Apocalypto, and what nots

Had some friends over for dinner - Oppsss! Wrong movie (grins)! Nope, did not watch Hannibal Rising nor Silence of the Lamb this time round, but instead, saw Mel Gibson's "Apocalypto" movie, released earlier in 2006. Have been intending to watch this for quite some time already, but never gotten around to it until last night.

The movie was set in Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula before the Spanish contact, and it depicted one man's experience during the decline of the ancient Maya civilization. A few highlights about the show:

a. Violence involving human sacrifice. Strangely enough, during the afternoon prior to the movie, I was watching Discovery Channel, and they showed "Top 10 Sacred Places", and one of the places shown was of an ancient civilisation temple involving human sacrifice. Eerily enough, it was very similar to the movie, whereby, the heart was cut out and the head lopped off. Discovery Channel highlighted that during one of the king's rule (forgotten the name), at least 20,000 human sacrifices were made to appease their God for something or rather.

b. Violent, but captivating fight scenes, with blood spurting, spikes poking, etc.

c. A few "surround sound" screams permeated the air around us watching just before the snake struck. Now, this is only one snake, and I had the experience of previously watching "Snakes in a plane" with most from the same group, with them also screaming even more in the cinema. I guess snakes and them are not the best of friends.

d. "We are starting a new life" - or something to that extend as a notable quote.

e. Very nice waterwall and other sceneries.

Overall, I enjoyed the movie. Later, we progressed to watch "House of Wax" midway through on Astro, with about an hour left before ending. I actually blurted out "Wah! An hour left", not with the intention of chasing my guests away, but was surprised after one of the girls mentioned "almost finished". Seriously, "almost finished" does not equate to "an hour left" to me. :P

This reminded me of some "correctional society plans" being aired over the radio, whereby, "On the way" to quite a few Malaysians is the same as just getting ready to leave the house. Oh, Malaysians are so notable for being late, but strangely enough, my friends were early for last night's meet up, probably hungry and wanting to be fed! :)

Ok, back to "House of Wax", a typical slasher movie, which did not generate screams from the group, but some tense and jumpy moments. Did not freak me out, but I guess people get scared differently for different reasons. I know some friends can't take mutilation, slashing, cutting of limbs, massacre movies, but enjoy supernatural horrors to the max, whereas I, although fascinated, would typically chicken out of watching the supernatural ones (as I tend to think about it even after the movie). Now, how am I to build more courage without being subjected to watching and experiencing such? Hmm.....