This movie scared the hell out of me when I was a kid. It wasn't the action that scared me so much as the creepy atmosphere, and above all else, the hopelessness and dread of the story. There is also something very Lovecraftian to this movie, in that the horror lies in the whole situtation, and there is no hope of escaping the madness of it all. But then again, Carpenter has done other very much Lovecraftian movies, with "The Thing" and "In the Mouth of Madness" very much Lovecraft-inspired... which is also a goooood thing, because that's a damn good influence!
************Possible Spoilers**************
This movie is totally hopeless (in a positively scary sense!!)... Indeed, everything in the universe has its opposite, mirror image, and that includes absolutely every type of matter. People believing in the idea of God, of a supreme mind willing the destiny of everything that exists, will probably freak out at the idea of that same God being, instead of a positive being, an Anti-God. But if a God truly was, would He really be as we'd like Him to be? That, alone is scary, and reminds me of the deities of the Mythos, like Azatoth or Nyarlathotep... Oh, and add to that the possibility of sending communications back in time, by emitting them faster than light, which could very well be done sometime in the future (read about Gunter Nimtz's experiments, for exemple).
This is not gory or "watch for that axe murderer" (although there are hints of both here and there), but it does have its charms : a great score, a creepy philosophical concept, Lovecraftian psychological terror, and a great ride into the bleak, hopeless, and apocalyptic.
Subtle, and disturbing, for those who can think and immerse themselves in an horror movie WITHOUT the need for excessive gore and makeup.
************Possible Spoilers**************
This movie is totally hopeless (in a positively scary sense!!)... Indeed, everything in the universe has its opposite, mirror image, and that includes absolutely every type of matter. People believing in the idea of God, of a supreme mind willing the destiny of everything that exists, will probably freak out at the idea of that same God being, instead of a positive being, an Anti-God. But if a God truly was, would He really be as we'd like Him to be? That, alone is scary, and reminds me of the deities of the Mythos, like Azatoth or Nyarlathotep... Oh, and add to that the possibility of sending communications back in time, by emitting them faster than light, which could very well be done sometime in the future (read about Gunter Nimtz's experiments, for exemple).
This is not gory or "watch for that axe murderer" (although there are hints of both here and there), but it does have its charms : a great score, a creepy philosophical concept, Lovecraftian psychological terror, and a great ride into the bleak, hopeless, and apocalyptic.
Subtle, and disturbing, for those who can think and immerse themselves in an horror movie WITHOUT the need for excessive gore and makeup.
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