Why do we love Horror so much? - The Insomniac's Cinema

Why do we love horrors so much?
The Insomniac's Cinema

Horror is a very unique movie genre, it's one of those genres that people either love or hate. Usually the people who hate it say that they cant handle being scared or that the violence and gore is just too much for them, and then there's us, the people who cant get enough of those exact things! Why is this, why do we enjoy and love horrors so very much while others can't stand them at all?

Over the past few years I've heard several different theories explaining our fascination with horror movies. Some people argue that our love of horrors comes from the resurfacing of our most primal urges. That when we watch these types of movies we satisfy an aggressive and primal spirit that lives deep within us. The same affect can be used to explain the morbid fascination you might experience when seeing a car crash on a highway, how you know that there's a chance that if you look you will see something upsetting on the road but you can't help but stare as long as possible until your too far away to make anything out.


Another explanation suggests that while we watch horrors we get an adrenaline rush similar to what you would experience when you are actually in danger. This is the same reason people give for taking part in extreme sports or riding roller coasters. I think this a very good argument, but the thing is I've watched so many horror movies, that few scare me at all anymore while that same movie would make somebody (who isn't fond of horrors) go completely hysterical...


Something else that makes me wonder a lot about horror movies and their effect on us is that they almost always get such a polarized reaction... People either LOVE them or HATE them. Some would say it's because some people are just tougher and don't get scared so easily, I don't agree with this...

I think that one of the many reasons for our fascination and love for horrors and why they can  have such a polarizing effect can be linked to early exposure...

My father is really not a huge horror fan today but when he was younger he used to  be a complete Stephen King and all around Horror fiction lover! In our loft he stored all his horror books and when I was very young I went up there and looked at their interesting covers. Most of them didn't bother me that much except for one, a book called Headhunter by Michael Slade.

The exact same cover
 that is still gathering
Dust in our loft...

I have no idea why but this one book scared me so much but at the same time kept drawing me back to it, for years afterwards whenever I went up there I looked at that book and every time it creeped. me. out! See, my theorie is that, that book planted the seed in my head that lead to me being such  a huge horror fan,  it was jut scary enough to frighten and entice me but not that scary that it completely scared me away, thus I formed this fascination with this genre as a whole. Usually when I speak with the horror haters they tell me that they experienced something horror related when they were younger and that it scared them so much they can't stand horror at all, even today...


Thank you for reading and please remember that this is just someone who doesn't really know anything about anything's theorie, but I would love to hear all of your own opinions so please share them in the comments below!

-The Insomniac's Cinema

Evil Dead (2013) - Review by The Insomniac's Cinema

Evil Dead (2013) - Review

Directed by: Fede Alvarez.
Produced by:  Bruce Campbell, Sam Raimi and Robert G. Tampert.
Starring: Jane Levy, Lou Tayor Pucci, Shiloh Fernandez, Jessica Lucas and Elizabeth Blackmor

Evil Dead is a remake/reboot/continuation of the 1981 horror classic, The Evil Dead, which was directed by Sam Raimi and starred Bruce Campbell. Since almost 99% of all horror remakes suck really badly a lot of people were skeptical about this one as well, but since Sam Raimi and Bruce Campbell were both producers (who were very  present in the making) of this film, there were also people (including me) that were excited for it. In the end I can honestly say that this is one of the best Horror remakes ever! However, this is very different from the original. One of the biggest complaints about it, is that it's too scary and not funny enough but something that I think people forget is that the reason The Evil Dead was funny, wasn't because it was supposed to be but because Sam Raimi and Bruce Campbell had a budget so small they couldn't even afford to buy gum while filming it (true story!) Evil Dead is The Evil Dead made with the budget that Sam and Bruce never had, it's more scary because they could actually afford the effects the wanted...

