making do with limited locations/environments. Let's call this one a draw.
NIGHTMARISHLY MEMORABLE DEATH SCENE
Oh yeah, we got those. Turn's is brief, but has Pretty Ditz take an axe to the mouth, pinning her to a tree. That's a pretty ugly image. But I think Hills wins this one: part of a family tries to figure out how to save dad who has been crucified and set on fire just a hundred yards or so from their trailer, where various forms of torture are occurring. That's right: the movie has a crucifixion/immolation that's a diversion from the really bad stuff.
HORRIBLY MUTATED VILLAINS LIVING APART FROM SOCIETY
Um. Yup. Both movies've got'em. Which film's horribly mutated villains living apart from society are better, you ask?
Tough call. Hills's villains have a back story and distinct characterization. Our family has found itself on what used to be a nuclear testing facility. The miners and their families refused to leave their homes, which led to their progeny being horribly mutated.
Wrong Turn doesn't even bother with back story. The pitch for these mutants would be something like: "Did you see Texas Chainsaw Massacre? Those inbred guys, real ugly? They're like that." Except, of course, even Texas Chainsaw Massacre gave their cannibal family some back story. Wrong Turn's inbred psychos are about as developed as its human characters. ("Look out, Funny Nerd, Inbred Mutant With Bow and Arrows is right behind you!") Wrong Turn does not even go so far as to say the inbreds are cannibals. In all honesty, I don't know why these guys were killing people in the first place. They chop people up... but why?
And yet, Hills loses some points for overplaying the back story and trying to go political-for-dummies. The mutant back story is responsible for the worst line of dialogue in the whole film: "Your people asked our families to leave. So we hid in the mines, and you brought out your bombs and turned everything to ashes! You destroyed our homes and made us what we've become." To which the audience utters a collective "Duh!". I mean-- you want to really think about what happens when you bomb people? Go watch Akira again.
THE SCARE FACTOR
What would a horror be without a few good scares?
It'd be one of these two movies.
Wrong Turn manages to create a few moments of tension (as in the aforementioned watchtower scene) but mostly it's dialling it in. Hills, on the other hand, has many moments of tension, but they tend to pay off with something more gruesome or disturbing than scary. Neither film has any of those moments where, for a second, your blood runs cold. One movie you forget instantly, the other just leaves you feeling kind of dirty.
So there you go. Take these offerings as warnings.
Those close to me may choose to take this post as a cry for help. But hey, do I ask you what you do with your sunny Saturday afternoon?
The similarities in terms of conventions-- and where convention careens into cliche-- interested me. Thus, here's my analysis. Gather ye story lessons where ye may.
RANDOM CHARACTER DEATH TEASER
Check, and check. Hills opens with the skewering of an entire HAZMAT team, and Turn opens with the death of two rock climbers. Both openings are reasonably satisfying, but I've got to go with Wrong Turn on this one: the climbers are organic to the story (they become two more missing people reported in this area) while with Hills, I just can't buy no one would have investigated-- thoroughly investigated-- the disappearance of an entire HAZMAT team. ("Hmm, that's weird. Bill, Jim, John, and Nick never came back after lunch. Huh. Oh well, I'm sure they just got transferred.")
THE GAS STATION
Both Turn and Hills have that gas station in the middle of nowhere with a pay phone that doesn't work, run by a single dirty, leathery old man who's no help at all when the weirdos are after you.
Is someone out there still finding the gas station thing creepy? Don't you just kind of want to get through that part, so you can get into a scene that could possibly have some surprises? This definitely falls under cliche and not convention. But I give Hills the point here, for at least making that leathery guy a character in the story (he appears to have fathered some of the mutants, and he actually has an arc... sort of... if you consider breaking down and killing yourself on the can an arc... and I do).
Both films lose credibility for including gas station pay phones that just don't work. I understand that our characters can't successfully use the pay phone, or there'd be no horror story. But the pay phones always just being dead? Come on, that's lazy. At least have the line intentionally cut or something. Or have someone make a comment about how, in the age of cells, the world is now full of dead pay phones no one's in any hurry to fix.
