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by Elyse West

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In 1992, future Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson created one of the greatest movies of our time - Dead Alive (A.K.A. Braindead). This splatteriffic comedy gave new meaning to the term "bloodthirsty," and it forever sealed itself as a must-see in the horror community. It could also be said that Dead Alive provided a valuable lesson for filmmakers, a lesson that has yet, to the annoyance of the horror enthusiast, to be fully utilized in films today.

Dead Alive was not a horror comedy as much as it was a comedy that employed horror as the base of its plot, and that's where a lot of horror films fail. Instead of choosing one extreme over the other (in the case of Dead Alive, comedy over horror), filmmakers of our generation decide to throw in elements of both. This tactic leads to a jumble of mixed emotions and sloppy films.

The worst offender of not choosing a solid tone to film is Eli Roth, whose films, tragically, have fantastic premises but are poorly executed. I admit it; I watch Roth's films, no matter how badly I know they will turn out, with the highest hopes that he'll one day understand his mistakes, but, so far, I've been sorely disappointed.

At the top of the list of disappointments is Roth's directorial debut, Cabin Fever, whose premise of a flesh-eating virus is not new, but it's refreshing in the current market of hack-n-slash films. However, the movie was so staggeringly annoying with its lack of one base tone that it failed on so many levels. The first level (and most important level for a movie that bills itself as a horror) is the fear factor. With the addition of characters such as Deputy Winston and the locals, the idea of the audience being even remotely frightened is thrown right out of the window. The second level is the comedy. With the serious nature with which Roth explores the development of the disease, the idea of the audience laughing and continuing to laugh is right out that window with the fear factor. The audience doesn't know what to do. Should we laugh? Should we be afraid? Had he chosen one tone over the other, this film would very likely have worked well, but, instead, we're left with this jumble of... well, I'll let you finish that sentence.

The second offense from Roth is Hostel. Again - fantastic premise, horrible execution. The first half of the film is softcore pornography. Sex has almost become a staple in horror movies, but Roth went overboard. He might as well have continued with the characters having sex, and then he would've had a solid film. The next quarter of the film deals with the torture factory, which is where the entire movie should have taken place if you ask me. It was revolting, terrifying, and oh-so-beautiful. I was on the edge of my seat whenever a scene in the factory took place, and, considering my dislike of Roth, that was quite an achievement. The last quarter of the film... well, I won't give away the plot, but it felt like a cheap end. We were cheated, and Roth should know better. The place for serious character development and audience connection was right around the corner, but Roth took a wrong turn.

But this isn't about Hostel's glaring flaws; this is about its glaring comedic flaws. Hostel has moments when I was scratching my head hard enough to draw blood. Most of these "What was Roth thinking?" moments occurred during the first half of the film. The tone was not set like it should have been. The hash scenes, the sex scenes, almost all of Oli's scenes - these certainly did not set a mood of terror into the pit of my stomach. In fact, most of them didn't even make me laugh. Instead, I was left with this uncomfortable feeling that I didn't get the joke. "This is a horror movie, isn't it?" I asked myself. "Where's the horror?" And, when it finally came, I was so sick of the failed attempt at excessive amounts of humor that I just didn't care.

Humor does have a place in horror movies, whether it be to lighten a much too dark mood or to give the audience a break from the splatter, but, as Roth has so perfectly shown with his films, without a solid plot, tone, and intention, humor can ruin masterpieces-in-the-making.

Learn more about this author, Elyse West.

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