![StandByMe.jpg](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmdM4KsjuK85wva69mUh4UKSCBAAP1mzD1MXhXH4kKvx8N/StandByMe.jpg)
*Boys will be boys in **Stand by Me**. Photo courtesy of the IMDb.*

#film #movies #cinema #comment #review #horror #fantasy 

This may surprise some of my readers, but I don’t mind a “happy ending” in a horror or dark fantasy film. I also don't mind elements of levity or sentimentality--in fact, I think moments of lighter relief are essential for a truly good "scary" film. 

What I hate is inauthenticity. Inauthenticity is what you get when a film maker starts to feel sorry for his characters and tacks on a “happy ending” that totally contradicts the overall tone of the film. 

For a “happy ending” to work, it most be authentic--i.e. it must grow organically from the character, tone, and plot development of the overall film. The inauthentic type of “happy ending” is what I call “sap.” 

Sap does not belong in a horror or dark fantasy film in any way, shape, or form. Actually, it doesn’t belong in *any* film at all, but it *especially* doesn’t belong in a horror or dark film. 

Note, there is a difference between sap and sentiment. Rob Reiner’s 1986 masterpiece, **Stand By Me**, is an example of a sentimental film that has a significant dark element, but which is never sappy. 

Possibly the loveliest film ever made about childhood friendship, **Stand By Me** is based on a long short story by Stephen King called *The Body*; from a purely literary standpoint, it’s one of the best things King ever wrote. The story concerns the friendship of four twelve-year-old boys, each from working class backgrounds in rural Maine (rural Oregon in the movie). These four boys make up a set of archetypes that are all-too-familiar from our own childhoods: there’s a smart kid (Gordy); a fat kid (Vern); a tough kid (Chris), and a weird kid (Teddy.) 

Acting on a rumor that there’s a dead kid’s body lying near the railroad tracks about thirty miles from home, the four friends decide to take an overnight hiking trip to search for the body. Along the way, they have several character-making adventures, including a scary confrontation with a group of nasty, older bullies who torment them constantly at home. 

**Stand By Me** can be said to have a “happy ending”, in that the boys finally find the body--and more important, finally stand up to their bullies. However, there are no sappy montages showing unrealistic endings for these working-class boys. Gordy does grow up to be a successful author, but Chris, a victim of child abuse, dies young. Weird Teddy, another victim of child abuse, grows up to be a petty criminal. Chubby Vern marries straight out of high school and becomes a working-class schlub who never leaves his home town. 

The famous last lines of the film, as tapped out by a grown-up Gordy on his 80s word processor, are a tearjerker. However, they are not sappy, because they ring so true: 

*“I never had friends later on like the ones I had when I was twelve. Jesus, does anyone?”*

**Personal note**: I saw this movie in the theater in its first run in 1986, and I have thought about those last lines at least once a week ever since then--because for me, it certainly was true. 

**Contrasting Sentiment with Sap**

Now, contrast the sentiment of **Stand By Me** with one of the worst examples of sap in a dark film that I can think of: Steven Spielberg’s **A.I.: Artificial Intelligence (2001)**. 

**A.I.** is a "dystopian future" film about a world destroyed largely by environmental issues. Sophisticated androids that can think and feel perform many functions in the future world. One of those sophisticated androids is a cute boy figure named “David.” He has been “adopted" by a human couple who believe that their own son is dying. David develops deep affection for his “parents,” especially his “mother.” 

However, when the couple’s real son recovers unexpectedly, David becomes a fourth wheel, and is eventually abandoned by his “mother” in the woods. David is forced to defend himself in a cruel and dystopian world while constantly trying to get back to his “mother,” whom he loves with all his heart. 

Now, for about 40 percent of its run time, **A.I.** is a masterpiece. It’s dark; it’s scary; it’s emotionally affecting. For those who don’t know the history of this film, a short digression. It is based on a short story that appeared in *Esquire* magazine, the films rights of which were purchased by Stanley Kubrick. Yes, *the* Stanley Kubrick.

A notorious perfectionist, Kubrick spent years preparing for his films. **A.I.** was no exception; he made copious notes on how he wanted to shoot the film and commissioned a script that went through his typically numerous revisions. In the meantime, he developed a close friendship with Spielberg. In the mid-90s, Kubrick apparently decided that Spielberg should make **A.I.**, and he turned over his rights, notes and scripts to the younger director. 

After Kubrick died suddenly and unexpectedly in 1999, Spielberg greenlit the project as a kind of “memorial” to his friend. Watching **A.I.**, it’s pretty obvious to me that Spielberg followed Kubrick’s notes diligently—for the 40 percent of the film that’s a flat-out masterpiece. And then, *something* happened; I suspect that Stanley’s notes ran out. So Spielberg filled in the rest of the film with his own ideas.

Since it’s Spielberg, the film eventually and perhaps inevitably drifts into sap. The final ending goes on forever and is a jaw-dropping exercise in thick, shameless, utterly embarrassing sap. A happy ending, completely at variance with the dark tone of the overall film, was found for poor little David, just when you thought he was destined to spend eternity in a frozen, underwater grave. It is pukeworthy. If I'd first seen it in the theater I would have walked out in disgust. Instead, I threw a fast-food wrapper at my TV screen after the last horrible pixels from the rented DVD faded out. 

Now, obviously, Spielberg is an extremely talented director who knows how to deliver superb chills and thrills. Unfortunately, he has a weak spot for sap, which has gotten worse as he’s gotten older (and richer). Kubrick, who didn’t have a single sappy bone in his entire body, should have known better. Did he not see **Hook (1991)**? Did he not realize that Spielberg would have allowed Hallorann to survive the ax attack in **The Shining**?

**A.I.** is not the only example of a promising dark film destroyed by sap. Peter Jackson’s 2009 film, **The Lovely Bones**, is a drama about a sweet, 14-year-old girl named Susie who is raped and murdered by a creepy serial killer. He dumps her remains in a landfill where they are never found. 

This film moves along quite well until about the middle, when Susie ends up in heaven, gamboling about happily under candy-colored, CGI skies with the souls of other victims of the serial killer. What-the-everloving-f*ck? These scenes do not belong anywhere near this type of film. How did they get there? 

Peter Jackson’s first true break-out film was **Heavenly Creatures (1994)**, which is also based on the story of a disturbing murder. There is nothing sappy about **Heavenly Creatures** whatsoever; it’s a wonderful film that’s true to both its characters and the dark nature of the subject matter. So we know that Jackson can direct a dark, gripping murder tale quite well. What happened? 

Well, it may help to just take a gander at the IMDb credit list for **The Lovely Bones.** There, you will find a credit for one Steven Spielberg, **executive producer**. Mystery solved. 

Spielberg, the Sapmeister General, forced those dreadful, happy-in-heaven scenes on Peter Jackson. Of course, Jackson, not Spielberg, was the one who took the hit from the critics, who rightly excoriated **The Lovely Bones**. 

Frankly, this is why I no longer watch Spielberg-directed films. In fact, I haven’t seen any of his movies since the dreadful fourth **Indiana Jones** film in 2008 (which features plenty of horrible sap). The last good Spielberg film I saw was **Minority Report** in 2002, in which the Sapmeister General uncharacteristically kept his sap tendencies mostly under control. 

Too bad he doesn't re-screen **Stand by Me** a few times before he starts hacking away at a new script.