Why are Characters So Dense In Horror Flicks

So we rented the movie Prometheus as directed by Ridley Scott. Yes there are obvious parallels to his earlier Alien Movies. Similar creatures, similar questions, with the additions of the Start of life and who made Human Kind. There are a number of differences as well of course. The level of technology, the appearance of the Engineers, the way the creatures in the film look. Still the feeling is there. It does seem more like Alien than the follow on films. The motivation for the backers, the underlying themes, the heroism of the female lead, very in tune with the other related films. But why are they, the characters, so stupid in this movie. Hi we are on an alien planet, lets take our helmets off, lets touch the alien life form, lets go to a distant world without a first contact protocol in place, without scanning for infections, and lets just go run around without armored suits. How about we show up with only simple firearms and odd looking flamethrowers for weapons, nothing sophisticated at all. It is enough to irk me in watching the film. All of these factors make the characters look like complete novices. Prometheus is no different than Alien, Aliens, Aliens 3, etc. In those movies the ordinary people make simple mistakes. In Prometheus the one character reaches out to the snake like alien. Come on, it looks like a snake, why would you think it will be friendly. I mean there are ample examples in literature and films to make a rational guess how a first contact situation should be able to be conducted. From SF in the 1960s and 19702 to movies such as Super 8, The Day The Earth Stood Still, and Close Encounters of the Third Kind which could give a prospective deep space traveler some idea of what could, in theory, develop. So what can we Horror Oriented Gamers pull from Prometheus to use in our games. Here area few things from a single watching of the movie today. Isolation The unknown, fear of the unknown Play up on simple mistakes Infection and changes in personality Hidden Agendas and secrets The Attempt to Cheat Death Each of these can be pulled into a game setting or scenario. each one could be a single encounter leading up to the final aspect of the adventure planned out. Next time I am on a deep space mission, I am so not trusting the artificial life form assigned to the mission. Especially when a private concern is the financing portion of the expedition.

What is Horror to me

Horrorgenre.blogspot.com

The Horror Genre and it is to me

What is Horror?
What is Gothic?
What do these words mean to you?
So From On Art & Life By John Ruskin
The Characteristics or moral elements of Gothic
1. Savageness (Or rudeness)
2. Changefulness (Love of Change)
3. Naturalism (Love of Nature)
4. Grotesqueness (Disturbed Imagination)
5. Rigidity (Obstinacy)
6. Redundance (Generosity)


For me I really discovered it in Jr High School with Edgar Allen Poe and Howard P. Lovecraft. Call of Cthulhu is the start of this for me.

Then along came slasher flicks, which are not my taste at all. I like the flavor of Event Horizon, Call of Cthulhu, Remade The Thing, Most anything from John Carpenter, especially Prince of Darkness, the more psychological than gore and blood violence.

I bought years worth of Fangoria back then as well.

Now my tastes are a bit more refined, a touch of Japanese Horror is good as well. But not Chainsaws, even though Hellraiser is incredible.

Tales and Stories from the Dark Heart

Few things are more appealing, more appetizing, more visceral, than a good Horror Story. One that makes your toes curl, one that makes that pit of your stomach just a little queasy. Ones that make your glottis twitch imagining something like that sliding down past your teeth, across your tongue and down wriggling into the pit of your stomach.

So here as time passes will be reviews of creepy things, not just books, along with stories and images located to spark the morbid imagination.

Welcome to Tales and Stories from the Dark Heart