Evil Dead is about a group of friends who go to stay at a cabin in the woods so that their drug addicted friend can get clean, but when one of them reads from a mysterious book something evil is released that starts to possess them one by one, the different characters have to defend against their now deadite friends and try to survive the  night… Jane Levy plays Mia, the young drug addict trying to get clean with te help of her friends Eric (Lou Taylor Pucci), Olivia (Jessica Lucas), Natalie(Elizabeth Blackmore) and her brother David (Shiloh Fernandez) 

The characters were pretty much what you’d expect in a horror (under-developed, boring etc.) except for Mia , who was the only interesting character and only one you really cared about. I think that most of the cast did fine acting wise but everyone made extremely dumb decisions throughout the movie (like reading a book bound with human flesh, full of scribbles like, “DON’T READ THIS” after finding it in a cellar full of dead cats hanging upside down...) 

There are some major changes in the story compared to the original (including an awesome twist in the end) like Mia’s drug addiction which is a great reason for them not wanting to leave or taking what she says or does too seriously. Something that I WISHED they never put in the movie was the opening scene. In my opinion it doesn't add anything to the story, all it does is put questions in my head like, "when did this take place?" and "who the hell are those people?" or "why did they kill all the cats?" and "whoa, what's up with that dude." The opening scene was also one of the very few scenes in which they used CGI instead of practical effects. 

Original Book of The Dead compared to the remake.

The practical effects in the movie are done really, really well! They are disgusting and creepy and will definitely make you cringe at least once. The movie isn't very scary in the typical sense but it is very tense and disturbing, even the (few that there were) jump scares were done very well. I don't know if it was just me but the first time in a long time that I watched a movie that made me feel so super tense, not scared, but tense... Roque Baños composed a fantastic and eerie score which I would easily buy. Something that made a few scenes a lot creepier to me personally was that they used a siren sound effect throughout the movie when something scary was happening and every time I heard it, I thought of David Lynch's short film Six Men Getting Sick. I was also surprised to find that there was quite a lot of foreshadowing and symbolism used, like the fact that Mia is fighting to herself, trying to get clean but she also has to fight the real demon inside of her. 

Evil Dead was a disturbing, well made and interesting retelling of the classic. To me, the biggest problem was that the characters were under-developed. The movie does differ from the original but is still scary and effective in telling The Evil Dead story. The practical and sound effects were done really well and some changes added to the story, while others could've been left out. All in all, Evil Dead is a super cool and disturbing horror movie.

Evil Dead Final Verdict:

Best Character: Mia.
Worst Character: Natalie.
Best Scene: Final Fight Scene.
Worst Scene: Opening scene.
Best Change from the Original: Mia's drug addiction and *spoiler*  the fact that Mia "became" Ash.
Worst Change from the Original: The Book of the Dead.


Rating: 7/10 GOOD!

*spoiler talk*
After Bruce's cameo in the credits I immediately thought holy shit, Mia and Bruce are gonna star side by side in Evil Dead 2! But after doing some research I found out that Sam And Bruce are planning a Army of Darkness 2 and Fede Alvarez is already busy working on Evil Dead 2! How cool is that? They said that they want to have the two movie series' to conjoin in the 7th Evil Dead movie! Nothing is completely set in stone so only time will tell!!!

*end of spoiler talk*

The Walking Dead: 30 Days Without An Accident - Review (S4 Ep01)

Like American Horror Story, The The Walking Dead is back! After last year's season, we all had high hopes for the new one. Now that the the premiere has aired, I think it's safe to say that four is gonna be a great season. 

In the beginning of the episode we see Rick busy tending to the prison's crops. Rick acts strangely towards to the walkers and you immediately notice that he is different. Carl comes down to Rick and they both walk to a pig's sty where they look at a sickly pig. Hershel approaches Rick and tells him that the "counsel" wants him to take his gun with him when going outside and Rick agrees reluctantly, again showing Rick has changed a lot. 

Later that day when Rick is outside the prison, he comes across a woman who begs for help and says that her husband urgently needs food. Rick hands her some food and they start to speak about the camp. Rick says that before they can come to the prison they have to answer three questions. The Woman agrees and starts to lead Rick to her and her husband's camp. When they finally get there, the woman tries to kill Rick but fails. She then decides to take her own life instead... Rick looks at the husband's severed head, covered with a dirty cloth, and leaves without disturbing the couple.

