If you’ve watched any action movies in the past ten or so years, you’ve probably noticed the frenetic almost unwatchable quality of the action depicted.

In this two-part video essay,  filmmaker and analyst Matthias Stork shares a thesis about recent action films that he calls “Chaos Cinema.”
Part 1

Chaos Cinema Part 1 from Matthias Stork on Vimeo.

Part 2

Chaos Cinema Part 2 from Matthias Stork on Vimeo.

Stork’s analysis is fascinating and, for the most part, dead on.  But has he exhausted all of the potential reasons for why Chaos Cinema has become so prevalent?
What do you think?

What is a Horror Movie and What Does It Do

Prerequisite to any discussion on current trends in horror films is a definition of what constitutes a horror movie and what it ultimately achieves.  To help construct an at least rudimentary definition[1] of a horror movie, three observations will be made concerning 1) The Emotions of Horror, 2) The Object of Horror, and 3) The Monsters of Horror.

 Horror movies are primarily an emotional experience.  Indeed, horror movies are largely defined by the emotions they attempt to elicit from audiences: terror, dread, anxiety, agitation, unease, revulsion, or even nausea.[2]  Whatever the means, the goal is to draw audiences into a state of intense emotional distress.  This point calls for discernment between what Noel Carroll calls natural horror and art horror.[3]  Natural horror, refers to the emotional reaction of individuals to distressing news or circumstances in everyday or “real” life (e.g. the feeling of distress and outrage concerning the Manson Family murders).  Art horror, on the other hand, refers to the emotional reactions involved when reading or watching a fictional depiction of horrifying events.

The nuance, then, between natural horror and art horror refers to the vastly differing quality of the same types of emotions—such as fright.  Thus, an individual’s feelings of fright upon hearing news of a deranged serial killer on the loose in his area will be of a vastly different quality than the same person’s quality of fright while watching Michael Myers stalk Jamie Lee Curtis in Halloween.  This gives partial explanation for how some can enjoy the feelings of fright and dread experienced during a horror movie, and yet take no pleasure in true-life terror.[4]

If horror films work strenuously to elicit dread and terror in audiences, then what is the proper object of terror?  Death.  Not merely death though but what Stephen King calls the “bad death.”[5]  As Stephen King observes, horror movies often succeed by finding and breaking certain social taboos, and death remains the ultimate taboo.[6]  Most can agree that they fear death to some degree, but few would object to passing peacefully at home in bed.  On the other hand, no one eagerly desires to be eaten alive by a shark, stabbed to death in the shower, or driven mad by a demon.  Indeed, the most common fear connected with death is suffering and pain.  Thus, horror movies are predicated upon exploring the innumerable ways a person can experience an awful and exquisitely painful end: the bad death. [...]

I recently went to watch this movie with my wife and family. If you and your family are looking for a family event this holiday season, then I highly suggest you consider making this movie your event. As a culturally-concerned, worldview-conscious, Christian, movie-lover, it is tough for me to find a movie that I can fully endorse without a single caveat. The Voyage of the Dawn Treader is that movie.

[...]

What a great movie! I just left the theater and I feel uplifted, encouraged, and ready to sprint as hard as I can for as long as my legs will carry me (roughly 25 yards)! I have heard the story of the horse, but this movie was about the people behind the horse. Primarily, the owner and the trainer. [...]

Thomas Caldwell of Cinema Autopsy said it best,

Knowing the details of how Inception unravels will not ruin the film for you but going into it as a blank slate is still the most rewarding way to initially experience it.

An ‘experience’ accurately depicts the complexities of psychological sci-fi coupled with jaw dropping visual effects. Cobb, played by Leonardo DiCaprio, and his team extract or incept an idea into their target via dreams. The beauty in this film is the fact they assume the right amount of information is possible and then explain the details. For instance, they assume that people can be connected to another person’s dreams in their subconscious, and then they explain how their interactions work once they are in there.

But, where true beauty exists in their writing, the assumptions can cause the viewer to be emotionally and mentally invested in the story where what is assumed can be translated into real life because the line of reality and sci-fi blurs. So, here are three themes or assumptions that Inception creates for the Christian to observe.

[...]

Last week, I traveled to Chattanooga to gain a life insurance license. My day filled itself with an 8 hour class and then going to a hotel room; not the epitome of high octane fun. To counteract my mundane two days, I went and saw “The A-TEAM,” which picked up the slack for my boredom with over the top action and hilarious dialogue.

The movie follows a team of four American Rangers who “specialize in the ridiculous.” The story is one of origins, if nothing else, briefly explaining how the four met one another, and in length, explaining how they came to be renegades of the military while keeping their American pride. The goal of “The A Team” was clear: provide gut busting action and make people laugh. In my opinion, it worked! The action carried the movie while the humor transitioned the intense moments from one to the next.

Ok, the movie was awesome. Great… but how do I digest it through the lens of Scripture?

Question 1: Was their an issue in which the prevailing character taught another character? Yes, the writers didn’t do much in this movie, but it was clear that the leader, Hannibal, taught the concept of engaging in just war to B.A. Baracus. Just War claims that there are reasons that people should engage in war mainly to protect from the injustice of other human beings. The problem in “The A Team” trotted along when the action flirted with vindictive behavior rather than just war, and at the end B.A. was clearly glorified for killing “the enemy” even though there was not a sufficient distinction between righteous and evil.

Question 2: Was sin glorified, especially within the main characters? The biggest character flaw treated lightly and even praised was the sex life of Face. He was portrayed with a Herculean type persona and a part of that was moving on from one hot girl to the next. The movie did not even dive into the emotions that flow from sex, but left it raw and physical to use it as a trophy for the movies “manliest” character.

Question 3: What’s my personal context? I clearly stated earlier, I went to see this movie to counteract my boredom. The A Team allows the audience to interact with the exact opposite of boredom. For 2 hours, I sat and watched the American dream of action, hilarity, and honor while my personal emotions dealt with boredom and responsibility. If not careful, because I liked the movie, I would digest the sinful behavior of revenge and sexual promiscuity as standards of good.

*Here at TVN, we desire to look at all of life through the lens of Scripture and under the reign of King Jesus. That includes the movies we watch! Cinema and Music are the driving story tellers and truth proclaimers of our generation. But, movies don’t always preach the right message, so as we are entertained we must dissect with our mental prowess the truth displayed either accepting or rejecting its claims based on the Word of God before it transforms our heart.