Weekend Picks: Terrible, horrible, very good movies

Oct. 12—My favorite movie genre, far and away, is horror.

Comedy takes a close second, followed by poorly made historical dramas. The latter are hilarious on multiple levels, but that's beside the point.

Horror and comedy are two sides of the same coin, meaning that each genre, though vastly different in execution, seek to manipulate the same emotions. There's truth to every well-crafted joke, just as there's truth to every well-crafted horror film. It's the same reason we laugh when we're uncomfortable, why we feel the same tension before a scare as we do before a punchline.

I've always been fascinated by both genres, but horror in particular has come to hold a tight grip on my heart.

Horror, to me, is the genre that most directly addresses and simultaneously exposes the human condition. When a piece of horror is done well, be it in film or literature, the viewer should be left thinking about how the story and its events are reflected in their own life. They might even make someone look at the world in a new light.

The horrors of isolation ("The Shining"), paranoia ("The Thing"), grief ("Hereditary"), religion ("The Exorcist"), greed ("Poltergeist"), teenage ostracism ("Carrie"), sex ("It Follows"), classism ("Candyman"), pride ("The Fly") and, of course, aliens ("Alien") are critiqued in the genre with great success.

Horror also has the ability to push you outside your comfort zone with new ideas, emotions and visuals.

That being said, I do have my own personal preferences within the horror genre. I don't like torture movies — every "Saw" movie after the first, the entire "Hostel" series and home invasion nightmare "Funny Games" — nor most paranormal movies. For whatever reason, I can fully invest in some inhuman entity picking people off in the woods, but a specter raising hell in an ominous old house is a hard sell.

And while the films above are masterclass cinema, the real reason I love horror is the sheer creativity — and insanity — that the creators need to pull it off. Among my favorites are "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" (1974 and the 2003 remake), "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre Part 2" (1987), "The Void" ( 2016), "Barbarian" (2022), "The Black Phone" (2021), "Event Horizon" (1997), "The Evil Dead" (1981) and "Evil Dead II" (1987).

Then there's the movies that teeter on the brink of horror, like "The Lighthouse" (2019), "Seven" (1995), "The House That Jack Built" (2018), "The Silence of the Lambs" (1991), "American Psycho" (2000), "Misery" (1990), "Green Room" (2015) and my two favorite movies of 2022, "The Menu" and "Bones and All." These, above all the others, are the films have made a lasting impression on me over the years, though I might not return to them as often as others.

I won't pretend that horror is infallible — it's also the genre where failure to execute an idea is met with twice the fallout. But when it works, it works, even amidst the lunacy of "Re-Animator" (1985), "Basket Case" (1982), "Jennifer's Body" (2009), "House of 1000 Corpses" (2003), "The Exorcist III" (1990) and "The Autopsy of Jane Doe" (2016).

The bloody, beating heart of the horror genre, above all else, is fun. No one watches a horror film to become a better person, to fall in love alongside two protagonists or to learn a bit about the life of an important historical figure. No, all the disturbing imagery and ideas ultimately culminate in an attempt to instill one simple emotion — fun.

Remember how horror and comedy are two sides of the same coin? This is just another example.

That's what movies are all about.

If you're looking for some good horror films, take your pick from the aforementioned titles, though I would advise the faint of heart to Google each film's plot before viewing. You've been warned.

However, if you're decidedly not a horror fan, then set your sights on this weekend's upcoming events.

Cheyenne Little Theater Players' production of "Young Frankenstein" enters its final weekend this Friday. The musical, written by comedy legend Mel Brooks, is a colorful, satiric take on not just the original "Frankenstein" film of 1931, but of classic horror film tropes as a whole. It's loaded with humor and is not to be missed this season. You can also stream the classic film on Max.

The 12th African MAAFA Education Conference is being held on Saturday morning. Guest speakers will discuss "America's Apathy to African American Post-Traumatic Enslavement and Jim Crow Disorders" in this annual event. The conference will be held at Laramie County Community College and runs from 8:30-11:50 a.m.

The majority of this weekend's events are occurring on Saturday, starting with the small gathering at the Laramie County Library to view the partial solar eclipse from 10 a.m.-12 p.m. The library will provide a limited number of viewing glasses for when the eclipse peaks at 10:35 a.m. Otherwise, kids can enjoy games and other activities.

Railspur is throwing an Oktoberfest Celebration from noon-6 p.m. on Saturday. The event features authentic Oktoberfest beers, German-themed food and drinking games for attendees.

To cap off the weekend, head over to The Lincoln Theatre for a performance by Rumours, a regionally acclaimed Fleetwood Mac tribute band.

Don't forget that there are plenty of fall festivals available throughout the region, so look through the ToDo calendar and last week's roundup of local pumpkin patches to see if anything catches your eye.

Oh, and feel free to send me some horror recommendations, if you feel so inclined.

Will Carpenter is the Wyoming Tribune Eagle's Arts and Entertainment/Features Reporter. He can be reached by email at wcarpenter@wyomingnews.com or by phone at 307-633-3135. Follow him on Twitter @will_carp_.