Kat and I were watching a movie called Dark Forest (review forthcoming) with a friend that is a true horror movie fan. As we watched the movie, one woman was killed in a really brutal way - so much so it kind of freaked him out. It was then I realized another reason why foreign horror and home grown horror is so different most of the time.
Foreign horror directors address subjects and infuse scenes in their movies that American directors avoid like the plague due to fear of some interest group forming a lynch mob and coming after them. Take Battle Royale - the sheer genius of the plot of "thinning the herd" of uncooperative, disrespectful teens alone makes this movie almost taboo in the United States, while the lesbian undertones in High Tension would never be seen in a movie in this country without some gratuitious sex scene which would ruin the film. Foreign directors see horror and fear through a different set of glasses, and adhere to a different set of filmmaking rules.
It is my hope and prayer that one day the film industry in Hollywood will have an epiphany and see the error of their ways. The goal should not be to copy a decent movie from a different country but to use those movies as a catalyst for an original thought. Put some intelligence in the great genre of American horror cinema (I swear, I see one more big boobed female that can't think her way out of a closet get chased around for most of a movie by some "monster" I'm going to scream!) - explore the human psyche a little more and don't be afraid to go out on a limb and try a different point of view. As for the "money men" in Hollywood - the next time someone comes up with an idea to redo a classic that was done to death (Friday the 13th, Nightmare on Elm Street, Halloween) - just say no....
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