AGHHHHHHHHHHHH
We were warned that post-modern horror generally leaves loose ends and unresolved conflicts. We talked about these ambiguous elements in class and read about it in Isabel Pinedo’s Recreational Terror article. With all the time we spent discussing it, the readings, and everything we watched- I should have seen the ending to Tremblay’s A Head Full of Ghosts coming. I could not have found a better example of foreshadowing for what to expect from this novel, than the entire three weeks we have talked about post-modern horror. Honestly it’s embarrassing to admit that the ending left me as shocked and frustrated as it did.
I think the elements of ambiguity, vagueness, and lack of resolutions in post-modern horror are the most significant changes from the classic horror genre because of the effect that the ambiguity has on the audience. Post-modern horror has seemingly shifted away from the terrifying, monster-revealing moments, and turned its focus on creating an unwavering sense of anxiety for its audience. Like Pinedo says in her article, horror films are like roller-coasters in that the “conviction that there is nothing to fear turns stress/arousal into a pleasurable experience” (Pinedo 25). The ultimate goal of horror is to stress out and create an anxious audience.
In classic horror films, there is generally a single moment/jump-scare that is the climax of the film (imagine Hitchcock’s 1960 film Psycho or the 1976 film Carrie, based off a Stephen King novel). Once this moment is over, however, the protagonist escapes/defeats the monster and lives to see another morning. The John McCarty quote in Pinedo’s article references this as he said these were “the kinder, gentler days of horror” (Pinedo 25). While classic horror films create anxiety and then resolve it with a clear, and (generally) positive ending, post-modern horror uses jump-scare moments to provide temporary relief. After a jump-scare, the audience can take a breath and calm down, but the ending ultimately does not resolve itself and leaves the audience confused, angry, and frustrated.
A Head Full of Ghosts does a great job in creating a frustrating and ambiguous ending. Almost like an itch you cannot scratch, the reader is left at the end of the novel angry and shocked, demanding a clear ending (In some cases, the reader is so frustrated that he starts off his blog post with AGGHHHH). I think this frustration and anxiety defines the most significant aspect of post-modern horror because the stress remains unresolved long after you leave the movie theater/put down the book.
As a side-note Tremblay references the ending to the 1978 film, The Thing, while he was writing the ending to A Head Full of Ghosts in the notes for the last chapter as inspiration for its ambiguous ending. In the film, a shape-shifting monster fights a group of humans and imitates individuals to get closer to others. SPOILERS- in the last scene there is ambiguity on whether one of the last two surviving people are actually the monster in disguise. While there are theories that since you cannot see one of the men’s breath in the cold, he must be the monster, the ending is purposefully ambiguous and leaves the audience frustrated.
Works Cited