They say the real fear with these rides comes from the feeling of having no control.
This insightful evaluation of the psychology behind roller coaster phobia comes from the blandly nice boyfriend of Final Destination 3 protagonist Wendy Christensen (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) shortly before he is horrifically killed by a malfunctioning cart system on the ride in question. Like every other main character in the franchise, Wendy experiences a haunting premonition of a fatal accident, which motivates the control freak to evacuate everyone around her from the doomed roller coaster. She manages to rescue everyone but her boyfriend and her best friend, both of whom careen to their untimely demise while Wendy watches helplessly below. It is an unexpectedly striking scene in an assembly-line horror film, an oddity in its disquieting depiction of just how terrifying it can be to realize that you truly have no control.
I actually came to this same conclusion alongside Wendy. As an eleven-year-old plugged into the Internet, I stumbled across the Final Destination franchise and was so morbidly fascinated by the premise that I decided to watch it for myself. At that point in my life, my media diet was still heavily restricted to age-appropriate fare: the closest I came to horror was SyFy channel marathons of The Twilight Zone. The notion of diving headfirst into such a gory, thrilling film as my first exposure to the genre was enchanting enough that I recorded a showing of the third movie on the family cable box, then watched it at two in the morning so I could erase it before anyone could find out. Needless to say, I was horrified not by the graphic content, but by the realization that mine and everyone elses fates were entirely out of my hands.
As an anxious child, this did not sit well with me. I was entirely convinced of my ability to prevent disaster and ensure fortune by staying attuned to my environment and catching onto the universes plans before they could be enacted. If I always made sure to look at the clock when the last number was even and recited the exact same prayer before bed every night and touched my stuffed animals in the correct order, I could ward off evil in all of its forms. Unfortunately for my young nerves, the entire Final Destination franchise hinges on the premise that no matter how closely you examine the world for signs, no matter how many premonitions you experience, no matter how tightly you hold onto your loved one, you and everyone you know will eventually die. The end we meet may not be so terrifically elaborate or gory, but it will inevitably come.
Confronting this reality as a young girl was initially paralyzing, especially given my insistence that rituals and lucky numbers could protect the people in my life from harm. However, as I began to watch more horror movies, I slowly relaxed into my panic and found that as troubling as it could be, horror was the perfect escape from the ubiquity of death. In the self-contained universe of a Final Destination or Saw or Nightmare on Elm Street entry, I could encounter death in all of its conceivable manifestations and tease out themachinations of the cinematic universe while not understanding those of my own.
Horror has made this process and the resulting acceptance of death a little more bearable despite the harshness of its real-life applications. When my best friend Gwen died suddenly during our final semester of high school, under circumstances so eerily similar to the aforementioned Final Destination 3 scene that I considered the film cursed and wouldnt watch it for years, I felt again immobilized by my lack of control. I was so certain that there was something I could have done to save her, that if I had read the hands of the clock more closely or interpreted my dreams more rigorously, I would have seen this coming and rescued her. Her death was so utterly senseless and cruel, a decision handed down from forces beyond my knowledge and command.
It was my return to the horror genre that allowed me to fully comprehend the arbitrary nature of death and how my preoccupation with control would ultimately do nothing but make me miserable considering where we would all end up. First finding myself in the wailing, grieving characters of Ari Asters films, I sank down into the comforting nonsense of surrealism and the jolting ennui of extremism. I watched all of Alan Resnicks work, which forces the viewer to accept that there is no certainty and that living in constant fear of death is perhaps worse than death itself; these lessons of no reality but the one we create imparted by his alantutorial series were especially helpful when the pandemic struck and threatened to revert me back to my clock-watching ways. New wave and new extremity films along with their less-enlightened American torture porn counterparts reaffirmed that pain is universal, that nothing we do can buy us more time.
Where these nihilistic messages should have soured my compassion for humanity and general appreciation of life, I instead take solace in them. The entire conceit of horror is exploiting our greatest fears, exposing us to unsafety and expecting us to relinquish our power for ninety minutes. In the universe of the film, we live out the worst things that can ever happen to us, only for the credits to return us to a reality where the best things can happen to us as well. We can control our feelings, our love, our willingness to open ourselves to all the beauty and joy in the world. The real fear of the roller coaster may come from the feeling of no control, but the real thrill comes from the feeling of not needing to control anything at all.
