the scary

As a child, my favourite game was Candyland, one of the few games where there is absolutely no suspense at all and, if I remember correctly, there can be no losers. I consider this demonstrative of my mindset, in that even when choosing what to watch, I very rarely opt for scary or sad films (the only exceptions are those films which inspire hope at the end). I get so impatient with characters bungling things up, that I can't stand those scenes even in the most benign sitcoms.
Genres that do not count in this respect are the Agatha Christie series - both books and BBC,ITV productions. Or Midsomer Murders. The way the macabre is presented has its sting so far removed, that one can focus on aspects of British class politics, cultural mannerisms and, in the televised versions, the wonderfully shot scenes. I am always amazed by the thought that goes in to the camera work and the set design.
So, I suppose my beef is with what the plot is doing. If it focuses on the horror for purposes of titillation, I can't stand it. If the tragic is an element in the story, whose purpose is to inspire hope, I can be entertained.
When I was a very small child, my brother and I were told the only story that successfully terrified us. It was a Thai story, told to us by someone close to our family - but the images and the extent to which our narrator went into detail shocked us to the core. All of those details seemed so unnecessary, and we begged her to stop. The curious thing about that story is that all I remember about it now is that there was a bit with lots of ants in it. Also, I am now partial to Thai horror stories. Which probably explains why I watched most of เกมสยอง, 13 Beloved, quite the psychological thriller.
I will not recount the film for you, but I will say where it "got me". Among other things, it addresses the slow spiral into chaos of a clerk, whose family encourages him not to worry about making so much money, but to return home if he wants, where things are "humble" but there for him. The protagonist is not entirely a bad person, rather a confused one, who also has a proclivity of making bad decisions that lead him to be in the wrong place. The horror - for me - centers around his desperation for money and inability to make peace with the past. I continued to think about the film afterwards because I found it to be a modern folk tale: warning us of the potential dangers, just like the folk tales of old spoke of witches in forests in order to keep small children from running off.
So, เกมสยอง seemed to me to contain a rather forceful allegory, pushing for a consciousness in choice-making, questioning whether modern city dwellers care for their elders, and what the priorities are of these video-playing, reality-TV-viewing people are.

I wonder: is scary good if it leads to introspection and awareness that leads us away from danger?

Elements: button mask: minitoko;

tape, gingham, medallions: pugly pixel.