Editorials
Nyctophobia: 7 Horror Movie Monsters That Leave You Afraid of the Dark
Darkness is a vital tool to horror. Horror and the dark are so intertwined that the idea of watching horror tends to evoke any imagery related to darkness, from night skies to pitch-black shadows. It harkens back to a primal fear that afflicts many from a young age- nyctophobia. Nyctophobia is an irrational, extreme fear of the dark, and it leaves many children clamoring for a night light. Darkness is petrifying for most because it removes all visual stimuli and triggers the imagination. Who knows what threats may be lurking in the shadows.
That’s why horror thrives in it. Just seeing a dim room in a horror movie puts you on edge as your mind immediately starts checking the perimeter for danger. Conversely, light brings safety. It shoos away the encroaching terror. This simple dichotomy makes for one of the genre’s most enduring motifs. Horror offers no shortage of creatures that thrive in the dark or monsters weakened by the light. Vampires reign supreme as one of the foundational movie monsters with a significant sun allergy, but the world of things that go bump in the night is vast.
The monsters in these horror movies will leave you sleeping with the lights on, from ghosts to aliens.
Darkness Falls – The Tooth Fairy
Matilda Dixon earned the nickname of the Tooth Fairy thanks to her reputation for giving children coins for their lost teeth. An accident left her disfigured and sensitive to light. Then the adoring town residents of Darkness Falls turned to skepticism and ire when two children went missing. They exposed her to light and hung her, erroneously. Matilda returned as a vengeful spirit, cursed to destroy any that look upon her. If you hadn’t guessed already, light proves key in stopping this shadow-loving ghost.
Lights Out – Diana
David F. Sandberg’s feature debut expands upon his short film, giving its unsettling entity a backstory in this scare-heavy metaphor for depression. Teresa Palmer stars as Rebecca, a woman drawn into the mystery behind her young half-brother’s night terrors that leave him refusing to sleep at night. It turns out that their mother’s imaginary friend “Diana” is real, and she’s a deadly entity that physically manifests in the dark. That means that safety from Diana exists solely within the light, especially if their mother can no longer keep her at bay. Sandberg nails scare-crafting here.
The Descent – Crawlers
One year after a tragic accident, Sarah sets off with her friends on a spelunking adventure. Too bad pal Juno leads the group into an uncharted cave system, which traps them due to a collapse. As if no hope of rescue isn’t bad enough, this cave system happens to be inhabited by man-eating creatures. The fight for survival has never been quite as primal and bloody as it is in Neil Marshall’s fantastic entry in the annals of claustrophobic horror. Deep within the bowels of a cave, the Crawlers long ago adapted to an unlit terrain where the sun can’t reach. These creatures hunt in darkness and never come out during the day.
Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark – Homunculi
After uncovering an old fireplace, Sally begins to hear eerie voices shortly after moving into an old mansion she’s inherited with her husband. She unwittingly set free little goblin-like homunculi that dwelled within, and they’re determined to make her one of them. Too bad no one believes Sally. She finds an ally in lights, which deter the tiny creatures. But it’s only temporary. The 2010 R-rated remake makes these creatures far more vicious tooth fairy-types, but the TV movie brings a quieter, more unsettling atmosphere.
The Monster – Monster
Ten-year-old Lizzy (Ella Ballentine) is tired of taking care of her out-of-control mother Kathy (Zoe Kazan) and demands that she be taken to live with dad straightaway. It’s the middle of the night, and Kathy crashes into a large animal in the middle of the road, leaving her injured, and the car stalled. The pair soon realizes they’re not alone; something is stalking in the woods and sees them as new prey. Mom and daughter don’t stand much of a chance against the giant, reptilian creature hunting them and anyone who crosses their path. The playing field evens out a bit with the discovery that the beast has a severe aversion to light and fire.
The Hallow – Fairies
This dark fairytale is part creature feature, part body horror, and all Irish folktale. Corin Hardy’s feature debut follows a British plant conservationist and his family as they discover the hard way what it means to ignore warning signs and invade the territory of fairies, banshees, and changelings. There’s nothing sweet or cute about these deadly creatures. As the beings descend upon his home and attempt to steal the baby, it becomes evident that one of the most significant assets in this fight for survival is light; the light repels them.
