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Old 01-12-2009, 09:02 AM
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ChronoGrl ChronoGrl is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by roshiq View Post
Anyways, let the right one in has a greater human story than others and the seemingly the romantic relations between the two leads had been shown in a beautiful way. I believe it's all depends on the story, characterization, how it evolves & relates to the readers or audience and finally the execution or making part as a celluloid product but again I think it's better to keep the Romance factor out of a horror film unless the story & its characters dealt with it or enlighten it quite uniquely or cautiously that can add an extra entertainment value for the ardent horror fans.

It'll be nice of you if you can give me the names of some other so called 'horror' films that has high dose of romantic elements, cause I want to be aware of those films and avoid in future.
I agree about your take on romance and horror. However, I think that romance can be effective depending on how it's used in horror movies - if the romance is, in and of itself, and element of the film's horror, then it's successful.

It's interesting that you mention Let the Right One In because, quite frankly, I found the "romance" one of the creepier parts of the movie (when she strips down and gets into bed with him, that was quite possibly the most uncomfortable I've been in the theater; the concept of a sexualized 12-year-old absolutely horrified me, which was obviously the intent). When looking at the movie analytically, pedophilia is just as much a subject of horror as vampirism is: The "young" Eli, though in a 12-year-old's body is quite obviously significantly older... And the concept of this timeless being becoming romantically involved with a 12-year-old... How incredibly gothic, tragic, and macabre.

***SPOILERS***

The final scene of him sitting on the train and scratching on her coffin is probably one of the creepiest images that I've ever seen; a child scratching on their love's literal tomb. It's also clear that the mysterious man doing Eli's murdering at the beginning of the movie is the future Oskar; while Eli and Oskar's relationship is palatable because they are both in the bodies of 12-year-olds, it's clear that there was something more involved in her relationship with the older man... Now THAT is a fantastic genre of horror.

***/SPOILERS***



Then, of course, there's movies like Vertigo and Cemetery Man, where the "romance" is more of an all-encompassing obsession and fascination bordering the unhealthy and macabre. The "romance" in those films is actually the horror.

That's probably the difference between Twilight and LtROI: As you mentioned, Twilight is more teenie-bopper romance. With vampires. LtROI is actually attempting to make a horror movie.
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