I don't know about you guys, but I found The Conjuring underwhelming at best. I watched it a few weeks ago and even now I still can't figure out what's with all the critical reception this movie is getting. That's not to say the movie is a flop, but beyond the fact that it is based on "real" events, The Conjuring doesn't really bring anything new to the horror genre. Same old cheap scares, same old setting (a haunted house) and the same old premise (exorcism).

To be fair, it is obvious that considerable effort was made to give the film an authentic feel to it, to reflect the "based on a true story" element that these sort of movies heavily latch on to. But no matter how much The Conjuring accurately matches the so-called source material, it does not have what I believe any successful horror movies should have--atmosphere.

Conveying a genuinely creepy atmosphere--this is what Asian horror movies excel in, which you don't usually see in American ones. J-horror movies like The Ring and Noroi: The Curse rely heavily on the story and mythology, and most importantly subtle creepy imagery, to unnerve audiences. In contrast Hollywood depends on sudden loud noises, cliche horror elements (i.e exorcism) and gore to elicit scares. In other words, Asian horror films are subtle in their approach while Hollywood horror films like to do it in-your-face. The former is like the disturbing one-eyed aunty staring at you from her HDB window every night and lives alone with her dozen cats, while the latter is like your annoying bestfriend giving you the surprise buttsecks in class. Lame analogy, I know. 

"Here's Johnny!"

Admittedly, America does have its fair share of horror gems. For instance The Shining, based on a Stephen King novel of the same name, is so genuinely creepy that it has been consistently-ranked as the scariest movie of all time. Not surprisingly, it doesn't feature common horror elements you see in Hollywood nowadays. Instead, you have minimal exposition, subdued but chilling music and the oft-used trope in the Asian horror genre, SUBTLE CREEPY IMAGERY. I can't stress it enough! 

Now when I think about it, I shouldn't be surprised why I don't see acclaimed directors like Steven Spielberg or James Cameron make horror films. They realize that Hollywood has not fully grasped what makes a horror movie great or, at least, already forgotten how to make them.

Or maybe it's just us. If some sociologists are to be believed, the oversaturation of mass media and large availability of information online has resulted in the current generation to have a short attention span. So maybe, it's not that directors like James Wan are incapable of producing quality horror films--perhaps they realize that the current movie demographic won't appreciate more deliberately-paced and less superficial feature films.

Either that, or they themselves have an attention span so short they don't realize it.

I'm now in the middle of the school holidays. Well, 'holidays' is not exactly the most appropriate word to describe this period of time, seeing as everyone is busy for their final year project. I promised myself that I'll settle whatever things I should settle during this weekend. But alas, the whole of yesterday was spent literally lying on the bed. And today as I gaze at the clock on the wall right in front of me I cannot help but think that Sunday is going to be just as unproductive as the day before it. 

This blog used to be full of entries I made a couple of years ago. But this morning when I removed all the cobwebs I seriously could not believe I was the person who wrote all of it. A year and a half is in fact a long enough time to change the way a person looks at the world--once an optimistic, almost innocent, outlook in life has been replaced by a realistic and a slightly more skeptical one. 

To be frank I don't really know why I deleted all those entries. Perhaps it's the same reason why some of us won't want others to see our baby photos. Or maybe I just did it on a whim. The fact that I did not even feel an angstrom of regret while doing it says a lot on the degree of sentimentality I have on those yesteryear posts.