Better Than The Original, but, I Want More Inspiration With My Horror

Rating: 7/10 (15 February 2009)

My question is, why do characters in horror movies have to do the prerequisite "dumb things".
For me, a horror movie is an experiment, a mental exploration of "what if" such terrible things happened, how would people handle it? I would like to see a movie which is a "serious" exploration of what normal, intelligent, people would do when confronted with a horrible situation.
When the characters in horror movies behave in a manner which is simply ridiculous for any intelligent human being to be engaging in, the mental experiment is rendered uncredible and unrewarding.
With this thought in mind, why did the 2 kids have to cross the river? The simplistic plot device of getting a picture of their mother and some personal items from home is paper-thin. If England was really a Graveyard, how could any 2 normal kids be anything but terrified of the idea of wandering around?
Now, if the psychology of the kids had been explored a bit, like they have a hard time believing the adult's stories about the infected. They aren't shown the bodies. They aren't shown film footage. They aren't shown the poor animals being experimented on to find a cure. The adults don't open up and tell their stories (truthfully) of what really happened. Kids are used to being lied to by adults, and kids are full of energy and the desire for freedom. England is their home. All of England. Being caged in a small block of it is confining and insulting to their sense of tribalistic ownership. (ah...Nationalism...the sense of "us" and "them"...source of all our problems...sigh...I hope we move beyond it soon to Humanism) Well. With this small bit of development, the audience would understand, even empathize with the kids behavior, and the spark they unwittingly lit for things to fall apart.
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Another plot point which is uncredible is a civilian having unrestricted access to a military facility.
A better strategy for the husband's infection, would have been for the woman to be kept alive. The medical staff hopes to use her to find a cure. It is deemed acceptable for her to see her husband so long as he is accompanied by military personnel and monitored. It has been established throughout the movie that the American Military is apathetic to their duties in England and starting to show lack of interest and attention. During the interview things seem to be going well. The wife is warm and comforting and the husband feels relieved of his guilt. The escort leaves the room briefly to go find the children and bring them to see their mother. The wife then shows her true anger and contempt for her husband's fear and cowardice (both understandable I say, though, terrible and lamentable...i don't know how well i would have fared though..."let he who is without sin") The psychological tension between the husband and wife confronting each other builds up to the point where she spits or bites her husband.
The husband covers up the wound or doesn't mention the spit, and leaves the compound apparently distraught and needing privacy.
This could have tied into the feeling of resentment the British have over having their home overrun by American military. The British don't trust the Americans, and so they don't communicate openly with them. This would of course relate directly to our own world, where we don't trust each other, because we are raised to believe that human beings are naturally selfish, hedonistic, egotistical creatures and you have to fight to carve out your niche in the world. Naturally this creates the underlying paranoia which infects all of our lives. The movie could play this out and show clearly what happens when a terrible crisis erupts and how the paper-thin "order" of our society has a paper-mache foundation. The only real way to build powerful connections between people is openness and honesty and the freedom to express feelings. Lies turn into Anger. Anger turns into Hate. Hate turns into Suffering.
The infection manifests itself slowly, because of the woman's immune system's ability to suppress the virus. Without her antibodies though, the virus soon awakens to its full potential. While wandering the streets, the husband becomes enraged, and begins to infect others.
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This movie does demonstrate a very important point though.
What is it?
The need for Education.
Education leads to Empathy. Empathy leads to Understanding. Understanding leads to Humanity.
I'm getting rather tired of movies where there is 1 hero, and a world full of idiotic "normal people". Or, in this movie's case, a world full of idiotic "normal people" and not 1 truly visionary person. It's rather distressing to see character after character who is weak, pathetic and uninspiring.
Movies constantly show a world of sheep, who are weak, frightened and easily manipulated. It's pretty insulting. Unfortunately, it has the unpleasant taste of truth.
Movies are telling us all something. We as a species view ourselves as weak and easily controlled. The fact that it feels true is...daunting.
The solution?
We need to begin cultivating a species that is truly strong, loving, and noble. How? Simple. Exceptional education for everyone. The freedom to express emotions openly, taught to children from their earliest memory. Equitable distribution of resources to everyone, which is a subset of exceptional education. Exceptionally educated, emotionally unrepressed people are people who will settle for nothing less than an Egalitarian society. Check that against your heart and mind. It's true. And vital, because, "Adults who do not heal a violent world, condemn their children to fighting in one."
Movies like this portray all of us as cattle. I don't like that at all. I want to start seeing movies where everyone is extraordinary, based on a real world view. It's so easy to accomplish. I look forward to seeing "those" movies soon.