Enrichment

Jurassic Park

Jurassic Park is a phenomenal movie that has shaped the way billions of people understand the long-extinct Dinosaurs since its initial release in 1993. Adapted from the amazing novel by Michael Crichton, Steven Spielberg’s most critically acclaimed masterpiece has become a part of pop culture & defines the Sci-fi & Adventure genres respectively. But Jurassic Park is not, I believe, exclusively a science fiction film meant to amaze children of all ages, but also one of the greatest horror movies of all time. Stay with me!

Jurassic Park is, without a doubt, a child-friendly adventure film about humans interacting with real-life Dinosaurs, however, what I doubt has been touched upon at all since its release is that maybe, just maybe, its all a trap for the audience as much as its own characters. Using the allure of Dinosaur effects like no one has ever before seen, the appearance of excited children & witty leading cast-members, Spielberg tricked his 1993 target audience into rushing to the cinemas with the promise of a gentle triceratops & a colossal Brachiosaurus, until finally he strikes with all the force of watching a Tyrannosaurus Rex wave a guy about like terrier playing tug-of-war; kind of like how the Snapping Turtle uses that weird worm-looking thing on its tongue!

If you think about it, from moments both uniquely horrifying to those that are so common in the Horror genre that they’re practically tropes, it’s difficult to believe that no one has pointed this out before. Let’s revisit the Snapping Turtle analogy for a moment; the Creature Feature is a common sub-genre in Horror but unlike the over-used jump-scares & psychological tension-building of more human-centric sub-genres, the most frightening moments of the Creature Feature are those in which the animal(s), which is often something you’d otherwise trust implicitly (like your dog or a hamster), horrifically mauls a human being to death. And where else do you see this happen? Jurassic Park!

What is the “Clever Girl” moment if not both shocking & disturbing? They’re fantastic last words, granted, but that’s all Muldoon! Does a dismembered human arm belong in a family-friendly Sci-fi Adventure film? Absolutely not, but in a Horror film it is quite at home! And who wasn’t freaked out by the Dilophosaurus scene?

And there’s another common Horror element; taking your understanding of something & warping it into something terrifying. The Dilophosaurus did not spit venom & most certainly did not have frills around its neck (it was also taller than the average man), but in Jurassic Park it did because, while being eaten is motivation enough to avoid carnivorous Dinosaurs, I’m gonna take a shot in the dark & assume that Spielberg & Crichton both knew that the scariest thing in the world is the unknown. By implying that we know next nothing about the Dinosaurs, the creators of Jurassic Park make them infinitely more frightening!

You love Dinosaurs & now they have betrayed you!

Then, of course, there’s the classic (mostly) Horror tropes that define the genre. I might as well get this one out of the way because it is very relevant but regrettably so; in the opening scene of Jurassic Park, a security officer is murdered by the “velociraptor” (inspired in every single detail by the far larger Deinonychus). This officer just so happens to be an African American &, I can’t emphasise enough how regrettable this is, the death of an African American victim just so happens to be a commonly used Horror movie trope. Another example would be the manner in which the entire main cast is introduced in one sequence; although this is hardly exclusive to the genre, it is commonly used as a means of attaching the audience to characters in an effort to give those that die greater impact (& if the film was 100% faithful to the source material, it would make a lot more sense). The build up of tension is also used to great effect multiple times throughout the film, the hallmark of many great Horrors & irrefutable proof that, at the very least, you would be scared in their shoes. And let’s face it, there aren’t many Creature Features that can easily double as slashers with the introduction of its primary villain, which in this case is the Raptors.

Of course, there are far greater examples of recurring Horror themes throughout the sequel to Jurassic Park, The Lost World, but I decided to take up the challenge of showcasing the first film’s dark side. But, if you’re still not convinced, try replacing all the predatory Dinosaurs with rabid St Bernards; would you let children watch Cujo 2?