Follow this link:
We have nothing to fear but fear itself and rollercoasters - Duke Chronicle
- 'Immaculate' ending explained: Was the baby a demon? - Business Insider - April 2nd, 2024
- 10 Horror Movies That Would Have Ended Earlier If Their Heroes Were Smarter - CBR - Comic Book Resources - April 2nd, 2024
- Terrifier 3 director reveals they filmed 'most insanely horrific scenes' that nearly made lead actor vomit on set - UNILAD - April 2nd, 2024
- The Latest Stephen King Horror Movie Has A Killer Cast And Director - SlashFilm - April 2nd, 2024
- THE FIRST OMEN 2024: Release Date, Cast, Plot, And Everything You Need to Know - FANGORIA - April 2nd, 2024
- Sting Review | Excellent Creature Feature with an Emotional Backdrop - MovieWeb - April 2nd, 2024
- IMMACULATE Interview with Director Michael Mohan, Discussing the Making of the Film, Reactions to the Ending, and ... - Daily Dead - April 2nd, 2024
- Mood 'Windigo' - Book and Film Globe - April 2nd, 2024
- A 2016 Thriller Is The Top Movie On Netflix Right Now - HuffPost - April 2nd, 2024
- 10 Harsh Realities Of Rewatching Beetlejuice, 36 Years Later - Screen Rant - April 2nd, 2024
- All the Horror Movies We Can't Wait To See in 2024 - The Mary Sue - April 2nd, 2024
- A Buzzy Korean Horror Movie Is Sneakily One Of The Biggest Box Office Hits Of 2024 - SlashFilm - April 2nd, 2024
- Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey 3 horror movie confirmed, after second film debuted to a surprise perfect Rotten ... - Gamesradar - April 2nd, 2024
- Fear Street 4 Is Reviving An Old Horror Trend That Was Perfected 48 Years Ago - Screen Rant - April 2nd, 2024
- Lisa Frankenstein Hides The Fact That It Cast The Real Star Of 2023's Viral $181 Million Horror Movie - Screen Rant - April 2nd, 2024
- Finally, Someone Confirms That A Sequel To HELLRAISER Is In The Works - FANGORIA - April 2nd, 2024
- We're definitely hard at work on: Hellraiser Sequel Promises to Be Even More Terrifying as Producer Vows to Take ... - FandomWire - April 2nd, 2024
- Future Chucky Movie Will Connect To The Series, Says Don Mancini - Screen Rant - April 2nd, 2024
- After Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey 2, Freddy and Jason Need to Cameo in the Poohniverse - MovieWeb - April 2nd, 2024
- Chucky Creator Reveals He is Working on a New Child's Play Movie: 'Whatever Keeps Me Working' - MovieWeb - April 2nd, 2024
- AI In Late Night With The Devil Sparks Controversy - Forbes - March 24th, 2024
- A horror movie based on a Stephen King novel with a disappointing Rotten Tomatoes score is climbing Netflix's top 10 - Gamesradar - March 24th, 2024
- This is why we're so obsessed with nuns in horror movies - according to the official source, a nun - Gamesradar - March 24th, 2024
- Stephen King reveals the one horror movie he couldn't sit through as he was too scared - UNILAD - March 24th, 2024
- Late Night With the Devil directors address the use of AI art in the film - JoBlo.com - March 24th, 2024
- David Dastmalchian on Late Night with the Devil, The Life of Chuck and Good Fiend Films - Kansas City Pitch - March 24th, 2024
- Welcome to the Poohniverse: Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey Team to Unite Pooh, Bambi, Tinkerbell and More in Low-Budget Horror Crossover (EXCLUSIVE)... - March 24th, 2024
- Late Night with the Devil is the best horror movie of the year so far - Yahoo Movies Canada - March 24th, 2024
- Sydney Sweeney 'wanted to be drenched in blood' in 'Immaculate' - Entertainment Weekly News - March 24th, 2024
- Film of the Week: 'Stopmotion' - The best horror film of 2024 so far - Euronews - March 24th, 2024
- How to Watch Immaculate: Is the Sydney Sweeney Movie Streaming? - TheWrap - March 24th, 2024
- THE FIRST OMEN: A Battle With The Devil And An NC-17 Rating FANGORIA - FANGORIA - March 24th, 2024
- Elevated Horror: The New Wave of Artful Scares Taking Over Hollywood - LRM Online - March 24th, 2024
- Late Night With the Devil Plot Explained: The True Meaning of the Movie - The Direct - March 24th, 2024
- David Chase is directing his first film in 12 years. Its a horror movie. - NJ.com - March 24th, 2024
- Us Was The Box Office Hit That Gave Jordan Peele True Power In Hollywood - SlashFilm - March 24th, 2024
- Cast of 'Gremlins': Catch Up With the Stars of the '80s Hit - First For Women - March 24th, 2024
- 'Immaculate' Review: Sydney Sweeney Is Wide-Eyed but Sly - The New York Times - March 24th, 2024
- Sydney Sweeney explains that bloody 'Immaculate' ending - Entertainment Weekly News - March 24th, 2024
