What we're really scared of
Horror movies are almost never about what they're about
By Todd Leopold
CNN
(CNN) -- So you think "The Exorcist" is about demonic possession, "Alien" is about a hungry beast and "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" is about people turning into mindless pods?
And "The Ring" is about a cursed videotape?
You haven't looked deep enough.
The wonderful thing about horror movies is they strike closer to home than we like to think. "Invasion of the Body Snatchers," for example, was made around the time of the Red Scare and growing criticism of conformity. Depending on your political beliefs, the movie is either a parable of conformity run amok (as everybody turns into pod people) or the Red Menace hitting home (as the "alien" infiltration threatens our American Way of Life).
"The Exorcist," as other authors have noted, has as its subtext the idea of the growing girl. In that light, the "possession" is her body going through puberty -- and the threat is what happens when she becomes a teenager. (You can draw your own conclusions from the bodily fluids she expels.)
"Alien"? The old classic: Fear of the Other. We fear what we don't understand (and, sometimes, what we do understand -- particularly if it has several rows of teeth, sulfuric acid blood and creeps around in air ducts).
We're all afraid of something, and some of those fears are practically hard-wired into our brains. So when a "monster" invades our community, or our very selves, we recoil. "Rosemary's Baby" is a fine example of both. (And "Demon Seed," in which a woman is raped by a computer named Proteus, adds technology to the mix.)
So then there's "The Ring," the 2002 hit based on a Japanese psychological thriller, "Ringu." The plot concerns a videotape that, upon being watched, kills its viewers in a week. The only way to avoid death is to pass the tape to someone else. You can fill in the name of any number of diseases for your subtext.
"The Ring," thanks to blockbuster receipts, has now been followed by "The Ring Two." The new film, like the original American version, stars Naomi Watts. The director is the man behind the original Japanese version, Hideo Nakata.
Eye on Entertainment peeks through his hands.
Eye-opener
"The Ring Two" picks up six months after the first film ended. Watts' character, Rachel Keller, has moved from Seattle to Astoria, Oregon, with her young son to start afresh.
Unfortunately for them, that cursed videotape has also decided to start afresh.
(MILD SPOILER ALERT FOR THOSE WHO HAVEN'T SEEN THE FIRST FILM.)
At the root of the video's curse the first time around was a vengeful little girl named Samara who was dropped down a well and wasn't happy about it. When a tape is found near a crime scene in Oregon, Keller can't help but wonder if Samara is back.
With "Ringu," a mammoth success in Japan, Nakata is generally credited with starting a trend of Japanese horror -- "J-horror," as it's known. To Americans, the films seem like throwbacks to the days before "Friday the 13th"-style gore (though there's a Japanese sub-genre devoted to that as well -- see the films of Takashi Miike). They're more subtle, more psychological, closer to Hitchcock than Herschell Gordon Lewis.
With Nakata in charge of "Ring Two," the pace is slower and the mood a little darker.
And among the cast members is Sissy Spacek, who movie fans will remember from a horror film named "Carrie." (Talk about a film with a puberty subtext.) Her role, as a local doctor, may also be deeper than it seems.
"The Ring Two" opens Friday.
On screen
In what kind of world can a beautiful math geek become a champion figure skater and overcome the evil divas who dominate the sport? Why, Disney World, of course. "Ice Princess," starring Joan Cusack, Kim Cattrall and Michelle Trachtenberg, opens Friday.The New York Times' A.O. Scott had an article (registration required)
last week about how viewers may expect too much of Woody Allen in recent years, since his post-"Crimes and Misdemeanors" films -- despite some excellent acting -- have been uneven, to say the least, and he may never again equal his 1969-89 hot streak. He's somewhat right -- but I'm still hoping, because it's Woody Allen. And I don't even expect an "earlier, funny film." Allen's latest, "Melinda and Melinda" -- starring Will Ferrell, who apparently doesn't try to channel Allen the way John Cusack, Edward Norton and Jason Biggs have -- opens in limited release Friday.On the tube
You know it's March when the schedule starts filling with things like "Spring Break Shark Attack." The TV movie about co-eds menaced by carnivorous fish, which CBS' Web site dares to call a "thriller" (oh, come on) airs Sunday night at 9 p.m. It stars Bryan Brown, who (I hope) was just doing the film for the sun and good times.The NCAA basketball tournament got under way with the play-in game Tuesday and continues through the weekend, all on CBS. (Get all your NCAA coverage from SI.com.)Sound waves
Moby's new CD, "Hotel" (V2), comes out Tuesday.
Paging readers
Booker Prize winner Ian McEwan's new book, "Saturday" (Nan A. Talese/Doubleday), comes out Tuesday.Given all the attention to security in courthouses these days, the timing for Steve Bogira's "Courtroom 302" (Knopf), in which the Chicago Reader writer spent a year in a very busy courtroom, couldn't be better. It comes out Tuesday.Video center
Two Oscar nominees and one non-Oscar nominee hit video stores Tuesday: "Finding Neverland" (which was up for several, including best picture); "Being Julia" (best actress); and "Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason" (um ... well, as they say, it's a rental).