At the same time, Daryl and his team (consisting of Glenn, Michonne, Tyresse, and two other disposable characters) make a run to for supplies. They go to a huge store and at first, everything is fine but little do they know that the store's roof was immensely weakened by a military chopper and that it's also infested with walkers. Before they can get away, walkers start dropping through the roof. They take them all out but in the posses lose Zach, Beth's boyfriend.

The episode ended with a scene of a young man falling down and coming back to life as a walker, without ever being bitten...

I really loved this episode. It was great to see how the main characters have changed over the past seasons. Especially Rick who seems to be tired of all the violence and killing. All he wants is to raise his kids and help other people. To me, Rick's new attitude towards the walkers and his gun, is his way of not accepting his reality, he wants to live a happy, normal life. But, by meeting the woman in the woods and going through what happened he realizes that what he wants, he will never truly have. He will never escape the horror that the world has become and he will never be safe, no-one will. This fits in perfectly with the overall theme of the episode, even if there are "30 Days Without An Accident" the chances are that there will be one soon...

What happened to Daryl and his crew also fits perfectly with the theme. They started to get too cocky, they thought they had everything under control but as we saw, they didn't. Anything can go wrong at any time, with anyone.

I don't know if I'm the only one who thinks this, but it really seems like Glen's time is up. After he was almost killed in the store, spoke about what it means to be alive with Maggie and the fact that he only appeared once in the "this season on" trailer I would not be surprised if he dies in the next few episodes.

And now I have to speak about something we all knew was coming, yes, the zombie virus is evolving! It had to happen sometime. I don't think that there has ever been a movie or a series in which we see the zombie virus evolve so that it can spread though other mediums. To see how the characters will react, is going to be awesome. I'm also looking forward to seeing how exactly it spreads and if the pig had anything to do with it.

For the next episode I hope we see a lot of blood and violence (which is a given) but also to see them explore the future of the series and where they want to go, once the prison is uninhabitable. 

All in all, this was a great episode and a great start to a new season. Tell me, what did you guys think? 

Rating: 8.5/10

Jessica Lange Retiring Soon?!

Lange as Fiona Goode, Supreme witch in AHS Coven.

Unless you've been living under a rock for the past few weeks, you'll probably know that on Wednesday the premiere of American Horror Story season three, subtitled Coven, was aired. You might also know that the premiere was a huge hit with 5.54 million U.S. viewers alone. Even with show's success, during a recent interview with Yahoo TV Coven star, Jessica Lange, has announced that she is planning on retiring in the next few years.

Since Lange, who has starred in all the previous AHS seasons, is a fan favorite her announcement might upset some, but it's not all bad. Jessica said, "... if we do another one, I’ll do that, but then … yeah.  Because I’m kind of coming to the end of acting, anyhow.” So, even if she does retire in the near future we will still see her play at least one more awesome and crazy AHS character.

However, all hope is not lost! Ryan Murphy, AHS creator, when asked about the announcement said that each year Jessica says it's her last but keeps coming back for more. Since she's already committed to a fourth season, who knows? Maybe she'll stick with AHS till the end. (Which might actually be a long time since Murphy also said that he wants to see AHS go for 10, 12 or maybe even 15 years!)

I think there will definitely be some backlash towards Jessica's decision but in her defense, it's completely reasonable for her to want to retire, after all, she is almost 65... 

For now all we can do is enjoy Coven and look forward to season 4! 

What do you guys think? Are you upset over her announcement? If Game of Thrones has taught us anything, it's that a show can still be AMAZING even if beloved characters depart from the show. I think that the rest of AHS's great cast will easily be able to carry the show without Jessica... 

Check out my review of Bitchcraft, episode one of AHS Coven!
Sources here and here!

American Horror Story: Coven - Bitchcraft - Review (S3 Ep1)

Full Plot Summary

The episode starts off with a flashback of Madame Delphine Lalaurie's (played by Kathy Bates) house of torture. Next we see the return of Taissa Farmiga as Zoe, a young witch who accidentally kills her boyfriend... while they're having sex. Wait, let me rephrase that, BY having sex.

