A rather silly slasher flick

Rating: 4/10 (12 August 2012)

I find this an interesting movie because it is about the serial killer. From what I have noticed, there are three types of horror movies that seem to come out from Hollywood: the supernatural nasties, the serial killers, and Stephen King Horror movies. The supernatural nasty style are generally quite lame (The Gate, Ghoulies, Poltergeist), the serial killer is over done (Urban Legends, and I include Freddies Nightmares in here as well), and the Stephen King horror movies seem to fall into a category of their own. There are also disturbing movies, but these are far from being horror, and very few of them come from Hollywood.
In 1962 (or thereabouts) a young boy brutally murders his sister and is locked up. In 1979 the boy escapes from gaol. He has been basically locked up because he is seen as a threat to society, but somebody locked up simply because of that is liable to generate a deep resentment to society and become a threat to society. The film simply says that he is inherently evil and should be locked away. This is something I do not agree with because firstly everybody is inherently evil, and secondly such a nasty person will still have a redeemable side. To add to this, this character seems to be able to resist quite a lot to damage, including a knife in the neck and bullets in the chest.
Recently we were discussing the idea of my friend's shadow. He claims to have this shadow that tells him to do all these rather nasty things. Our opinion is that this is something that everybody experiences, and some (a very few number) actually listen to these sickening thoughts and perform them. Most of us are able to dismiss them as stupid, and some become disturbed because they believe that they have a mental disorder, and believe that they must be different from the rest of the world. Yes, they are different because the rest of the world generally ignores these thoughts.
Anyway, this is how I would view the bad guy in this movie. He is simply a perverse individual that thinks the sickening thoughts that run through his head are in fact a good idea, and follows him. We would like to deny that such thoughts exist, but it is part of our human nature. We are a fallen and nasty people who choose to ignore God, and by doing that, all sorts of perverse thoughts cross through our mind.
Another thing that strikes me with this movie is that it is in a small town. This may be stereotypical, but it is surprisingly real life. The reason I say that is because the most disturbing things seem to happen in small towns. It is not because country people are more perverse that city people, but because of the smaller population, the chances of something really bad happening is much smaller, so when it does, it seems doubly horrific. Thus comes the comment of: how could such a horrid thing happen in a place like this - and my answer is easily - some humans are sick and perverse individuals. Some of us are able to control our animal urges, others of us cannot, and a small number let them over come them and devour their sense of reason.
Finally there is the idea of the bogeyman. It sounds childish and stupid, but remember that when one is a child, the bogeyman is not at all stupid. In fact he is quite intimidating. This is the feeling that we have in us that something is just hiding around the corner ready to destroy us. There are two aspects to this that I wish to draw out, not that they are really connected with the movie. The first is that we are truly not safe. No matter where we go, there are perverse and stupid individuals that can and will harm us. Then there is the natural order, in its groans to call that Christ returns, rises up and destroys us. Those of us that believe that we are safe, truly live with a false sense of security.
Secondly, there is somebody waiting around the corner ready to confront us. This is not a sick or perverse individual, but God himself. God is not hiding from us though, we simply chose to pretend that he is not around. God knows everything that we have done and is preparing to judge us according to our sins. One must remember that pay off a sin with a good deed simply doesn't work, and even if it did, in general our sinful deeds far outweigh our good deeds. And omissions to act do count as sins in God's eyes, and even if we are the most perfect person in the world, if we do not acknowledge God as the supreme ruler of the universe, then that is sin because we have rejected God. The only way that our sins can be ignored, is if we allow Jesus to take our place. By doing that, we have no fear of judgment because when God goes to look at our sins, all he sees is the perfect life of Jesus Christ.