some people are in high school for the rest of their lives.: 8:15 a.m., 2005-10-04.
writer: katie

i wrote this on july twenty-seventh and forgot to post it. oy gevalt.

the first part of this entry is semi-film criticism. later on is some bashing of subculture, which you might want to stick around for. the film in question is the devil's rejects, and there are some OMGSPOILARS!!, so if you want to see the film and don't want to have any of the fun ruined for you, you may not want to read this just yet.

i went to see the devil's rejects with some friends of mine tonight. the devil's rejects is, as you may know, the sequel to house of 1000 corpses, which was quite a good movie itself. the point of house of 1000 corpses was, i think, to be mostly funny. it didn't really tell you anything that a film like the texas chainsaw massacre could have told you just as well.

the devil's rejects, however, is much different from (and better than) house of 1000 corpses. where house of 1000 corpses was mostly just an homage/spoof of all the horror movies rob zombie dearly loves, the devil's rejects is actually comparable to johnny the homicidal maniac - while still keeping with the homage to horror films and classic rock music. there is not the wanton gore of house of 1000 corpses (not nearly as much, anyway), replaced by that thing - i think they call it plot. if you haven't read johnny the homicidal maniac, you've probably at least heard of it, and probably have your own opinion of the people who have read it based on what you've seen and heard, and believe it or not, despite the fact that it is sold at hot topic, it actually has merit. actually jthm and the devil's rejects are quite similar in the fact that most of the people who have seen it are the ones expecting the glorification of senseless and terrible violence, and no real plot except that which might be derived from such violence - probably a funny one. god knows there are plenty of horror movies about that cater to such fools, and while the devil's rejects has its funny moments, it is by no means a funny film, and most of the humor is presented at points where you know you should not be laughing. case in point (SPOILERS): a scene in a hotel room where the murder of a woman had occurred the day before, and the psychological torture of another is still in progress. the psychological torture? she was tied to the back of the door and the face of one of her dead friends was placed over her face, mask-fashion. she was left like that all night. the maid comes in the next morning, goes into the bathroom and sees dead bodies and blood on the walls forming the words THE DEVIL'S REJECTS and some other phrases. the girl manages to disentagle herself from the door, screaming at the maid for help, tackling her and pinning her to the bed - still wearing her friend's face, mind you. the maid runs and the girl chases her, and eventually just starts running. she runs across the parking lot and into the road, screaming for help at oncoming cars, and then is hit by an eighteen-wheeler.(END SPOILERS) gruesome, yes? and it is. but that scene is also particularly hilarious. more perceptive viewers will realize exactly what is going on, while the ones who just want to see some pretty girls being horrifically murdered will not.

in house of 1000 corpses, zombie successfully made viewers feel indifferent toward all of the victims, and a morbid fascination with the family of murderers. in the devil's rejects it's clear that the sympathy you find yourself feeling for those same murderers is intentional, and that that sympathy is meant to be disturbing on a very visceral level. so never mind the hordes of idiot goth teenagers you'll most assuredly encounter in line for the film, and i hope for your sake that they don't make clear just how stupid they are. it's a good movie, and you should feel no shame in enjoying it. i promise.

[/film critic]

so. one of the friends i went with. i love her dearly, but she's the kind of goth kid who is, well, a bit foolish at times. it can be quite frustrating. you know, the kind who tries to fit the goth stereotype perfectly, and you get the idea that most of the things they say and do are purely for shock value. she's the kind of person who loves things like johnny the homicidal maniac and the devil's rejects because it's cool to like that sort of thing in her subculture. the kind who misses the point of such things. the kind who is there for the sophomoric violence and seeing some innocent people getting killed. the kind who is very vocal about their chosen religion which is cool because it isn't monotheistic, but recoils and swears whenever someone mentions the christian god, or prays aloud in a movie, and feels, in their mind, that those people deserve what they get just because they don't feel the need to hide the fact that they worship a traditional god. i'm tired of this bullshit. this persecution syndrome thing. this thing people have about their religion, or their subculture, both of which seem to be pretty much one and the same by now anyway so let's just call it this thing that people have about themselves. that thing where you can say how cool it is to be a wiccan? everyone else can do the same, and you've got no right to silence christians just because they're christians. i swear, do they just choose to worship every single god in the classical pantheon just to rebel against christianity? i really just can't take it anymore. why can't people just be individuals? why do they have to define themselves, even though they swear they do not, by what other people think of them? this goes for everyone. every single person whose wardrobe consists of band t-shirts and black, every single person who defines their sense of self not by what is within them but by what they surround themselves with, every single person who claims to be a part of some religion just to piss their parents off - stop. please. and just think - is this honestly who i am, or am i just falling into the corporate trap? look, i'm just recently out of that phase myself (well, maybe not recently), so don't act like i don't know what the fuck i'm talking about, because i do.

i'm only able to conclude a few things from this rant:

teenagers are stupid. i mean really, really phenomenally dumb. a few years ago i got angry when people thought my opinions weren't valid just because i was a teenager, but now - three years later - i realize it was true. teenagers are idiots, for serious. they take things - the wrong things - too seriously, and don't take others seriously enough. but that's normal. it's what kids do.

some people are in high school for the rest of their lives. it's just the way it is. some people never change, and they stay in the same frame of mind they were in when they were in eleventh grade. static. it's depressing. i feel like i should have progressed far beyond that point but i'm still here bitching about my peers. hoy.

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