Eric LaRocca's Top 10 Horror Films - Part 1

[Editor's Note: Eric LaRocca is a playwright and writer, whose short play Parasite was one of the 2014 Best of Fresh Blood festival. His fiction has been published in The Horror Zine, Dark Moon Digest, Sanitarium, and several anthologies. This is his first post for La Petite Blog.]

At a very young age I respected and admired the art form of the horror genre. Perhaps I responded so intimately to horror considering the fact that the genre is widely criticized and rebuked by most mainstream audiences and at a very young age I too felt very disenfranchised and unequal to my peers. Perhaps I responded to the genre because horror is an art form that has struggled desperately to be taken seriously and I too felt very ineffectual and disrespected in my youth. Regardless, since childhood I have done all I can to study the genre and educate myself by watching and reading the masterworks and miscarriages of this widely lesser appreciated genre.

This list is certainly not conventional. Perhaps you’re entirely unfamiliar with some of these films. Some of you might even be saying, “Where’s Rosemary’s Baby? Where’s The Exorcist? What about Psycho?” I am by no means suggesting that the following list of cinematic works are the most flawless representations of the genre and deserve to trump all other lists of horror films. These films merely resonated with me on a personal level and are still greatly influential on my path as a young writer and enthusiast of the art form. These are films to which I look for inspiration. My hope is that you will read the list, check out some of the films, and develop and share your own opinions.

10. Jacob’s Ladder (1990)

Directed by Adrian Lyne - Written by Bruce Joel Rubin - Starring Tim Robbins, Elizabeth Pena, Danny Aiello

Coming in at number 10 on my list is what I consider to be the greatest psychological horror film of all time – Adrian Lyne’s Jacob’s Ladder. Lyne’s surreal and frightening exploration into the depths of a troubled human mind concentrates on a veteran of the Vietnam War, Jacob Singer (Tim Robbins), who is mourning the loss of his child while relentlessly being tormented by unusual flashbacks and nightmarishly grotesque hallucinations. Struggling to preserve his sanity, he struggles to decipher the truth and reality of his past and present while contending with his dreams and concept of death.

While the film excels with regard to cinematography and stellar performances by the cast, the film is particularly exceptional at disorientating the viewer so that we, the audience, experience and respond to the very same confusion Jacob experiences with every nightmarish vision. Many who have viewed the film already might agree that the film is the cinematic equivalent of a “bad trip.”

Opinions are certain to be divided when it comes to reflecting upon and analyzing this film. Some consider it a work of genius and true testament to the sub-genre of psychological horror while others dismiss it as disappointing and absurd. Regardless, I consider the film a visceral and somber excursion into the realm of psychological horror with profoundly engaging characters. The film’s intelligence is principally exemplified in its aptitude to effectively shift between moments of astounding eeriness and overwhelming despair.

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Saturday, July 19 at 8:00 PM

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Meet Devlin Giroux: Bucking the Trend

JESTER Explores the Ambiguity Between Reality and Imagination

My first introduction to Devlin Giroux's play Jester was in the audition room. Stephen Cedars, Jester's director, asked actors to perform an impromptu dance. He asked them to evoke fear indirectly - to be creepy and unsettling, rather than aggressive, towards the person they were tasked with "entertaining". That's where I came in. Stephen needed someone for the auditioners to scare, so as the reader, I sat across from each of them, while they attempted to terrify me with their portrayals of the Jester. And terrify they did! 

Later, when I read the full script, I further understood why the Jester is so eerie. Marie, the character whom the Jester haunts, may or may not actually be seeing the Jester. The ambiguity in Giroux's play between what is real and what is imagined adds to the overall uneasiness that the play provokes. This is especially evident in that Marie is being held in a mental health facility, and everyone there seems to believe she's hallucinating. 

Devlin Giroux lives in Michigan, so I couldn't interview him in person, but he was kind enough to answer some questions about his play, his fears, and the challenges of writing horror:

Distinguishing between reality and imagination is a concept that has often appeared in psychological horror films. One example that comes to mind is the 1968 classic, Roman Polanski's Rosemary's Baby. Throughout the film, Rosemary's paranoia grows as she fears that her child has been promised as a Satanic sacrifice. For viewers, a large part of what makes this film scary is that we don't know whether what Rosemary believes is the truth or a delusion. 

