the ‘intense crime/serial murderer’ genre seems popular with devil’s rejects, saw, chaos (so much press and it still isn’t even out on dvd) and the remakes of texas chainsaw and hills have eyes. so last year i watched what i thought were the origins or seminal films of the genre: henry, last house on the left, i spit on your grave, and some of the guinea pigs. i think i’d add in cold blood to that history as well. the whole time you’re just waiting for the murders to happen and it builds intensity. then when they do get caught you’re just waiting for the executions, then they end with a dancer in the dark shot to the gut.
at first i didn’t want to watch it - i could tell i only put it in my netflix cause i had just seen capote and i’m compulsive. but the quincy jones score helped get me into it and then it ended up being good. the mexico sequence was pretty wild.
oh, i had an idea for a list, but i think i need another movie: ‘Scary Telephone Amidst Murderous Tension’: in cold blood, audition, and silence of the lambs so far.
