Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker Tries (Badly) To Be A Horror Movie – Screen Rant

The second movie in the new trilogy directed by J.J. Abrams, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker uses horror movie techniques throughout to try (and sometimes fail) to make the Dark Side seem scary.

After the less-than-warm reception of the Star Wars prequels in the 2000s, the big screen fate of the franchise was uncertain. The Abrams-directed 2015 release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens reinstated its status. A critical success, it introduced new characters like Finn (John Boyega), the defecting Stormtrooper, and Poe (Oscar Isaac), the overconfident pilot. The second movie in the trilogy, although less warmly received, introduced new dynamics between characters that hinted at the threat the Dark Side of the Force posed to protagonist Rey (Daisy Ridley).

Related: Every Star Wars TV Show Coming To Disney+ After Mandalorian

Trailers for Episode IX teased the return of Emperor Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid), Sith practitioner and ultimate evil. He now spans every Star Wars movie trilogy, a constant threat who attempts to lure Jedi protagonists to the Dark Side. Though he experienced failure with Luke, he was successful with Anakin, leaving the fate Rey and Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) uncertain. His attempts are framed as terrifying, especially in the most recent installation.

Many of the scenes that touch on the Dark Side lean into a look usually associated with horror. The sets are dark, with low lighting and pools of shadow in which anything could be hiding. The music is ominous, with deep vibrating strings and ominous musical stings. Palpatine himself looks like a creature out of a horror movie. His sunken eyes, pale dead skin, and yellow demonic eyes make him a dead ringer for the nun monster from The Conjuringfranchise.

The scene in which Rey tracks down a Sith wayfinder is an analogue for the scene in Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back when Luke faces the Dark Side cave. In both scenes, the Jedi face a dark version of themselves, testing their strength and will. In Episode IX, the horror is played up. Dark Rey not only hisses like a vampiric monster in a way that reads more comedic than likely intended, but her appearance is shocking and sudden. Jump scares are the currency of horror movies, a technique that can be used very effectively, or, in this case, poorly, as a cheap shot at the audience.

Cults are the lifeblood of a number of horror movies. Protagonists being suddenly thrust into a ritual they never signed on for by shadowy figures is recognizable to many horror fans. Rosemarys Baby pits the pregnant Rosemary (Mia Farrow) against Satanists; Hereditary pushes Peter (Alex Wolff) into the clutches of Paimon worshippers. Rey finds herself facing the Sith.

Palpatine is treated like the ultimate monster. His voice, often disembodied, has a deep threatening tone reminiscent of the voice of Black Phillip in supernatural horror The Witch. The movies opening pushes Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) into the clutches of this monster, a scene designed like a horror movie through its visuals and sound mixing. However badly Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker tries to be a horror movie, it ultimately fails because it isnt a horror movie throughout. The tension of the opening is immediately dissipated in the following scene, which is a comedic interaction between Poe, Finn, and Chewbacca. While the movie might aim to frame the Dark Side in one genre, ultimately those scenes melt away into the corny sci-fi adventure film audiences know and recognize.

Next: What Is Rey Going To Do Next After Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker

Wrong Turn: What Went TERRIBLY Wrong On Set

Shannon Lewis is a features and news writer on Screen Rant. She has experience in editorial working as the deputy editor for Specialty Food, an online and print magazine, curating its news section and social media. She has worked as a freelance writer since 2017, writing articles, features, and profiles in a wide range of topics, from business and tech to pop culture and media. Previously, she has also worked as a ghost writer for a fiction manuscript, and co-founded arts-and-literature magazine, Octarine.Hailing from Queretaro, Mexico, she is a graduate of the University of East Anglia's English Literature with Creative Writing program. An avid reader and fan of writing, she leverages her love of literature to dissect movies in her favorite genres, including horror, rom-coms, and superhero movies. Her focus is on the cross-section between story, cultural background, and character development. When she isn't busy reading everything ever published under the mantle of Image Comics, you might find her writing fiction, rock climbing, or putting together a horror anthology with friends.

Continue reading here:
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker Tries (Badly) To Be A Horror Movie - Screen Rant

Reviewed and Recommended by Erik Baquero