MovieChat Forums > Massacre at Central High (1977) Discussion > A quote by King

A quote by King

posted 20 years ago by crimsonstorm
10 replies | jump to latest

Just thought I'd post a footnote from Stephen King's Danse Macabre. He's discussing whether horror films are art and gives some examples of horror films he sees as art, or at least have moment of artistic merit within them. The quote is as such:

'This might lead to the accusation that my definition of the horror movie as art is much too wide - that I just let in everything. That is not true at all - movies like Massacre at Central High and Bloody Mutilators work on no level. And if my ideas concerning the boundaries of art seem rather lenient, that's too bad. I'm no snob, and if you are, that's your problem. In my business, if you lose your taste for good baloney, it's time you got into some other line of work'

As for my own opinion on the film, I haven't got one. I bought a second hand copy on VHS but it was so jumpy that it was just unwatchable (by junpy I mean film quality and not scare factor).

"Go ahead and take what you want. I ain't doin' any beauty pageants today."

[–] bok602 19 years ago

Ah yes, noted scholar and philosopher, Steven King; of whom it can be truly said that LITERALLY 50% of any one of his books can be omitted and the loss would never be felt -and the result would be a better book.

Always the person to consult on matters of deep thought.

"If you don't know the answer -change the question."

[–] 19 years ago

[deleted]

[–] bok602 19 years ago

My opinion of King is based upon actually reading his books. My analysis is that he needs a good story editor.

The story ideas are very good, but the books he himself writes them into are very poorly done. They are over-long, over-written and over-rated.

I would suggest the works of HP Lovecraft, MR James and Clive Barker as far better from a literary perspective.

"If you don't know the answer -change the question."

[–] 19 years ago

[deleted]

[–] spiritascent 11 years ago

(nearly 9 years later)

I disagree.

[–] graeme6630 19 years ago

I've just got Stephen King's Danse Macabre, and I was wondering what is that footnote on?

[–] crimsonstorm 19 years ago

In my copy, which was published in 1988, it's on page 220.

If the page number doesn't correspond to yours it's within part 10 of chapter 6 (The Modern American Horror Movie - Text and Subtext).

Hope this helps, and as I said above it's not an opinion I can personally subscribe to as I was unable to watch my copy because of it's quality and still haven't seen it.

"Go ahead and take what you want. I ain't doin' any beauty pageants today."

[–] ministerwithoutportfolio 19 years ago

Speaks volumes about Stephen King...

[–] gregg_lopez 19 years ago

I always felt King picked the title out at random. "Massacre" shouldn't be lumped in with your typical run-of-the-mill slasher/gore flick - of which there were hundred out when Danse Macabre was released. For all it's flaws, it's still unique, compelling, with an Animal Farm theme.

[–] superbokka 18 years ago

Animal Farm theme? there was no-one having sex with animals in my copy,guess you got the unedited version.Oh you mean that Animal Farm sorry,for my mistake lol.