Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Things that Go Bump in the Night
Like Erin, I also liked Shyamalan’s invented mythology and story. But I don’t think they realized it very well. The creatures were supposedly “things unseen”, but then they had the grass dog strolling around the halls of the apartment complex. Frankly, it wasn’t very scary. I suspect that they could have had a lot better result if their special effects budget had been hacked almost to zero and they were forced to make the best of vague glimpses and imagination.
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6 comments:
I get what you mean about special effects -- I prefer creativity to technology -- but I didn't really have a problem with the monster. I thought it was scary, and I think the point with not being seen was that it didn't want to be seen.
For me the scariest part was when he got stuck in the underwater room. I mean, I knew he was going to get out, but I almost couldn't watch it at that point because it freaked me out so much.
Yeah, I panicked a little, too, when he was underwater. Don't they always do that in movies? Make the character hold his breath for longer than seems possible? To induce worry in the audience. Then he finds that little air pocket in the glass. Nice.
The part about the mythology I liked was how she was trapped in the apartment just yards from where she needed to be. That was intriguing.
Think about the scary effects in "The Sixth Sense." They didn't rely on technology. He just created a very spooky atmosphere such that the tiniest little thing, just someone passing by a door or a cabinet being mysteriously open, could scare the bejesus out of you. They relied on the power of our own imaginations to freak us out, not a "scary" doglike thing with a big growl.
Mabel hated the scrunt. She wanted to rip the TV limb from limb.
I didn't find the scrunt particularly scary, either. It's not spooky, as you say, to see the monster so clearly. I was especially not spooked after I watched some of the special features and saw the puppet they used.
I do enjoy the word "scrunt."
Was it scrunt? I thought it was scruff. More doglike.
I wonder whether they toned down the scary factor to ensure a PG-13 rating.
The use of a mirror to see the scrunt behind you was kind of eerie and cool, though.
Yeah, maybe it was scruff. Look out for Scruffy, kids!
Wiki says it's scrunt.
This apparently started out as a Disney production — so yeah, no fright or gore — but Disney hated the script, so Shyamalan packed up and took it to Warner Brothers.
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