What Makes A Horror Movie
<div class="IPBDescription">well scary...</div> There are so many "horror" movies that have come out from the past few years and critics always say how new and fresh it is until it comes out, then they change their tune and movie goers bash it for being unorigional, crappy story etc.
But really what makes a horror movie good?
Does it have to have a good plot, or can it just scare the crap out of you.
Of course both would be nice but thats something hard to attainin any movie.
Lets take several films into perpective.
The Orgional Psycho, 13 Ghosts Origional, 13 Ghosts Remake, House on Haunted Hill Remake, Resident Evil and Event Horizion
Now I know these arnt all considered the absolute greatest of horror films but I picked these for a reason.
Psycho is considered to be on of the greatest horror films of all time, but really, compaired to todays movie goers and our life styles of what is considered scary, taboo, what makes us uncomfortable, its really not that scary at all. Films made at that time were certainly less gory as well.
Gore seems to be an easy way to make us not nessicarily frightened, but uncomfortable. Compair the 2 drops of blood bathroom scene in Psycho shower scene to the gallons and splatters everywhere in the suicde scene with the ghost called "The Angry Princess" in the 13 Ghosts Remake. (When that guys daughter is splashing water in her face and the ghastly seen is behind her and she cant see it.)
People frequently say that the classics are always better then the origional. The biggest thing that made the 1st 13 Ghosts so popular was that it had a gimmick. Viewers were given a special pair of glassses (not 3d).
Like in the movie the characters and audience would have to wear the glasses to see the ghosts. Kind of like 3d but different.. If you took off the glasses in the theater the ghosts would disapear but you could still hear them.
Would the Origional Psycho still be a smash hit if it came out for the first time today? Easily said, many critics agree that had Resident Evil been released earlier in movie history, it would have been a smash hit and instantly become a classic. Not just for its effects but for its plot and story.
Going back to the first paragraph, does it have to be "scary", or does it just have to scare you. You know what Im talking about, those things that make you jump suddenly. Like eyes on a dead body suddenly flashing open.
The camera zooms in on the dead face. We all know its going to happen but we all get a little jumpy when they open anyways, simply b/c to us, the dead arnt supposed to do that!
Resident Evil did a lot of these little *suddenly make the audience jump tricks* ex, eyes dart open, reflections in mirrors, body falling though opening door, etc. They succeeded in startling/scarying the audience on numerous occasions yet people still say it wasnt scary.
The gore fests of the House on Haunted Hill remake obviously didnt do it either to many people.
So perhaps what makes a scary movie really scary is the fear that is univeral to everyone. The unknown. The thought that you dont know whats going on, and so you cant prepair your self for it. Making movies such as Event Horizion, the truly scary ones.
Just my thoughts on a boring day. <!--emo&;)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/wink.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='wink.gif'><!--endemo-->
But really what makes a horror movie good?
Does it have to have a good plot, or can it just scare the crap out of you.
Of course both would be nice but thats something hard to attainin any movie.
Lets take several films into perpective.
The Orgional Psycho, 13 Ghosts Origional, 13 Ghosts Remake, House on Haunted Hill Remake, Resident Evil and Event Horizion
Now I know these arnt all considered the absolute greatest of horror films but I picked these for a reason.
Psycho is considered to be on of the greatest horror films of all time, but really, compaired to todays movie goers and our life styles of what is considered scary, taboo, what makes us uncomfortable, its really not that scary at all. Films made at that time were certainly less gory as well.
Gore seems to be an easy way to make us not nessicarily frightened, but uncomfortable. Compair the 2 drops of blood bathroom scene in Psycho shower scene to the gallons and splatters everywhere in the suicde scene with the ghost called "The Angry Princess" in the 13 Ghosts Remake. (When that guys daughter is splashing water in her face and the ghastly seen is behind her and she cant see it.)
People frequently say that the classics are always better then the origional. The biggest thing that made the 1st 13 Ghosts so popular was that it had a gimmick. Viewers were given a special pair of glassses (not 3d).
Like in the movie the characters and audience would have to wear the glasses to see the ghosts. Kind of like 3d but different.. If you took off the glasses in the theater the ghosts would disapear but you could still hear them.