Uncertainty about reality continues to show up in more recent psychological horror films, touching on a wide array of topics. The Others (2001) features a woman who fears there are ghosts living in her house. In Flightplan (2005), a woman on an airplane is convinced her daughter was kidnapped, but everyone on the flight claims they never saw the child. Black Swan (2010) explores the gradual mental decline of a ballet dancer as she becomes increasingly paranoid and competitive.

Despite different portrayals of psychological horror, all of these films and Jester explore what happens when the truth isn't easily discernible. While zombies and vampires and ghosts are certainly scary in their own right, there's something particularly frightening about being unsure of what is real and what is not. This is especially scary when coupled with a disbelief on the part of others, like in Jester. Only Marie sees the Jester, and so she essentially has to confront her fear on her own, in the face of skepticism. In doing so, she also has to face herself, which might be the most frightening thing of all. 

--Claire Fishman

Meet Eric LaRocca: The Playwright Prodigy

Some of you may already know that when we choose the plays we want to read at Fresh Blood, we contact the playwrights to give them the good news, and invite them to the reading. Many of our submitting playwrights live in other states, and sometimes even other countries, so I've grown accustomed to having playwrights decline because of distance. But when I contacted Eric LaRocca, to tell him that we wanted to read his submission Parasite at the November 2013 edition of Fresh Blood, I received a response I had never received before. He asked if he would be able to get into the Dressing Room Boutique & Bar - because he wasn't 21 yet. 

If you haven't read or seen Parasite, you won't understand how truly shocked I was by this response. First of all, it is a very mature play. Subtle, sophisticated, provocative, gritty... (filthy, actually...) and it was written by someone who couldn't legally drink alcohol?!? My mind was blown. Second, it seemed unfair somehow that someone so young could write something so good. Personally, I started writing plays when I was sixteen. But my plays... - how should I put this? - they sucked. I think most writers would freely admit to being at least a little embarrassed by our early work. But Parasite had none of the trademarks of an "early" play. I had to conclude that: 1.) Eric must have gotten a very early start as a writer. Obviously much earlier than me. And 2.) that La Petite Morgue was very fortunate that such an insightful, intellectual, and acerbic young writer had decided to write horror for the stage. 

Subsequently, we chose Parasite as one of the plays we would fully produce for the Best of Fresh Blood festival. Eric took the time to answer some questions about his play, fear, horror, and the phenomenon of decay. 

"Humans can learn a lot from parasites. Their size doesn’t work against them the way you might think it would. It actually inspires a creativity and a perseverance that’s unparalleled in any other species. They’re a lot like humans in their nature. More than you’d imagine. You see, the propagation of the species is imperative to the growth of the genus. But, they have to be very precise with where they deposit their eggs."

-- Anna in Parasite

Parasite is a play with two characters: Anna (played by Amanda White), a deeply troubled doctoral candidate who mutilates herself after becoming convinced that her infected tattoo is the key to winning back her lover, Lucie (played by Lillian Ancheta). The play touches on several absolutely horrifying phenomena, from the everyday (exploitative relationships), to the psychological (delusional parasitosis), to the inexplicable (and the incredibly gross). If you want to get a taste of how horrifying this play will be to watch, I've been compiling a collection of photographs of infected flesh, self-inflicted wounds, DIY tattoo removal, and other really gross things that you probably shouldn't look at if you are at all squeamish, or ever want to enjoy food again. The examples are extreme, but the everyday horrors of decay (and exploitation) are an omnipresent force - as Eric so vividly reminds us. 

Check back soon for more interviews with the Best of Fresh Blood playwrights, and don't miss The Best of Fresh Blood festival, July 17-19 at Stage Left Studio. 

November Theme: It's Crazy!

Next month's Fresh Blood theme will be Lunatics & Lost Souls. Send us your short horror plays about mental illness, psycho killers, hallucinations, the institutionalized & the incarcerated. Please send your plays to lapetitemorgue@gmail.com by October 26; readings will be held November 6.