Zoe's Parents send her to Miss Robichaux's Academy for Exceptional Young Ladies where she meets a group of other witches including Madison Montgomery (Emma Roberts), Queenie (Gadibe Sidibe) and Nan (Jamie Brewer.) She is also introduced to Cordelia Fox (Sarah Paulson) who is the headmaster of the school. Cordelia tells Zoe of the witch-world and the Supreme, a very powerful witch that has numerous powers where normal witches only have one.

Next we're introduced to The Supreme, Fiona Goode (played by the fantastic Jessica Lange!) who is searching for a way to regain her youth, after failing she decides to go to Miss Robichaux's Academy to help Cordelia, who is actually her daughter, run the school.

Mishka is not amused...

Zoe and Madison decide go a a frat party where Madison is drugged and raped by numerous members of a fraternity. One of the members, played by Evan Peters, finds then and chases them from the party. When he tries to confront hid buddies, they knock him unconscious and start to drive away. Before they can get away Madison comes outside and flips their bus, killing almost all of them, including Evan Peter's character.

The next day Fiona decides to take the girls out to a field trip but end up in Madame Delphine's house, which is now a museum. While they're there we are told that the Madame was poisoned and presumed to be dead even though her body was never found... Nan tells Fiona that she can hear Madame Delphine voice outside. 

Zoe visits a hospital and finds the boy who survived, also realizing that he was the one who drugged Madison. She proceeds to have him enter her, which leads to him dying...

Finally the episode ends with Fiona who goes back to Madame Delphines House and digs up her coffin exactly where Nan said she heard the Madame. Fiona opens it and finds Delphine alive and well...

Bitchcraft Review

WHOOO, American Horror Story is back! After the masterpiece that was American Horror Story Asylum and what can only be described as fantastic marketing, I think we were all pretty exited for Coven! This season is about "Miss Robichaux's Academy for Exceptional Young Ladies" AKA a house fo' witches. Right now I think it's too early to tell if this season is gonna be even more awesome than Asylum but at the moment its looking very promising!

One of my favorite things about the AHS series is the fact that they keep using the same actors but change the story, Coven is no different. This first episode featured so many of the fantastic actors from the previous seasons, the most notably being Taissa Farmiga as Zoe and Jamie Brewer as Nan. The only missing face that I can think of was Zachary Quinto's, but considering that in both the previous seasons he never made his fist appearance in the first episode we will hopefully still see him return! I'm also not sure if Evan Peters' character will make a comeback or if he is actually dead. Coven has also brought in some stellar new actors like Kathy Bates, Emma Robert and Gabourney Sidebe.



Another thing that makes AHS so special is how stylized it all looks. Once again Coven captures this perfectly, from the artistic camera shots and editing to the amazing symbolism, to the costumes and practical effects, everything is awesome and creepy. It also seems as though they aren't afraid to show anything "too disturbing" anymore.

The witch aspect of this season also seems very interesting. Seeing Jessica Lange being a reckless and ruthless bitch and Kathy Bates playing a deranged torturer is awesome, it really seems like they're going full on with this season. I'm also happy to see Taissa back again (but seriously though, I have to say that her power sucks, really badly.)  It was also great seeing Sarah Paulson's character making potions, which suggests that there's a lot more to the witch world than just moving stuff with your mind.

All in all this episode was great, it showcases everything that made Asylum amazing. Taking in to account the previous seasons, it's almost impossible to predict what will happen next but I'm extremely exited to find out! 

So tell me, what did you guys think of this first episode? Are you exited for the rest of the season?

Rating: 8/10

Sleepy Hollow S1, Ep4 - The Lesser Key of Solomon - Review

Sleepy Hollow is a retelling of the classic story "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow." In this version the story takes place in the present. The series stars Tom Mison as Ichabod Crane who wakes up in modern day New York to find the Headless Horseman is also present in the city. Together with Lt. Abbie Mills (played by Nicole Beharie) and his deceased wife Katrina Crane (played by Katia Winter) they try and stop the Horseman (Death) from bringing back to life the other Three Horsemen of The Apocalypse...

