I just binge-watched the third season of Slasher... and I'm not impressed. I'm not going to give away too many plot details since I think you should give this show a try. The first two seasons were relatively good. But Season 3? Let me say this: There is a pretty fat line between gratuitous gore and a psychologically horrific book or movie. What really drives a horror plot is motivation. But motivation doesn't need to be explained. We don't need all the exposition. n Season 3 of Slasher, the motivation speaks to our damaged sociopolitical climate here in the U.S. Yes, there are many everyday horrors that could motivate someone to kill. But the shows takes it to an extreme and beats a dead horse with the concept of revenge. To make their point, all but two main characters (I won't hint at which ones) make it out alive in the final episode. From a psychological standpoint, horror deals with the darkness of the human psyche. We all have our own demons, but it's how we deal with those demons that matters. Take, for example, the movie Session 9. Minimal gore but absolutely psychologically terrifying. "Madness" isn't always obvious, but we get hints of it when we pay attention. When I went back and re-watched the movie, I could see where the character was slipping from reality. He had things that triggered him, but why? The movie just happens to leave the question open of whether he was crazy all along or if something sank its claws into him. That's how reality is. And that's how horror is. We don't need to be beaten over the head with motivation; we want to figure it out for ourselves... Right? I know I like a good puzzle. Horror is about picking up the pieces and coming to our own conclusions about why they were disassembled in the first place. Sure, some gore is necessary, but it should only serve to drive the plot and develop the characters. Gratuitous gore is kinda boring. To sum it all up, motivation doesn't need constant explication. Horror fans like a good challenge. "I'll say this: The scariest monster in the world is human beings and what we are capable of, especially when we get together." - Jordan Peele
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Jen
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