28 weeks later

I like horror movies. It is a shocking confession; but I do. I'm always pestering family and friends to go and see the latest flick with me. I remember for Jeepers Creepers, all my friends REFUSED to accompany me to see it. They said it was going to be a waste of two hours of their lives and despite my pleading - did not go. I ended up watching both instalments on television.

I sometimes wonder though why I watch horror movies alone. I remember in Ludhiana, I watched Saw II alone. Now that is just a typical slasher movie; but the images were just so disturbing that I ended up wishing I hadn't seen it at night in my apartment. Same with the Exorcism of Emily Rose. I don't care what anyone says about possession. That movie had me convinced totally.

Now I have not seen the first instalment of the horror movie 28 weeks later, which is called 28 days later. But that film is also quite scary. It's about a group of survivors who are facing this deadly contagious virus that gets transmitted through blood. And once you get it, within seconds you are infected and turn into a mindless killer zombie. Yes, this is very silly and insipid and you'll wonder how and why these kinds of movies are made - but there is an audience out there!! What happens in the end is reminiscent of an old quote by Keynes - In the Long Run, we are all dead anyway.

I didn't know that the first instalment was directed by Danny Boyle - of recent fame due to Slumdog Millionaire and his Oscar for best director. He also directed a film that I watched last year called "Sunshine". That was also a vision into a apocalyptic type future where the whole human race depends on the successful space mission to rejuvenate the sun and bring sunshine back into our lives. The space mission encounters a glitch though with half its crew members going mad after encountering another mission.

You'd think that these end of the world type scenarios are recent - what with all the global scale problems of war and poverty and death and ecological degradation looming. Sometimes even I think that the future is bleak. But visions of a doomed future have been there since centuries. Hindu myth believes that we are currently in the age of kalyug - the dark age. Until recently I did not know that December 21, 2012 is considered to be the day when something called the Doomsday Prediction will come true - and something catastrophic will happen on this date. It even has its roots in Mayan philosophy.

Hmmm.... food for thought oui?