TARGETing a new audience

Targets is yet another movie that Carroll does not recognize to be an “Art-Horror” movie because the only monster in the movie is a human, and a “true monster” must be unexplainable by science. This film would be classified as Art-Dread, because it lacks truly repulsive, unnatural monster; even though we tend to think of the person going on a shooting spree to be a monster. A human is a human no matter how you explain it; thus, that monster can exist at anytime. You neighbor could be a serial murderer, someone in your family might want to kill you, but you would never know until it happens. This I believe is more scary than something that cannot possibly happen and if that means that it is not a horror film, then Art-Horror films are not very good compared Art-Dread films—especially if there goal is to scare the audience. This movie is about a regular man in a middle-class family, that just so happens to be living with his parents still. He gets fed up with the life that he is living and kills family, but he doesn’t stop there. His next move is to buy more ammo and take his guns to the top of a building. The building is close to the highway and he begins to fire at the people in the cars that are driving down the highway. So after he kills his family and some innocent drivers, he tries not to get caught by the police by hiding in a Drive-In movie theatre. He finds a hole in the movie screen and he climbs behind it and starts firing at the people in their cars watching the movie. The killer is confronted by the main character Byron Orlok, and is soon apprehended by the authorities, this ends the movie.
This movie has the typical mise-en-shot, nothing fancy like long-shots. There was probably a lot more focus on editing as compared to deep-focus photography. The stage design was nothing outstanding, there was more attention placed on plot and content. The atmosphere of the movie made it seem really realistic, because something like that could happen and it did happen. This film has very little resemblance to the genre of the fantastic but you make a stretch to say it is fantastic uncanny, if you thought he was processed in some way. The point being that this is a really great film, that sort of makes you feel uneasy and disturbed but since it lacks the presence of a monster that is both disgusting and unnatural it cannot be labeled as a Art-Horror movie according to Carroll, it is some other genre—that genre being Art-Dread.
It is my belief that Art-Dread is better in everyway from Art-Horror, if what you are looking for is: to be scared, to question the safety of your life, and challenge the knowledge of what the universe is all about. If it is good plot you are looking for then the playing field is at least equal, when it comes to Horror vs. Dread. So for Carroll to discredit films that evoke only Art-Dread he is taking away from the genre of Horror. He is saying that horror is not as good of a genre compared to others. He talks of character identification, what better way to connect with character, than if they are all human. The conclusion that I have came to regarding horror films is that the films we regard as true ‘classic horror’ no longer have the same effect as it did during the time it was created. It could be that we are bored with seeing make-believe monsters; it could be that our society is going to crap, or it could mean that we no longer feel the same way about how a horror film should work. I feel that the ‘classic horror’ films are very entertaining, but no longer ‘scary’ in the true sense of the word. Films that cause me to jump, to see the actual events occurring, and that tap into my imagination in a different way are the movies I prefer. If you want to see a person in a rubber suit then go ahead, but I like to connect with the film by identifying with film; through understanding and adding to the plot using my imagination and gathering insight from the producers of the film. Movies that fall into the category of the complex discovery plot are too boring and predictable, in order to eliminate that feeling the movie-making industry must constantly keep changing things and coming up with new ways to portray quality plots.