Pitch Black – Bioraptors
After crash landing on a desert planet, the crew and passengers of a commercial freight ship soon discover why it’s been seemingly abandoned when a rare eclipse begins. As the world descends into complete, pitch-black darkness, underground aliens erupt onto the surface for a feeding frenzy. Survival will be extremely tough for humans. The sci-fi horror movie launched a Riddick (Vin Diesel) franchise, but the Bioraptors nearly upstaged him. These predatorial and often cannibalistic aliens’ only prominent vulnerability is photosensitivity. These aliens are built for ripping prey apart, and the sheer, overwhelming number of them on the attack makes them more deadly than anything else on this list, especially with so few places to hide.
For this month’s installment of “TV Terrors” we revisit the small screen adaptation of 1980s movie “Weird Science,” which aired from 1994 – 1998 on the USA Network.
I probably sound like an old fogy when I say this, but the USA Network of the cable television heyday was drastically different than the USA Network we have today. Back in the early nineties, USA Network was a free for all of weird, fun entertainment. There were adult cartoons, erotic thrillers, “Up All Night,” sports events, a large Saturday morning cartoon line up, classic horror movies, Troma double bills, and there were even kung fu movies every weekday morning.
USA Network also aired the primetime TV series adaptation of “Weird Science.”
The classic John Hughes sci-fi comedy from 1985 was adapted in 1994 into a mostly faithful TV version that took everything scandalous about the original film and amped up the ridiculousness by about fifty percent. While you wouldn’t think “Weird Science” would be considered much of a horror series at all, the writers surprisingly managed to take the opportunity to deliver various horror-tinted themes. Even when the show adhered mainly to the science fiction comedy elements of the movie, the series’ writers always injected this air of menace and sinister intentions behind genie Lisa, whose own naivete made her dangerous to her new friends.
The fact that the premise was so absurd allowed the writers to do pretty much whatever they wanted, injecting elements like aliens, time travel, and even monsters into the mix.
In place of Ilan Mitchell-Smith and Anthony Michael Hall were Michael Manasseri and John Asher, respectively. All the while fashion model turned actress Vanessa Angel did a bang up job replacing Kelly LeBrock as walking deus ex machina Lisa. In place of Bill Paxton as Chett was the equally obnoxious and fun Lee Tergesen. He appears throughout the series playing the constant foil to the pair of friends, almost always intruding on their schemes.
The pilot, “She’s Alive!” was basically a truncated twenty two minute, sanitized remake of the 1985 film. It’s meant to really lay out the entire premise for the new audience. And it gets the job done. All the while it also sets the bar for what the show is conceptually trying to achieve. It’s about as goofy and silly as all get out, but it’s also about more than the two characters trying to lose their virginity. The teen sex comedy angle is downplayed in favor of more misadventures involving sci-fi, the supernatural, magic, and beyond.
This allowed the writers a chance to do pretty much whatever they wanted, with Lisa acting as a tech based genie and excuse to inject the extraordinary plot elements. The series dabbled in a lot of horror themed standalone episodes, as well; among some of the best was “Bikini Camp Slasher,” where slasher geek Wyatt is convinced that he could kick the butt of any movie slasher.
Lisa takes it literally and warps the pair into the reality of their newest slasher film, and the catch is that they can’t leave until the movie officially ends. In “The Sci Fi Zoned,” the guys take in a twenty four hour marathon of their favorite black and white horror anthology show. After hearing their enthusiasm for the series, wouldn’t you know it? Lisa zaps them into the show when a big fight threatens their friendship. There are a ton of fun callbacks to classic “Twilight Zone” episodes including “The Living Doll,” who is voiced by none other than original Talky Tina actress June Foray. But probably my favorite episode is “You’ll Never Eat Brains in This Town Again.”
When Lisa attempts to make her own zombie movie, she zaps a horde of actual brain eating zombies into their reality. Despite her insistence they’re docile during the day, the zombies set off a potential apocalypse as they begin craving human brains, prompting Wyatt, Gary, and Chett to figure out how to stop them. Even worse, Lisa being bitten has turned her into a potential flesh eater.
Unlike previous attempts to serialize John Hughes classics like “Ferris Bueller” and “Uncle Buck,” USA’s “Weird Science” was a surprising success. It lasted five whole seasons, and ended right on the cusp of the network’s reformatting to fit in endless hours of crime procedurals. Once ending in 1998, the show re-ran in syndication for a few years on other cable channels before disappearing for a long time.
It certainly won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, but “Weird Science” still holds up well as this weird mid-nineties fever dream that embraced its silly and took risks with various sub-genres.
Where Can I Watch It? Sadly only the first season of the series is available to rent or buy on Amazon Prime Video. Various episodes, however, can still be found on YouTube.
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