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| How many △ do you see? (The Void, 2016) |
One of the prompts on Prismatic Wasteland's blogging list is: "the scariest monster you can imagine that has 2 arms, 2 legs, and no magic abilities".
As cliché as it is, I think it's humans acting in strange ways. Which is why I think cults endure as such common and strong antagonists. A couple of recent examples that spring to mind are Midsommar and even Obsession, or Firefly's reavers. Oh, even The Purge might be a good example.
I think the creep factor comes from someone looking normal and relatable, but losing the ability to:
- predict their behavior or their threat level (i.e. a tick or ticking-time bomb)
- match behavior to age or profession (i.e. children are the killers)
- display empathy/sympathy on a human-to-human level (i.e. why don't you care I'm hurting)
That last one in particular, when it's expressed as non-supernatural sadism- like in Reservoir Dogs when Mr. Blonde or Midsommar's bear scene or even many slasher films which have many non-supernatural deaths dealt with common everyday items. Scream is a good example. I also think of Shirley Jackson's short story "The Lottery" -the indifference of the crowd.
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| Pet Cemetery (2019) |