Season 1 Episode 3: For The Triumph of Evil..., Recap:

• Abbie dreams of the Sandman who is busy exacting revenge on everyone who did not help Jennifer (Abbie's sister) when they had the chanceto do so.
• Before the Sandman can get Abbie, she and Ichabod then decide to enter the dream world to try and defeat Rokaronti.
• Abbie admits that she could've and should've helped her sister and by doing so, she wards away Rokaronti.
• Abbie decides to visit her sister but finds that Jennifer has escaped the Asylum.

Read the full review here!

Sleepy Hollow Season 1 Episode 4: The Lesser Key of Solomon - Summary

This week's episode began with Abbie exiting the asylum and telling Ichabod her sister escaped.After Abbs and Ich (yeah, that's what I'm gonna call them from now on because keping on saying, "Abbie and Ichabod", deal with it) speak with one of Jenni's previous foster parents, they find out that Jenni used to visit a cabin up in the woods numerous times when she was younger.

Abbs and Ich decide to go to the cabin and find Jenni but also that it was Sherrif Corbin's Cabin. After Jenni and Abbs have a quarrel Jenni explains that Crobin believed her and that he knew all along about the legend of Sleepy Hollow and what might happen. 

Jenni then proceeds to take out a big wooden box that Corbin asked her to protect. Inside they find a old sextant and a piece of cloth that Ich remembers seeing during the Boston Tea Party. Ich then realizes that the sextant actually projects and old map of sleepy hollow.

Before they can properly look at the projection, they are ambushed by gunfire. After two of the men escape with the sextant, Jenni, Abbs and Ich interrogate another one of them who didn't get away. Ich finds out they are Hessian soldiers (German soldiers who had been laying dormant while they wait for the return of the Horsemen.) They then fin out that the map was showing the location of the Lesser Key of Solomon, a old mythological book that can open a gate for 72 demons who can reign terror down on earth. The Hessian's final words, before he takes a cyanide pill, are, "Moloch shall rise."
They later find out that Moloch is a demon and the one who summoned the Horseman in the first place and is trapping Ich's wife.

They all quickly go to a Church that the map pointed out and find the other two Hessians have already opened the gate but before the souls escape they burn the book and kill both of the men, foiling yet another of Moloch's plans...


Sleepy Hollow Season 1 Episode 4: The Lesser Key of Solomon - Review

Whew, that was a mouthful! So in this week's episode featured The Lesser Key of Solomon. While the ever changing story arcs of Sleepy Hollow does keep the show interesting, it does feel as though they are blazing through them while not showing enough of Death. The last time we saw him was in Episode 2?! Seriously, where is the Headless Horseman? Is he chilling in Sleepy Hollow somewhere? Is he busy plotting his next attack? Because I sure would love to know.

Other then Death's absence from yet another episode I really think they shouldn't have rushed through this story arc in one single episode, I understand that season one was only commissioned for 5 or 6 episodes but then they should have waited and kept this for season 2. It's almost starting to feel like American Horror Story Season 1 where the show has all these different plots and characters that you end up not really caring about any of them.

We were seriously bombarded with new information this episode, from Corbin's involvement with Jenni to more back story for Inc and Abbs to all the Hessian bullshit and finding out that Moloch is the puppeteer causing all these problems. While I think it's awesome that the show has a lush and interesting plot I really think they should SLOW IT DOWN!

I don't know about you guys but I didn't even think that the whole Lesser Key of Solomon and Hessian story was that interesting. The demons were cool but they didn't even get through the gate. The whole episode built up to the scene with exposition, but it was a huge anti-climax which ended in less than five minutes.

I really hope that they will return to the Horsemen's story in the final two episodes while also exploring Moloch's plan since I genuinely find both of then very interesting.

One of my favorite things about the show is it's character design so I'm very excited to see Moloch's full from.

All in all I was not impressed with this episode, I'm definitely going to continue watching the show I just really hope they take everything a bit slower...

