Eden Lake

I myself have always been a fan of horror movies, yet not in the sense that many of you would appreciate it. So a distinction was necessary to classify said movies into something that would be clearer for me in terms of technique, purpose, setting and finally, why not, detail. It is useful to understand that these ideal types often intermix.

In this effect, my categorization of horror movies goes as follows:

- gore horror - obviously meaning sheer detail and mostly going with stupid direction, with little to no time being spent in the artistic department; examples of such movies would most likely include the teen flicks that sprung in the late 90s early 00s: much quantity, less quality. It also relies on a twist ending that usually downgrades the whole production. This one contrasts with the psychological type in terms of detail and technique.

- active horror - this mainly is in stark opposition with the passive one, most obviously and it is particularized by a constant hide and seek from the beginning till the end, the details alternating from most to less with a very diffuse peak moment. Examples include most Japanese horrors, Haute tension, The Mist, Janghwa, Hongryeon, À l'intérieur, 1408 and many more.

- passive horror - the main feat of this type of horror film is the building up of suspense with discrete detailing up till a moment of explosion (in this respect in collides with the last type) where events can chain themselves beautifully and to great effect, even if half, or 3/4 of the film was under a slow pace. Examples include [Rec], The Ring, Ôdishon (which I recommend to all horror movie aficionados as being one of the sickest and having one of the most detailed scenes of torture ever seen on the big screen), El orfanato, The Descent, Honogurai mizu no soko kara.

- psychological horror - and why should I hide it, my own personal favourite relies heavily on the power it exercises over the mind of the viewer and its capacity to bend reality. Detail is minimal, if any, the element of horror being sustained by character development, background and overwhelming suspense. The final twist is usually exceptionally done and deviates only slightly from an otherwise detail-free environment. Examples include The Blair Witch Project, Tesis, Saint Ange, The Others, Kairo, El espinazo del diablo.

Of course, this classification does not apply to most interwoven genres such as parody, comedy, action or sci-fi, but they do help in standardizing the genre. Also is to be noted that many such horror films borrow from two or even three of the types described above. Few are pure.

Now, Eden Lake was in line with the rising horror industry in the UK, following on the path of such movies as the aforementioned The Descent, 28 Days Later... and Dog Soldiers. It is brutal, yet effective and doesn't give away to popular deconstruction, but it builds itself up and manages to paint a violent reality of Britain. The cliches don't mess it up, rather they add to its goal of establishing itself as a proper, driven horror movie.

8/10

Fat Santa

So Christmas came and with it, the usual hyperbolic mass hysteria associated with stray feelings, self-pitiful gift-giving and receiving, and my all time favourite, a tightly, nicely, gently wrapped present with green shiny paper and red strings that curl full of bullshit.

Now one may wonder why is it that one of the most important holidays in the world (muslims can say whatever, I know they give each other bombs this time of the year and wish to each other "happy christian killing") relies so heavily on lies, deceit and consumerist indoctrination. Well, it's easy, we don't live in a non-profit world, and somebody's gotta exploit the weak minds of the many. We all are very much aware that Santa Claus is fiction, yes he doesn't exist (and I'm not going to touch religion just yet, however for your information, I believe in the Flying Spaghetti Monster) and still is very much the cover for everything that compounds this period of the holidays. Poor children are duped into thinking he exists, parents want to be children and sick people...well, they're just sick. Santa Claus is the upfront man.

So here we have a consumerist driven holiday that has as a basis for its existence the greedy imagination of corporatists. You may think, hell, it's the holidays, it's a time of giving and loving and whatnot. Well, wrong. Ask ANY CEO (preferably not in front of the cameras) of a major company that profits from Christmas and he'll tell you plain and simple: it's all about the money. Now a sweet thing is that in Japan Christmas is considered a holiday of the kids and of lovers. Yet the Japanese aren't the best example of anti-consummerism since they have a frenetic impulse of intoxicating themselves with wretched western imports.

So there you have it, a campaign of money wasting for things we don't need and can't afford (and you wonder why is there a financial crisis...well, d'oh) sponsored by a being that doesn't exist taking merciless advantage of the helpless kids and the self-pitying adults.

Therefore I shall try and celebrate Saturnalia, at least they had a backbone of honesty and any bullshit about it, you knew and was never hidden in pompous advertising about "how great the time of cheerful joy is". So cheerful that the suicide rate increases over Christmas (no, it's not a myth, although many suggest it decreased overtime, that's just because people imagined that going alone isn't the answer and taking some few with you will be just what Santa wants of us)

You think about that. I'll do something else.