![]() ![]() When they arrive at the gates of Moria - a haunting place in its own right - they’re forced inside by the Watcher in the Water, a massive tentacled monster that’s straight out of the work of H.P. In fact, most of the movie is just the hobbits and their companions moving from one monster to the next. He only snaps out of it when Gandalf betrays a hint of his full terrifying power, bellowing at Bilbo not to mistake him for a “conjuror of cheap tricks.” We see the same thing from Galadriel, the kindest and most gentle-seeming of the characters in the movie, when she, too, is tempted by the ring. We see Bilbo go from a kindly old Hobbit to a ghoul at the thought of giving it up. While many of the characters in Lord of the Rings have some familiarity with the more dangerous parts of Middle-earth, from Frodo’s point of view everything we’re seeing is brand new and terrifying.įellowship’s horror elements start almost as soon as the one ring appears in the Shire. Horror is all about the unknown, and the dangers that lurk in the dark. ![]() ![]() This kind of perspective is integral to what makes a horror movie scary. The other movies occasionally get spooky when we’re back with Sam and Frodo, like when Shelob is hunting them, but Fellowship spends almost every moment in that creepy mode. While we may literally see events that Frodo does not, it’s through his eyes and naïveté that we’re watching it all unfold, instead of hopping around to the journeys of several different characters. Both fantasy and horror require you to believe in monsters for a few hours at a time - and scaring viewers can be the fastest way to make them believe in heroes.įellowship’s divergence in tone comes by virtue of its uniquely limited perspective, mostly focused on Frodo or the hobbits. Unlike The Two Towers or The Return of the King, The Fellowship of the Ring is a horror movie. ![]() This is Polygon's Year of the Ring.īut there’s something else that sets it apart from its successors, two action-adventure fantasy epics that span the world of Middle-earth and focus on half a dozen different characters. So each Wednesday throughout the year, we'll go there and back again, examining how and why the films have endured as modern classics. 2021 marks The Lord of the Rings movies' 20th anniversary, and we couldn't imagine exploring the trilogy in just one story. ![]()
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