Terror in the Aisles

Didn’t do anything at all for me unfortunately. Felt like a bunch of clips thrown together (that’s basically what it is) and it’s all so dry

Didn’t do anything at all for me unfortunately. Felt like a bunch of clips thrown together (that’s basically what it is) and it’s all so dry

horror movies, you will always be loved by me 🫶

horror movies, you will always be loved by me 🫶

horror movies, you will always be loved by me 🫶

horror movies, you will always be loved by me 🫶

The Nicole Kidman AMC ad for horror fans

I'm not very proud to say that I spent around half of the movie just shouting names of movies and characters excitedly.
(Shoutout to my poor father who watched this with me and had to listen to me yell "Oh my god, What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?" "Dude, it's The Thing!" "BEEF! I love Beef!" "It's Suzy! That's such a good movie." and, of course, "Jeff Goldblum! I love him.")

The Nicole Kidman AMC ad for horror fans

I'm not very proud to say that I spent around half of the movie just shouting names of movies and characters excitedly.
(Shoutout to my poor father who watched this with me and had to listen to me yell "Oh my god, What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?" "Dude, it's The Thing!" "BEEF! I love Beef!" "It's Suzy! That's such a good movie." and, of course, "Jeff Goldblum! I love him.")

To give this some credit I would count Terror in the Aisles as one of the earliest formations of the hours long horror documentaries we tend to get nowadays in streaming services like Shudder, those that even when centering just on a franchise still utilize numerous clips from other films, archival and new interviews and montage editing, this has all of that and one other thing I appreciate besides the dated charm of this is how it is unashamed with lumping what people would usually call “high art” horror like the Shining, The Exorcist, Carrie etc with more “low brow” work like the Seduction, Ms. 45, Alligator, Konga etc, even including action thrillers like Klute, Marathon Man, Vice Squad just because the villains are terrifying is kinda valid I won’t lie because it’s all one part of a big family, it is “terror films” as the film describes it, it is all art… well the film strangely doesn’t see it that way, no these are roller coasters, my biggest issue here is the generalization, it wants to ask why we watch horror and why we love it but all it can muster up at best are random fan service trivia and lip service that only inspires cliche and at worst while I do like that it tries to touch on the darker impulses that might bring us to these films for us to be able to express ourselves ultimately it is not nuanced in the slightest, basically making horror fans seem like crazed sick menace to society which I mean we kind of are but I would argue it’s not because we are sick but because society is (that’s a topic for another day but) all we wanna do is just shut the lights off if you know what I mean but in all seriousness I think this only adds to that late 1980s conservative horror panic, when potentially this could have make those not in the know understand better why horror can mean so much to people but nope, the vapid, sensationalist and randomness of Terror in the Aisles reflects poorly on what otherwise should have been a celebration maybe even a introduction but instead it’s more like a unflattering gross horny quickie, compilation composed entirely of climaxes isolated of their build up or passion with only exposition to help us make sense of what we are seeing, thus this does not stir emotion, only the senses, repulsion and freak show cinephilic curiosity rather then meaningful fear or memorable adrenaline these films are so (in)famous for.

To give this some credit I would count Terror in the Aisles as one of the earliest formations of the hours long horror documentaries we tend to get nowadays in streaming services like Shudder, those that even when centering just on a franchise still utilize numerous clips from other films, archival and new interviews and montage editing, this has all of that and one other thing I appreciate besides the dated charm of this is how it is unashamed with lumping what people would usually call “high art” horror like the Shining, The Exorcist, Carrie etc with more “low brow” work like the Seduction, Ms. 45, Alligator, Konga etc, even including action thrillers like Klute, Marathon Man, Vice Squad just because the villains are terrifying is kinda valid I won’t lie because it’s all one part of a big family, it is “terror films” as the film describes it, it is all art… well the film strangely doesn’t see it that way, no these are roller coasters, my biggest issue here is the generalization, it wants to ask why we watch horror and why we love it but all it can muster up at best are random fan service trivia and lip service that only inspires cliche and at worst while I do like that it tries to touch on the darker impulses that might bring us to these films for us to be able to express ourselves ultimately it is not nuanced in the slightest, basically making horror fans seem like crazed sick menace to society which I mean we kind of are but I would argue it’s not because we are sick but because society is (that’s a topic for another day but) all we wanna do is just shut the lights off if you know what I mean but in all seriousness I think this only adds to that late 1980s conservative horror panic, when potentially this could have make those not in the know understand better why horror can mean so much to people but nope, the vapid, sensationalist and randomness of Terror in the Aisles reflects poorly on what otherwise should have been a celebration maybe even a introduction but instead it’s more like a unflattering gross horny quickie, compilation composed entirely of climaxes isolated of their build up or passion with only exposition to help us make sense of what we are seeing, thus this does not stir emotion, only the senses, repulsion and freak show cinephilic curiosity rather then meaningful fear or memorable adrenaline these films are so (in)famous for.