I just watched Black Butterfly, and as the film progressed, I was filled with anxiety as I empathized with some of the characters and their plight, and carried concerns as to what they may be subject to at the hands of the antagonist. There was a moment where I didn’t like where the movie could have gone, and almost turned it off; this impulse made me stop and consider what makes a story truly horrifying.
I love watching horror, though I’ve come to recognize that most of the horror I consume is generally entertaining and fantastical. I love me a solid paranormal film or series. Gimme all the stories of humans grappling with the forces of hell! It’s entertaining, as no matter what your beliefs, the likelihood of much of that occurring to most people is low. Getting into monster fiction and the likelihood drops to zero.
Still, they’re frightening in that a good storyteller will have you suspend your disbelief entirely and have you emotionally invested in the narrative, no matter the viability of the subject matter. Vampires, werewolves, demons, whether or not they’re real, it matters little; only the story matters. I love that.
However, slice of life horror fiction is on a completely different wavelength. A story like Stephen King’s Misery is plausible. A narrative like this could actually happen, and this, I think, amps up the terror dramatically. This is where Black Butterfly shines—at its outset, it becomes troublesome; the main character finds themselves in a heap of trouble that is plausible. Things continue to take a turn for the worse, the suspense heightens; it becomes a little too real. As there are some things I simply will not entertain, I almost turned it off, as mentioned above. However, things did not move in the direction I feared they would and it ended well enough.
Anyway just some quick thoughts on horror brought about by an interesting film. What are some of your favorite horror stories? What about them strikes fear into you?