OUT OF CONTACT
Again, both stories take place in a remote landscape apparently out of cell phone range. And again, of course the cells can't work. But Hills wins the point on this one as well, by having one of the characters actually be a cell phone salesman who notes: "97% coverage in this country, and we have to be in the 3% with no coverage". Sometimes all you need to get away with something your plot requires is to acknowledge it. Or, as a smart guy I worked with said, "When you can't fill the hole, shine a light on it."
STOCK CHARACTERS
The "characters" in Wrong Turn are: STONER GIRL, STONER GUY, PRETTY DITZ, FUNNY NERD, ROBOT DOCTOR GUY, and ELIZA DUSHKU.
Hills easily wins this round, with characters that feel a lot less stock: the ex-cop dad and his former-hippie-but-now-spiritual mom; their oldest daughter, who seems to have happily given up thoughts of a career for her husband's business, and to raise their baby; the middle child, a spoiled, sullen teenage girl who keeps her affection for her family tight under wraps; the youngest, the teenage boy who's not a pushover, yet also doesn't seem to need to prove anything to anyone and who unabashedly adores the family dogs.
Not to mention, the characters in Wrong Turn seem to exist purely within the confines of this story. You simply don't believe these are people. (The robot doctor guy's on his way to a job interview? I don't think so. I think he's on his way to a WRONG TURN!) There isn't even any tension within the group. These characters are clearly set up to be knocked down.
In The Hills Have Eyes, though, the characters seem to have full lives and problems before they ever get to Mutanttown. The liberal son-in-law's sick of conceding to the conservative redneck father-in-law. The teenage girl's just starting to want to spend holidays away from family. Etc. They feel, more or less, like people who don't know what's coming yet. Which is great for tension.
FIRST CHARACTER TO DIE
Is it predictable? Wrong Turn: you betcha. Come on, if the stoners who are left to watch the broken-down car decide to kill the time by having sex aren't gonna be the first to go, then I'm Eliza Dushku.
Hills surprises, though. I think you're led to believe the whiny son-in-law's going to be offed early. But not so much. Again, the benefit of having slightly fuller characters: no one feels expendable.
CREEPY SET PIECES
Well, Wrong Turn's got the trapped-in-the-burning-watchtower bit, which I don't think I'd seen before. Pretty solid stuff. Hills? Mmm... I guess the incredibly disturbing scene in the trailer is the central set piece. Both movies were making do with limited locations/environments. Let's call this one a draw.
NIGHTMARISHLY MEMORABLE DEATH SCENE
Oh yeah, we got those. Turn's is brief, but has Pretty Ditz take an axe to the mouth, pinning her to a tree. That's a pretty ugly image. But I think Hills wins this one: part of a family tries to figure out how to save dad who has been crucified and set on fire just a hundred yards or so from their trailer, where various forms of torture are occurring. That's right: the movie has a crucifixion/immolation that's a diversion from the really bad stuff.
HORRIBLY MUTATED VILLAINS LIVING APART FROM SOCIETY
Um. Yup. Both movies've got'em. Which film's horribly mutated villains living apart from society are better, you ask?
Tough call. Hills's villains have a back story and distinct characterization. Our family has found itself on what used to be a nuclear testing facility. The miners and their families refused to leave their homes, which led to their progeny being horribly mutated.
Wrong Turn doesn't even bother with back story. The pitch for these mutants would be something like: "Did you see Texas Chainsaw Massacre? Those inbred guys, real ugly? They're like that." Except, of course, even Texas Chainsaw Massacre gave their cannibal family some back story. Wrong Turn's inbred psychos are about as developed as its human characters. ("Look out, Funny Nerd, Inbred Mutant With Bow and Arrows is right behind you!") Wrong Turn does not even go so far as to say the inbreds are cannibals. In all honesty, I don't know why these guys were killing people in the first place. They chop people up... but why?
And yet, Hills loses some points for overplaying the back story and trying to go political-for-dummies. The mutant back story is responsible for the worst line of dialogue in the whole film: "Your people asked our families to leave. So we hid in the mines, and you brought out your bombs and turned everything to ashes! You destroyed our homes and made us what we've become." To which the audience utters a collective "Duh!". I mean-- you want to really think about what happens when you bomb people? Go watch Akira again.
