Humans, The Real Monsters

by Jordan Griffiths
(Tasmania, Australia)

Just recently, in Tsmania's capital city Hobart, a stabbing took place in a target department store resulting in the killing of a twenty six year-old man. This got me thinking on a view I have pondered for a long time; when it comes to horror movies, just like in real life, the people are the true monsters, sometimes even those that at one stage seem to be the protagonists. The creatures, aliens or deformities, whatever they may be, are simply a backdrop to what really goes on inside the human psyche.

Picture the scene from Frank Darabont's absolute master-piece adaption of Stephen King's 'The Mist.' You're trapped inside a half destroyed super-market, there's no power, monster aliens from another planet waiting outside and the body count is growing. You think things couldn't possibly get any worse? Think again. After only 2 days cabin fever seems to pop up its ugly face and the majority of people have formed a type of religious sect and are planning on killing and sacrificing your only son... The next thing that runs through your head is how much you would love to be outside with the giant spiders and sky-scraper high monsters.

Other examples of this philosophy are George Romero's 'Dawn of the Dead,' where marauding Indians attack the cow-boys ranch, that just happens to be filled with a few zombies going about their daily business, (by Indians I meant bikers, by cow-boys I meant survivors and by ranch I meant shopping mall... obviously). 'Night of the Hunter,' where a man that you would normally associate with love and compassion hunts down and tries to stab and kill a young boy and his even younger sister. 'Resident Evil' where a man's betrayal and true intentions are far more dangerous than any zombie, or red queen. 'Suspiria,' I don't know whether or not you could actually refer to witches as human or not, but none-the-less these violent and psychopathic ladies are a force not to be messed with... unless your an American ballet student.

Maybe it's because humans know what goes on in the mind of others so they can pin-point their fears, or maybe it's because they are the same as us and it's the fact that we can relate to them that scares us. But mainly, I believe the reason that humans are more scary than any monster is the fact that they exist, and some are in fact very evil and tortured... we see it on the news every day.

Humans may be naturally civil and proper, but some things that occur in the world; greed, power, poverty, change that completely...