“I like things that are well written. If the script is good then I’ll enjoy it. If the script is bad or loose or silly then I can’t get into it. However, I think genre pictures such as horror films should be allowed to have a sense of freedom in the writing. But sadly I think genre pictures tend to be looked down upon or overlooked as serious pieces of art. The western, the musical, action films, horror films, fantasy films; I mean they are the founding and starting point of great American cinema yet even though commercially successful and a lot times critically well received, they are never given the proper respect they deserve just because they entertain. There’s a weird resentment toward escapism in intellectual circles which not only happens in film but theatre, too.”

This alone is a good starting point for a discussion about what art (specifically the horror/terror genre) is or is supposed to be. I enjoy lycanthropes getting limelight as much as the reader probably does, but I’m caught up on Weaving’s “escapism in intellectual circles” comment. There is certainly an escapist crest to the huge wave of movies that are released every year, and I think that’s due to two main reasons:

1. Money.

2. Escapism and the sensations it instills is like a drug. It takes you out of this world, but it doesn’t really give you much to bring back once you touch down on the runway again. Hence, the crest has to continue and subcultures need to be maintained like faithfully running top-level engines. In this respect, I think that movie viewers and makers sadly put too much stock in art without realizing its limitations. So what are artists and art-lovers to do? I think that the best movies / books / whatever have been created by people willing to reach outside their discipline and personally confront the issues of death, love, mortality, origins, and God. All good artists from the Starbucks-sipping Shakespeare to the sarcastsically punk-rock Twain have done this in their own way. Even George Lucas did it in his heyday, and Ennio Morricone seems to practically embody it.

Damn. Well, before I conclude this unintentinonal sermon, I suggest acquainting yourself with Morricone in “The Mission” and his classic “Ecstasy of Gold” piece!