Thriller Films & Women
// April 25th, 2007 // Comments Off // opinion
I just came back from seeing Disturbia. It wasn’t really something I wanted to see but because it is a boring public holiday with nothing else to do, it seemed like the only option. All the other movies that were playing looked quite shiteous and it was between Disturbia and The Reaping.Disturbia it was.
Before I go and see a movie I don’t really give a shit about, I like to read up on it as much as I can. This includes reading people’s comments on IMDb, reading reviews of the film or sometimes even finding the entire plot and reading that. I don’t know why I do that, it probably is because I don’t really care about the movie so I just want to know all about it so there are no surprises. However, this does not apply with movies that I am very interested in seeing. I will avoid reading IMDb (aka The Whiny Bitches Database), Wikipedia, film reviews… ANYTHING to do with the film.
Disturbia is not really a film I would see. I don’t really like thriller movies that much. Well… okay. I don’t mind thriller movies but honestly, after about an hour of watching a film that conveys thrills very well I feel like taking up smoking again. The stress is unnecessary. If I want a scare, I’ll watch a horror film. The only problem is this – while to the outsider, a thriller and horror movie may seem similar they are in fact, very different.
Thriller films are different to horror films because women will actually go and see thrillers. They will actually WANT to go see a thriller, to get scared and to jump in their seats. I’m not exactly sure why women would rather see a thriller than a horror movie since horror is really just big comedic gore fest whereas I feel like I’m going to die in a theatre when I see a thriller. I don’t really like to go to the cinema to die of a heart attack, I’d much rather someone do that on screen with hilarious consequences if you get my drift.
Horror movies are taboo for women. You will rarely see a female watching a horror film without a male escort. She will most probably be there against her will. For my friends and I, this is usually not the case. My friend Petra is always up for watching a horror movie with me, and Nessa is up for it too. The others… I don’t think so. I don’t think I’ve seen that too often; where a bunch of females willingly go and see a horror movie that isn’t The Grudge or Saw or anything super gay like that.
So what the fuck is the difference between being scared shitless for about 45 minutes, or watching someone die on screen in a gory yet comedic way? Well.. there’s the obvious difference there. But why is forcing yourself to watch something that will scare you so much easier than watching something that will gross you out or make you laugh?
Women will willingly go to thriller films. They’ll go with a bunch of their friends, sit there and squeal about how scared they are. You know, like I did tonight. But they won’t go to horror films. Why. WHY!
Because maybe we like being scared. Maybe we like the rush of being freaked out for a little while. And maybe we also can’t stand to be grossed out. Maybe we can’t take horror films so thriller films are like our ’soft core’ shit. Who knows? Maybe we like the clues… the build up to the chase. The psychology of it all. The fact that it creeps us the fuck out. The emotions that the main character goes through. Maybe the Thriller film is like a Romantic Comedy that men are dragged to while the Horror film is like the Action movie that women are dragged to.
The experience of tonight has taught me a few things:
1) Treat the thriller genre like the romantic comedy: don’t see this movie on a first date. The guy will think you’re lame when you start screaming and cutting off the circulation of his arm. Kind of like how you would act in a romantic comedy movie, only instead of screaming you’d be crying and you’d probably still be cutting off the circulation of his arm.
2) Don’t buy any popcorn, especially the large serving. During the tense scenes, I ate like a pig. Guess it beats biting your nails. Wait. I did that too.
3) There is nothing you can do to stop squealing girls. Get it out on DVD if you want to see it without the added sound effects.
4) If you can see a thriller, you CAN see a horror film. Do it. Trust yourself. I believe in you!
