u/commoncod

Curry Barker is now the third in a line of sketch comedians who pivoted to horror and directed some of the most acclaimed horror movies of the past decade (alongside Jordan Peele and Zach Cregger). I definitely notice some tonal similarities in their work, like a deft way of balancing genuinely scary or disturbing elements with humor, but I wonder what else from comedy sets them up for success in horror. A skill in subverting expectations? Any thoughts?

I love Contra, but really struggled to understand her thesis on violence in media in the Saw video. She seems critical of the “historical social justice catharsis through imagined violence” approach taken by Django and Inglourious Basterds, but doesn’t this contradict her discussion of fantasy in the Twilight video. In Twilight, she defends violent romance fantasies as fulfilling a psychological desire in the audience, rather than actually endorsing sexual violence or glorifying non-consent. Why doesn’t this also apply to the revenge fantasies in Tarantino movies? As a Jew, I find it gratifying to engage with an over the top story of a Jewish woman burning Adolf Hitler alive. I guess I just found her critique unclear, and wish she expanded outside media analysis more in Saw as she did in Twilight, which to me is her opus.