THE SCARE FACTOR
What would a horror be without a few good scares?
It'd be one of these two movies.
Wrong Turn manages to create a few moments of tension (as in the aforementioned watchtower scene) but mostly it's dialling it in. Hills, on the other hand, has many moments of tension, but they tend to pay off with something more gruesome or disturbing than scary. Neither film has any of those moments where, for a second, your blood runs cold. One movie you forget instantly, the other just leaves you feeling kind of dirty.
So there you go. Take these offerings as warnings.
Those close to me may choose to take this post as a cry for help. But hey, do I ask you what you do with your sunny Saturday afternoon?
posted by Jennica at 11:03 a.m.
13 Comments:
you are one very strange woman.
You need to claim that you were driving down a country road, where your car conked out, so you hiked to an abandoned gas station, where the phone didn't work, but where a nice rural couple lived, who fed you soup and then forced you at gunpoint to watch those two movies.
There's an abandoned gas station in "Venom" too, which Kevin Williamson got paid way too much money to do a pointless, uncredited rewrite on.
It seems a lot of writers are phoning it in when it comes to horror these days, with one variation of the dead teenager movie or another, instead of writing about what would be truly scary to them. This is a point Scott brought up in Alligators In A Helicopter a few weeks ago that I would agree with.
Where are the movies like Poltergiest that are driving kids into therapy these days? It could be the new crop of slasher movies do that for some and I am merely jaded.
For me, the scariest movie I've ever seen is still Testament. I haven't even been able to watch it again.
All right, both Venom AND Testament just went on the 'to rent' list.
Hmm... in my current script I have a gas station with no working phone right at the beginning. It's written to be a funny and weird scene.
And yeah, the phone doesn't work because of the storm cutting the lines. And yeah, even the storm has a purpose later on after that scene to start the story.
After reading your post I thought I might use some more clichés for the gas station scene and make fun of them.
And I definately will think about a good reason why the cellphones don't work in that area. Maybe he didn't pay the bills. My main character's anyway broke.
Thanks.
You mean... my blog... helped someone? Wow! I thought I was just providing the occasional procrastination tool. (For me, as much as you.)
But, cool!
Good luck with that, Spanish Prisoner. The gas station (and beyond...) is SO ripe for sending up.
You know, you can get inspiration from many stuff and for someone it's just a blog for a little conversation and for others it's the solution. hehe.
Thanks, Jennica. I'm going to write now and update my page with further infos worth posting.
Thanks to your post, Jennica, I've rented The Hills Have Eyes today. And I can safely say it's the best horror film I've seen in years. Tense, gory (but not too much), atmospheric, and more original than any other such flick I've seen up late (And considering the fact it's actually a remake...). Cheers luv.
Liberal cell phone salesmen kick ass!
You actually make it seem so easy with your presentation but I find this topic to be really something which I think I would never understand. It seems too complicated and extremely broad for me. I’m looking forward to your next post, I will try to get the hang of it!
car removal in brisbane
cash for scrap cars ipswich
Great post. I used to be checking constantly this weblog and I am inspired! Extremely useful information specially the ultimate part :) I maintain such info much. I used to be seeking this particular information for a very lengthy time.
Thank you and good luck.
cash for unwanted cars melbourne
cash for scrap cars brisbane
Hi, I am really glad I have found this info. Nowadays bloggers publish just about gossips and internet and this is actually irritating. A good site with interesting content, this is what I need. Thank you for keeping this web site, I'll be visiting it. Do you do newsletters? Can not find it.
cash for cars sydney
old car removal sydney
Thanks for sharing. We pay our customers instant cash up to $9,999 without any waiting time. It is our policy to not let customers wait for their money. We also provide free towing services, so customers save even more money when dealing with us. This strategy has been a great success with our customers in Queensland. Through this, we gained a lot of goodwill from our customers.
car buyer caboolture
car buyer ipswich
Truly, this article is really one of the very best in the history of articles. I am a antique ’Article’ collector and I sometimes read some new articles if I find them interesting. And I found this one pretty fascinating and it should go into my collection. Very good work.
cash for cars
cash for scrap metal gold coast
Post a Comment
<< Home