Sinister: blair witch/eric weisbard

[Ciflux at xxx.com]

...and I delurk for a quick second to chime in on a couple of topics.

BLAIR WITCH:  I'm going to have to go along with the naysayers on this one.  
I wanted to feel real horror, really I did.  For two weeks, I made a 
concerted effort to avoid ANY discussion of this film  so I could go in fresh 
-- and believe me, that wasn't easy if you spend any time on the internet.  
What can I say?  Good idea, OK execution, and an ending that gets more 
chilling as I piece it together...but scary?  Terrifying?  Sorry, I can't say 
that I felt anything more than the mildest case of jitters.

Scott wrote:
<< To me, the best of what is frightening ("Henry: Portrait of a Serial
Killer," "Repulsion," even "Taxi Driver" or "Night of the Hunter" and many
more) is so because it is based, in part or whole, in a world that any of us 
could inhabit or stumble into. >>

True.  I find myself far more terrified by certain news stories than any 
obviously-fictitious film (which was another problem I had with Blair Witch 
-- it was impossible to suspend reality, so obvious it was that "it's only a 
movie").  Here in America, it is currently a fad to shoot up schools, office 
buildings, post offices.  The Columbine shootings left me shaken for days 
afterward PRECISELY because, let's face it, there's not a whole lot of 
difference between the shooters and any other bitter outcasts in American 
schools.  In my most alienated high school moments, I could almost imagine 
doing the same thing myself.  In comparison, a made-up film about witches 
failed to do much for me.

ERIC WEISBARD/B&S
So he was condescending toward B&S, the Bowlie Weekender, and everything else 
that doesn't obviously "rock" a la such trailblazers as Eminem and Kid Rock.  
Is any regular reader of his work surprised?  I'm offended that it's somehow 
"upper-middle-class" or "highbrow" to turn away from rock & roll for more 
challenging/subtle pop music forms.  But this is the guy who, five years ago, 
blamed the alternative rock scene for not letting Kurt Cobain be happy as a 
rock star, thus precipitating his death.  (Funny, Billie Joe and Billy Corgan 
somehow managed to survive...) This is also the guy who, in a fanzine 
interview, suggested that he judges his personal tastes by the masses -- if 
lots of people don't share his viewpoints, there must be something suspect.  
It's not as if Weisbard doesn't know a lot about music -- he and I used to 
work at the same college radio station in the 1980s, and I know that he once 
was on the ball.  It's a shame he's turned into just another clueless rock 
critic.  I'm just happy seeing B&S in a major newspaper myself...

mike
ciflux at aol.com
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