One of the bigger complaints I hear about horror films in various reviews is that “it made me feel uncomfortable.” Usually leading to the reviewer giving the film a bad review.

Discomfort is one of those things that really puts people off to an experience. I get that. It’s a feeling that’s got a lot of negative associations.

But it’s also what precedes any serious bit of growth and is often found along the path from ignorance to understanding.

Discomfort crops up when you’re out of your comfort zone. And it’s your “comfort zone” that will kill you with stagnation if you’re not careful.

I love films and stories that make me feel uncomfortable. It means I stand to learn something from them–either about myself or about the world in general. Usually something I wouldn’t learn otherwise.

We spend a lot of our lives avoiding being uncomfortable and scared. For at least some of us who love horror films, we seek out those feelings. And when we can get both of them at once–discomfort that gives way to enlightenment and fear that explodes into a release–well, that’s a magical thing, indeed.

Both movies from the last regular night of the Spooky Movie Film Festival provided those feelings. They Look Like People was intensely uncomfortable in places, not being sure whether the main character was crazy or was actually being made ready to face a demonic invasion. German Angst was decided European in its style and, for those of us in the U.S., that’s always a bit uncomfortable (take us out of our cultural element and we don’t know how to react all the time). Definitely films I’d recommend. German Angst, though, most certainly isn’t for everyone. It’s not the most graphic film, but the mix of realistic and ritualistic violence really isn’t at everyone’s cup of tea. Even more so with the sexual themes involved in at least part of the film.

Now that Spooky is over, I won’t be running around quite as much and may actually have a chance to get ahead of the game again. Maybe even figure out some titles or something. This coming week, I’m going to try to move away from fictional spooky things and into more real-world ones. We’ll see how that goes.

So, here’s the vlog on those last two movies. Enjoy!

Don’t forget that you have some say over what goes on for the next 100 days… click the big green button below here to get to the page where you can submit topic suggestions and questions (so I know what kinds of things you want to see go on in these videos).

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