- When Will Sydney Sweeney's Horror Film, 'Immaculate,' Be Available to Stream? - AOL - March 24th, 2024
- Blumhouse to Return Insidious and Other Titles to Theaters for Halfway to Halloween Fest - Hollywood Reporter - March 16th, 2024
- Every Movie In The Wrong Turn Franchise Ranked - SlashFilm - March 16th, 2024
- Blumhouse Celebrating 'Halfway to Halloween' With Five Horror Movies Returning to 100 AMC Movie Theaters - Bloody Disgusting - March 16th, 2024
- DeWanda Wise Sings Creepy Theme Of New Horror Film: 'Imaginary' - The Root - March 16th, 2024
- Hostel: Part II (2007) WTF Happened to This Horror Movie? - JoBlo.com - March 16th, 2024
- New LEPRECHAUN Movie Will Be Funny, Scary And Full Of Practical Effects - FANGORIA - March 16th, 2024
- Blumhouse Celebrating Halfway to Halloween With Five Horror Movies Returning to 100 AMC Movie Theaters - IMDb - March 16th, 2024
- The Horror Nail-Biter On Max With A Controversial Ending - Giant Freakin Robot - March 16th, 2024
- "Says the person who was in Madame Web": Sydney Sweeney is Getting Skewered for Saying Modern Horror Movies ... - FandomWire - March 16th, 2024
- First trailer for horror movie reboot The Crow features an unrecognizable Bill Skarsgrd on a bloody mission of revenge - Gamesradar - March 16th, 2024
- You'll Never Find Me Is Unforgettable Horror, See The Terror In Action - Giant Freakin Robot - March 16th, 2024
- The First Omen star has seen all of your internet theories about the horror movie prequel and, well, they're all wrong - Gamesradar - March 16th, 2024
- Sltface take on horror movies with their new single, 'Final Grl' - Dork Magazine - March 16th, 2024
- From 'Five Nights at Freddy's' to 'Imaginary': Why Blumhouse loves PG-13 horror - theday.com - March 16th, 2024
- The First Omen's Big Death Reveal Really Doesn't Bode Well For The Prequel - Screen Rant - March 16th, 2024
- 20 Scariest Horror Movies to Come Out in the Last 5 Years - MovieWeb - March 16th, 2024
- 'The Animal Kingdom' Exclusive Clip Previews the Gnarly Body Horror of Magnet's New Movie - Bloody Disgusting - March 16th, 2024
- 'Oddity' Review: This Supernatural Horror Film Will Tear You To Pieces | SXSW 2024 - Collider - March 16th, 2024
- "Marketing is failing this movie tremendously": David Dastmalchian's Late Night With the Devil Dubbed as One of the ... - FandomWire - March 16th, 2024
- STOPMOTION is a handcrafted tale of beauty and horror - Moviejawn - March 16th, 2024
- Horror Lovers Will Love this Dining Spot in Texas - klaq.com - March 8th, 2024
- Is Late Night With The Devil Based On A True Story? - Screen Rant - March 8th, 2024
- Kooky King: 6 of the Weirdest Stephen King Film Adaptations - Nightmare on Film Street - March 8th, 2024
- The Unknown, the Viral Willy Wonka Experience Villain, Is Already Getting Their Own Horror Movie - IGN - March 8th, 2024
- 13 Original Horror Movies We Can't Wait to See in 2024 - Screen Rant - March 8th, 2024
- From 'Imaginary' to 'Five Nights at Freddy's.' Why Blumhouse loves PG-13 horror - Los Angeles Times - March 8th, 2024
- Imaginary Movie Review: M3gan Meets The Boogeyman - Mama's Geeky - March 8th, 2024
- Christopher Nolan Originally Conceived Inception As A Horror Movie - SlashFilm - March 8th, 2024
- 'Whalefall' Movie in the Works From 'No One Will Save You' Director Brian Duffield - The Mary Sue - March 8th, 2024
- Horror Movie Based On THE UNKNOWN From Glasgow's WILLY WONKA Experience In The Works Horror Movie ... - CBM (Comic Book Movie) - March 8th, 2024
- Horrifying 'Late Night With The Devil' Trailer Released - Outkick - March 8th, 2024
- Imaginary review: M3GAN, take the wheel - Dexerto - March 8th, 2024
- The Unknown: Horror Movie Based on Unofficial Willy Wonka Experience Is in the Works - ComingSoon.net - March 8th, 2024
- Imaginary Film Review: Light on Frights - Loud And Clear Reviews - March 8th, 2024
- Dead Mail Directors on Their '80s Horror Influences - MovieWeb - March 8th, 2024
- HORROR BEAT: Blumhouse offers a non-update on the future of THE EXORCIST - Comics Beat - March 8th, 2024
- And the Oscar for best picture doesn't go to ... horror! - NPR - March 8th, 2024
- Shaitaan OTT Release: When And Where To Watch R Madhavan And Ajay Devgn Starrer Horror Thriller Film - Indiatimes.com - March 8th, 2024
- The 'Wonka Experience' Is Being Turned Into A Horror Movie - UPROXX - March 8th, 2024
- 8 new horror movies on Netflix, Max, Shudder and more in March 2024 - TechRadar - March 8th, 2024
Reviewed and Recommended by Erik Baquero