Rating: 6/10

The Future of The Scream Franchise!

Ohh, scre-four-um, you big disappointment....

In 2012 it was announced that MTV (that makes me nervous already) is planning on making a Scream TV show! And recently news concerning the TV show and a new sequel was announced (yes, there's gonna be a Scream 5...)


Before you get mad over this hear me out, at the recent Zurich Film festival, Harvey Weinstein was quoted as saying this about the Scream 5, "Everyone lived in Scream 4." He also said that he is begging his brother, Bob Weinstein (head of Dimension Films) to make a final sequel to end the series because they have "milked that cow."


I don't know about you guys, but I really hope this happens. The original Scream trilogy is one of my all-time-favorites and to see how the character's story will really end is going to be awesome, hopefully they don't screw it up!


Weintein also said that there will be no connection between the film series and the upcoming TV show. Adding that the show might even contain some "supernatural" aspects, which does not necessarily excite me but it could still be good, right?

A few months ago it was also announced that Jay Beattie and Dan Dworkin will be writers on the show. Both have previously written for Revenge and Criminal minds, again I'm not sure if this eases my concerns.


So, how are you guys feeling about all of this? I think it's great if they would just end Sid's story. Concerning the TV show, I'm very conflicted... 


You can read the full story here! and here!

Sleepy Hollow Season 1: Episode 3 Review

Sleepy hollow is a TV show which has recently aired on Fox and while I didn't review the first two episodes I think it's still early enough in the series to to do so (also early enough for you to catch up if you're are not yet watching!)

Sleepy Hollow is a retelling of the classic story "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow." In this version the story takes place in the present. The series stars Tom Mison as Ichabod Crane who wakes up in modern day New York to find the Headless Horseman is also present in the city. Together with Lt. Abbie Mills (played by Nicole Beharie) and his deceased wife Katrina Crane (played by Katia Winter) they try and stop the Horseman (Death) from bringing back to life the other Three Horsemen of The Apocalypse...

Season 1 Episode 2: Blood Moon, Recap:

• Ichabod and Abbie stopped Serilda of Abadon from being completely revived
• Abie had a vision of Sherrif Crobin who tells her to not be afraid of 49
• We see Abbie's sister beefin' it up in her cell and we also learn that she doesn't like to take her meds...

Season 1 Episode 3: For The Triumph of Evil...

Episode 3 started with Abbie's very creepy dream sequence where we are introduced to the awesome Sandman (or as he's referred to in the show, Rokaronti.) In te show Rokaronti is a dream-demon who punishes people who idly stand by when they could be helping others, just like Abbie let everyone believe her sister was crazy by not telling the truth. After Abbie finds out that the demon will come for her, she and Ichabod go into Rokartonti's dream world where she destroys him by finally admitting that she should have helped her sister and told the truth. After Abbie and Ichabod wake up, Abbie decides to go visit her sister only to find that she escaped the asylum...

I think that this was a really great episode. With each week I find myself liking the show more and more. I loved that they are exploring all these different types of myths and not just staying with the Horsemen story arch. That being said, I feel as though this episode was too disjointed from the previous ones, there was absolutely no mention of the Horsemen or Katrina. I understand that the purpose of this episode was to better explain Abbie and Jennifer's relationship and history but I still think they could have tied it in with the rest of the series in a much better way.

But again I have to say that seeing Jennifer and Abbie's story was really interesting and by using the Sandman they did a fantastic job at keeping with the theme and atmosphere of the series. Hopefully we will find out what exactly the demon was planning to do to Abbie and her sis those four days in the woods, since it wasn't explored in the episode. 

Something that I'm really glad about is that the new Sheriff is letting Ichabod and Abbie do their work even if he doesn't exactly believe it's real. Lastly I just wanna say that I think they did a fantastic job with Rokaronti's character model, he kinda looks like a cross between Pyramid Head and the Pale Man from Pan's Labyrinth...

dem' moobs

Anyway I think that this series has a lot of potential and is getting better and better with each episode!  Tell me, what did you think of the episode and are you guys enjoying the show so far? 

Rating 8/10