Fear

[Everlast]

So after reading the Silent Hill thread, and most of the other horror movie genre threads in not only this forum but many many others across the internet (thank you Al Gore) I've psoe this question to you....what could a director do to scare you?

Would it be suspense, straight up gore and guts, amazing writing and story, the acting, the big bad guy, what?

Everyone goes to a horror move to get scared be you the manly Blazen, or a girl with an iPod full of Good Charlotte. Lately, the quality of horror movies has been on a sharp decline, not to say that they were every really all that scary...just fresh.

So now is your chance, what would make even you the e-tough guys and gals big blubbery pussies?

[Faille]

First and foremost I think it has to make me believe that what's happening on the screen could happen to me. Open Water, which someone else mentioned in another thread, works very well in this regard, since its entirely possible that what happened to them could happen again to anyone.

The supernatural J horror movies fail miserably in this since they are so unreal that they really can't convince me that its possible for them to happen.

[Samus Aran]

If they beefed up the story a tad, good actors and had Doom or better SFX, then I could see it scoring better than Doom.

All I know, is Nicholas Cage would HAVE to be bad guy.

[Kan]

Every great horror movie has to have a solid story and imo great acting to be able to pull off fear (to me atleast). The big bad guy doesn't have to be anything special in fact the supernatural slashers aren't scary at all but just fun if done right. Perfect example of a movie for me that is scary is The Exorcist because imo it is realistic and possible, done incredibly well with spectacular acting it just did everything perfectly.

I agree with Faille J. Horror is something I flat out do not like 99% of the time there is a few exceptions like Audition which is actually oddly not Japanese horror style at all and also Battle Royale which just is flat out insanity and brutality/gore. J. Supernatural is boring to me and done so poorly.

Story/Acting/Plausibility is what will have a chance at bringing out fear it just really depends on what the story is and how well it is done.

[findar]

environment / shadows / the "unknown". lost was creepy because i didnt know what the fuck was knocking trees around and making noises. i see floating black smoke? wtf? movies where you catch "glimpses" of whatever evil is out there, or that hints at an evil. event horizon was good at this.

[Everlast]

Hmmmm, well how many of your were scared/creeped out when you saw the Blair Witch Project, it seems like it has many of the aspects to creats a scary movie.

[Angrier]

Event Horizon 2. Thread over.

P.S. I am not advocating a continuation of the storyline.

[Zimphultron]

The only movies that actually leave an impact on scaring me, were movies that I've seen at a younger age. Friday the 13th, Blair Witch Project (not too young), and especially Halloween. There isn't one movie to date that's scared me as much as Halloween. The faint resemblence of Michael's mask inside a pitch black house, as a girl enters to find her keys.. It's just freaky.

That being said, most movies now are heavily dark set. People assume just because they're making a scary movie, that it's needed to constantly be night, or in a dark area. Michael Myers roamed around in the day time laddies, and he didn't have wings poaching from his shoulder blades, nor was he feasting human flesh. He was normal (until the end).

And for some reason, Hostel was the only movie that's had an impact on me from seeing torture. I couldn't stand seeing the guy torch the asian girl. That horrified me.

[dub]

It also depends on who you watch the movie with.

I remember seeing House on Haunted Hill with a group of friends, including many, many "shriek-loving girls" and there were times I jumped and got a bit creeped out.

I watched it again months later and I was so ashamed of myself. That movie sucks balls.

[Dr. Rubicite]

I would agree with Faille. It has to seem like it could happen to me to get me scared. It needs a lot of realism to accomplish that. Movies that use magic and the supernatural, even the "great" ones, just don't do it for me (including The Exorcist).

PS: House on Haunted Hill owned. "But I was adopted!!!" = greatest quote of all time.

[Faltigoth]

Good story and suspense always freak me out far more than gore, and also weirded out kids get me every time.

For some reason, the first times I saw The Ring and The Grudge, I was scared shitless. Probably the creepy kids aspect, but I thought the Ring had a nifty story it to it too, and there was just something about that video that really made my blood run cold. I refuse to ever watch The Grudge again, that goddamn movie creeped me out so much. Yeah, it might be super-cheesy, but I slept with the lights on for a good month after I saw that film.

I didn't find Event Horizon scary, per se, but that had a pretty good story to it that made you think, wtf?!

*edit* Blair Witch was awesome, just because it had that feeling that it was really happening. I thought it perfectly captured that 'fear of the unknown' factor that adds an extra element of creepiness to horror movies.

