Rating of
3/4
DISTRICT 9 – Horror Should Be So Good
Mr. E Horror - wrote on 09/05/09
I realize that District 9 isn’t technically a horror film, and I may not be staying true to my blog’s genre by reviewing it, but it needs to be done. District 9 is able to instill the type of terror that only the best horror films can. The reason that this movie is so important right now is that horror films are really dropping the ball. In general, the industry is so in love with remakes, CGI, and soulless PG-13 fare that much of the thinking has gone out of the genre. District 9 does for science fiction what Dawn of the Dead did for horror 30+ years ago. Neill Blomkamp has made a truly thought-provoking film with a touch every bit as humanistic as Romero at his greatest.
9 offers more than just the run-of-the-mill social commentary on the differences between humans and the other. Blomkamp shows us that it is only circumstantial and not necessarily necessary that the other be aliens. The film is about society and human nature. By placing the setting in South Africa, it becomes apparent that there really is no bottom in the well of social castes. The aliens take their rightful place in society under the poorest urban dweller, and are forced into lives of scrounging for food and fighting for survival. This race of beings whose technology is far more advanced than our own are reduced to animals when hindered by the social constructs of a slum.
Just like in Romero’s zombie flicks, we are the other. The aliens are us. Blomkamp will show us also that the humans are us as well, unfortunately. I can’t wait until this film is released on Blu-Ray so that I can own it. It is a shining beacon in a fog of crap that is the marquee at this moment in time.
