Ambiguity In Horror Films Essay

In 1996, Wes Craven released Scream, a horror film that to this day is a major influence in the horror genre. This paper however is not about Scream, in fact it’s not about horror films at all, because lets be honest, most horror films these days suck (Infact horror films in general have always sucked. Sure you might get an awesome one like A Nightmare on Elm Street, but then you get 5 crappy sequels that follow. Every time a film like Let the Right One In, or The Cabin in the Woods is released, you get 10 films like The Lazarus Effect). Now you may ask yourself, “If this paper isn’t about Scream, or horror films, why are you bring it up.” Well the answer is simple. The true nature of this paper is to discuss ambiguity, and no other film

Billy quickly replies that, “Well I don’t really believe in motive, Sid. I mean did Norman Bates have a motive? Did they ever really decide why Hannibal Lecter liked to eat people? Don’t think so. See, it’s a lot scarier when there’s no motive, Sid.” As Billy said, when motive is out the window, actions become not only more terrifying, but also more interesting. A good example of this came in No Country for Old Men when the character Anton Chigurh goes on a miraculous killing spree for very little reason whatsoever. We have no idea why Anton seemingly kills people without mercy, and while his actions are terrifying to think about, it also makes it more interesting to debate internally why he’s doing all the terrible things we see him doing. Like many people, I’ve thought about the motives of serial killers like Anton Chigurh, or the reasoning behind other madmen like The Joker. Every time I debate with myself the answers to my questions, I often times come up with different answers, however I’m never satisfied with what I’ve come up