[randomguy]

Originally Posted by Angrier

Event Horizon 2. Thread over.

P.S. I am not advocating a continuation of the storyline.

Pure genius, I would pay 9 bucks. Glad someone made this thread, cause this has been a growing problem for a few years. Scary movies. There is no such thing as a scary horror movie anymore. They have been replaced. What is left now are Horror movies with blood and comedy. What took the place of the Horror genre is the oh so INTENSIFIED scenes of a Thriller. Thrillers scare people more than horror movies did. I am not sure why. For some reason people watch horror movies and already play it out like the scene would never happen in real life. We see a guy fighting michael myers and we either say "Bullshit this guy should be running with his friends he is fucking stupid." or we say "There is no way that one guy could take on Mike Myers like that and leave a dent."

These comments are constant and most people trick themselves out of thinking that a Horror movie could be at all realistic or at all scary. Why does realism have to be in a horror movie ? Well it doesnt, but in today's society we demand it, anything else gets categorized as Fantasy Thriller. We demand real life situations with a killer and a group of teens destined to defeat him.

I am not sure if originality was lost or what but the Horror genre is on the way out. Zombie movies are trying to save it, but the recent flood of them have now made people steer clear of most. The only thing that is needed is more originality. Simple plot with original thought. Scream...which people can say they figured out 10 mins in, or an hour in , or not at all till it was presented, still holds one of the biggest candles in a good horror movie. That movie had a simple plot, simple teen characters, and kept you guessing while having you scream at the screen "GET OUT MOTHER FUCKER !!! LOOK OUT BEHIND THAT DOOR !" However, this movie then ruined horror movies for the rest of existence. People tried so many times to copy the horror/thriller genre that then Action/Thrillers started to come out and redefine the thriller genre. All of this making the horror genre less scary and more goofy. If I could ask anything of a horror director, is maybe try to be less situation real, and more on reaction real. When someone jumps out of a closet at a person, they don't do some home alone type screaming and stand there. They do some Halloween 2 , Michael Myers through the window screaming of HOLY JESUS WHAT IS HAPPENING. I would like to say it wasnt until Texas Chainsaw that awkward situations were mixed in with horror plots. This isnt bad as long as its not overdone. I think thats all of ideas I have , so I list some of the more recent top horrors that were watchable. I tried to focus at the more popular and rare ones that could have been great.

Movies that were not scary to me that could have been great.

High Tension - this movie could have been great. great chase scenes. great bad guy ( GETS HEAD FROM A CORPSE HEAD !) , weird tie up ending that kind fits with the plot but doesnt really piece together as correctly as it should have. No one fake fights themselves for 4 days....just isnt happening.

Hostel - solid plot
weird original bad guy(s)
possible real life occurance of the events.

problems with the movie. it was just gruesome, not scary. there wasnt anything that kept me on the edge of my seat or scared about what was happening. the one jerk off who i didnt like in the movie becomes the only survivor. the scenes that were said to be scary, were just gross scenes. i didnt throw up in the aisle, i cringed at the thought of my eye being cut off. thats not scary though, thats just a gruesome scene.

The Devils Rejects - what am I watching here ? easyrider on acid ? why are the bad guys given background stories that are humanistic, and then an ending that i should care about. what the fuck happened to the goofy horror. You go from possibly one of the best horror movies House of 1000 corpses, in a while, to a thriller with Tarrantino type camera flashes. this pissed me off greatly. House of 1000 Corpses followed the horror formula perfectly, an almost exact replica of the original Texas chainsaw massacre with added goofy insanity. Believeable plot of 4 asshole backpackers going to the midwest to write a book about how funny it is the way people live without technology.....HELLO FOLKS ! This happens all the time. Every fucking emo-enduced kid on the planet backpacks and writes a journal about how simple people are in places he isnt from and how cool that is. People in those places do take offense to that shit, and boom...you have this movie. I was serverely disappointed with the sequel, the Devils Rejects were rejected by me.


Resident Evil 2 - terrible ending. horrible costume for the nemesis. for some reason milo makes anythign she does watchable no matter how bad it is.

Creep - Uk horror film . Could have been great, ending was terrible and no explaination of the origin of the mysterious doctor oriented freakshows that lived in the subways.

------------------------------Diamond in the Rough Movie -----------------

The Descent - great horror movie. couldnt have made it better. was more intrigued than scared. this turned into more of a thriller with intense scenes. though the bad guys were original and the scenes of blood were on par with everything i hoped for.

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