Double Bill of Horror!

Yesterday, I visited my local cinema with my partner. It was the rarest of days; a day we didn't have the children. What better way to celebrate than to watch a couple of good horror films? Specifically, we chose A Quiet Place and Ghost Stories. We decided to capitalise on our day off and watch them back-to-back, enjoying both immensely. First was A Quiet Place, an atmospheric edge of your seat type horror, something along the same vein as Alien.

Almost immediately afterward we watched Ghost Stories, more of a psychological, classic English horror. Both films are very much horror films and yet both are worlds apart from another. It made me think of the last two horror films we watched back to back: The Babadook and It Follows.

Again, two profoundly different films that share the same genre, and it made me think:

What really defines "horror"?

For me, a good horror film has to possess a deeper meaning; be a metaphor for something we all have to deal with that's then personified on screen.

A Quiet Place, can be seen as a metaphor for parenthood or even censorship.

The Babadook, is a metaphor for the destructive nature of grief.

It Follows, plays on the repercussions of sex. More specifically, STD's.

So, if anyone reads this, let me know what your favourite horror movie is and why.

A Quiet Place and Ghost Stories are currently showing at cinemas, and I highly recommend you go see them both.