Currently one of the hottest show on TV is “The Last of Us,” based on a video game from years ago. I’ve watched part of the first two episodes, and read about the game. Not sure I’ll watch any more episodes. I like Pedro Pascal as an actor, but the idea of another zombie movie is beyond boring. I’m not sure how many seasons of The Walking Dead stumbled around on the screens, but I’ve never much cared for zombie movies. The same goes for vampire movies; one features devious dead people (vampires), the other brainless dead people seeking brains—or flesh. Horror these days seems to center around such strange beasts.
I see horror instead in real life. Not a day goes by without reading about a mass shooting, or a murder-suicide, or horrific killings and rapes. These are the real horrors, perpetrated not by non-human monsters, but real and very much human monsters. Serial killers? Scary, but pale in comparison to soul-less people who kill others, hurt others, and act as if it means nothing to them or the rest of the world. Horror? The real horror comes from places like Russia, people like Putin, Prigozhin, and their minions, their soldiers who shoot for no reason, who murder men, women, and children. Who invade a country for no reason but their own delusion. That’s horror.
Yet, that kind of horror doesn’t make for good TV, apparently. Instead, we get shows about zombies and humans killing zombies, pretending to be zombies to kill other humans. Or, we get something like “The Last of Us,” with the world overrun in two days and split into federal government and rebels, and people in-between. Frankly, that’s been done over and over, and I don’t get the adulation for this show. It’s based on a video game. In that game, the goal is to get an infected but immune human somewhere to get a cure. The irony? The person tasked to get her there decides to save her rather than let he be used to find a cure. So, no cure. Also, in the sequel, he dies. It all seems pointless.
Perhaps that’s the real horror.
