I absolutely despise scary movies. I am that annoying girl in the movie theater
and sitting on the couch with her eyes closed the whole time curled up in a
ball asking how much longer until its over.
It is sad I will admit, but I was scared at a young age by I Know What You Did Last Summer, then by
The Ring, and then finally, Paranormal Activity…not fantastic film
choices I realize, but they did a real number on my psyche. From what little I
saw of these films, I was able to discover that I hated them, not necessarily
because they were scary and horrifying, but because the storyline sucked. There
was little to no plot development, the storyline was bland, and the characters
were miserable representations of human beings. I was never able to connect
with the characters on any other level than the fact that I was just as scared
as they were of the “bad guy”. Thus, up to this point, horror movies have been
my loathed enemies. That is, until I watched the film Sunshine.
Although a sci-fi film by nature, Sunshine has everything and more to make the ultimate horror film.
There is action and terror yes, but there is also a great deal of plot
development, spectacular costume choices, and ultimately, passionate characters
who draw the whole film together. The entirety of the film before the horror
starts is a dramatic yet scary science fiction film about a time, not far in
the future, where a small group must travel to the sun and restore it to its
original glory. Throughout this part, we get to know the characters, their
backgrounds, and their lives with one another. We relish with them when they
are happy but shrink away when we see them in danger. It is this connection
that is essential to the film transitioning into a horror story. Without this
plot and character development, most of us would not have stayed around to
watch when shit started hitting the fan and getting really scary.
By becoming invested in the characters, I was able to feel
for them throughout every step of the film, which encouraged me to keep
watching even though I was insanely scared—I wanted to see what was going to
happen to them. Another reason I was invested came from the plot development
and insanely good storyline. The spaceship was insanely awesome with everything
from a garden/oxygen production site to a room where you could be anywhere in
the word (or universe) that you wanted, virtually. I fell in love with the
environment of the ship and all that it offered to the passengers. This, again,
altered my idea of the horror side of the film; every time I was scared and
wanted to close my eyes, I kept thinking of the ship going to shreds and the
lives of the people inside doing the same.
Although quite possibly one of the scariest films I have
ever seen, Sunshine added a plot and
character development to the film, something that most horror films do not do.
This helped me become invested in the film, the ship, and most of all, the
characters and how the film put their lives at risk. I did not think I would be
saying this, but this is definitely one scary film I will watch again!
As a complete side note--I am talking about different Aztec gods in one of my classes right now and we were discussing the practice of human sacrifice to the sun god Tonatiuh. An interesting thought in consideration of this film I think.
Yes, I too enjoyed the character development that occurred throughout Sunshine. It was an essential element to the film, but this was likely a result of the isolation and lack of new characters throughout the plot; with the old Captain, Pinbacker, as the only character introduced later in the film. I enjoyed the contrasting development of the different characters. Initially Harvey is the go-getter that succeeds Kaneda as Captain after he dies, but later succumbs to his fears and suffers the consequences due to his untimely death. I thought that really contrasted well against the positive progression of Capa from timid physicist to the eventual hero who transcends his fears.
ReplyDeleteVivek makes a great point with the development of the character Capa. You see him start off being scared and frightened of the work and that he will one day have to face it. But when he gets there, he embraces the light with everything he has and radiates happiness and welcomes the sun into his eyes. His ending was the hardest to see only because we understood the most about him. The others were also hard to say goodbye to, but as the audience, we became to understand the necessity of all of it, a few lives to save many is what the movie felt to me.
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