On the Road to Death

Via one of the most cleverly titled posts I've seen in a while I learn that Chuck Palahniuk, author of Fight Club and Survivor, has a fantastic essay in the Guardian on the healing power of death and the comfort of "cycle" horror movies.

In all ["cycle" horror movies], an individual is trapped by an established cycle of events that doom and destroy. From their story you can imagine that same cycle or process stretching into the past or future, destroying an endless chain of similar people, all of them denying the dire nature of their circumstances until their fate is inevitable.

[...]

No, the victims never get very smart in a cycle story. But the viewers get smart; if the viewers ever run across an abandoned ocean liner filled with gold bars, as in Ghost Ship, the viewers will know to run before greed traps and dooms them. In that way, the victim dies for the viewer to find enlightenment. Maybe we won't keep redecorating the Dutch colonial house in The Amityville Horror and ignoring the demons and houseflies until they destroy our family. Maybe we'll notice our rented island farm is isolated and creepy before we're killed, unlike the hippy commune members in Let's Scare Jessica to Death. People watching cycle stories are people who learn from history.

[...]

The cycle horror story is comforting the same way porno is comforting: you already know how they're going to end. The actor will achieve a loud orgasm or die. In a slasher film he or she will likely do both.

Side note to Jenny: No I haven't finished reading your copy of Survivor. Yes, I'm god damn lazy.