Otherways- Fiction Fanatics

I am a freak of nature, and I know it. I even chose it. You see, when my children were small, I discovered that I truly hated commercials. Not that I’d ever been exactly fond of them, but the ones aimed at kids deepened my dislike into loathing. Sick to death of hearing what over-hyped toy they ‘needed’ every other day, I did the unthinkable and cut off our cable.

Those little kids are graduating from college now, and I still haven’t turned it back on.

We don’t completely live under a rock, we just rent a lot of movies. There are series I buy as well, Castle, Angel, Supernatural, etc., but most television is pretty awful. Fishing shows that play life or death music while some butch guy literally sobs that he’s afraid he’ll never catch another fish, are balanced with shows about naked dating and grown people eating slugs. Now Sesame Street has moved to HBO. I’m just hoping it doesn’t return as a reality show: Sesame Street Corner. And don’t even get me started on the new Muppets, because it won’t be pretty.

Usually, I stick to books, but I have to admit we have seen some pretty good movies lately. Antman, which is of course not yet available to rent, but well worth the trip to a real theater, especially if you’re a comic book fan. I found Big Hero 6 to be quite charming, with more realistic kids than the usual fare. I dug up a couple of older movies at the rental store that turned out better than expected: Cirque du Soleil, which is visually luscious, but a trifle short on plot, and a kind of campy kid’s style movie called the Vampire’s Apprentice.

I guess I ended up in a circus mood, since I couldn’t find what I really wanted. I wanted a good horror movie, not a cheap slasher flick with more fake blood than dialogue, but something to really get in your head. When I was six, an animated wooden doll with a knife was enough to give me nightmares, but I’m a lot older than that now. The original Omen was plenty scary when it came out, but it inspired a ton of copycats, most of which are more or less bilge, at least in my opinion. The last movie that really creeped me out effectively was the Sixth Sense, which had some truly intense and surprising scenes.

I’m wondering, quite honestly, if the change in perceived quality is just because I’m old, or if it is the same thing that I have witnessed happening to television. With tons of airtime to fill, even groups that once produced deep, accurate, insightful shows are now featuring shallow, short features on storage container auctions, evil moms and their performing tots, or prospecting for gold. These all have in common bad lighting, poor writing, no real story, and in many cases obviously staged conflict between the characters. Content matters, but it also costs, so the gems get harder and harder to find.

I guess I’ll just have to plug into Pseudopod for some podcast readings of original horror fiction to get my fix until the next real thriller comes out. If you haven’t tried them, I’d recommend giving them a shot. Trust me, there is plenty of good stuff still out there, you just may have to dig a little harder to find it.

Cheers,

Michelle