Would the Origional Psycho still be a smash hit if it came out for the first time today? Easily said, many critics agree that had Resident Evil been released earlier in movie history, it would have been a smash hit and instantly become a classic. Not just for its effects but for its plot and story.
Going back to the first paragraph, does it have to be "scary", or does it just have to scare you. You know what Im talking about, those things that make you jump suddenly. Like eyes on a dead body suddenly flashing open.
The camera zooms in on the dead face. We all know its going to happen but we all get a little jumpy when they open anyways, simply b/c to us, the dead arnt supposed to do that!
Resident Evil did a lot of these little *suddenly make the audience jump tricks* ex, eyes dart open, reflections in mirrors, body falling though opening door, etc. They succeeded in startling/scarying the audience on numerous occasions yet people still say it wasnt scary.
The gore fests of the House on Haunted Hill remake obviously didnt do it either to many people.
So perhaps what makes a scary movie really scary is the fear that is univeral to everyone. The unknown. The thought that you dont know whats going on, and so you cant prepair your self for it. Making movies such as Event Horizion, the truly scary ones.
Just my thoughts on a boring day. <!--emo&;)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/wink.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='wink.gif'><!--endemo-->
Comments
Fear is more individual, i've sat there stony faced through horror films, except maybe for a few laughs here and there, while people i'm watching it with are genuinely scared. I won't go into that, it's a whole topic in itself.
<b>To me</b> a good horror film has a good plot, suspense and usually otherworldly or freaky things, gore rarely does anything but make me laugh or think "ooooh, that was cool" as opposed to scaring me. Horror films should never rely on masses of special effects to scare you and using cheap shock tactics to make you jump really do nothing to induce terror.
EDIT: Blair Witch... am i the only person that found this scary? I live near a very large wood which looks very alike the locations used in Blair Witch, i can't set foot in there after dark anymore, heh. I thought Blair Witch was fantastic and furthermore proves that you don't need a $1,000,000,000 special effects budget to make people scared.
Also I think the good horror/scary films have been the films that strike us hard in what we really fear, not some krap OM# its a video cassette!@!#
For example, The Sixth Sense was a good semi-scary movie, IMO. The ending was a good one where most people I know got that creepy shiver in their spine when they thought back throughout the movie. Very creepy, very cool.
Event Horizon is probably one of my favorite scary movies, just because it was so damn creepy.
For example, The Sixth Sense was a good semi-scary movie, IMO. The ending was a good one where most people I know got that creepy shiver in their spine when they thought back throughout the movie. Very creepy, very cool. <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
actually... bang. you got it.
like in signs, even tho that was a sci-fi thriller.. i thought that was scarier than "the ring" or any of those "OMFOFDMGOFMGOFMOG THAT WAS S0 SKEREH" movies.
but then again, a lot of the posts we see at these forums are "PSH, that wasn't scary! I <i>SPIT</i> on your opinions of horror!!! I CAN HANDLE ANYTHING!!!" crap like that. i hate that ridiculous crap. nobody cares.
but in signs... when joaquin is just glued to the TV and the people at the party are screaming in spanish and the alien <b>walks past the alley</b>...
it wasn't sudden
it wasn't grotesque
it wasn't loud
but even so, i clapped my hands to my face in rapt scaredness.
I think the "scariest" movies are the ones that just leave you thinking. You don't need tons of silly gore in front of your face - that's grotesque. Few directors actually make good use of blood and splatter.
movies like the ring... i'm sorry i'm not bred from a eugenics-driven stock of movie-fearless psychos like the rest of you. when something appears on the screen to the out-of-nowhere screech of some synthesized garbled television sound thingy (yes, like in the ring), i can't help but be scared. but i'm scared because it has no business being there so suddenly... and like sycophant said, there is <i>zero</i> lasting scare.
with signs, my face was a mirror of joaquin phoenix's expression as he stared at the TV after seeing the video of the alley alien.
0_0!
Also important is reversal. Going against what people expect is also vital. That's why Psycho shower scene is so well remember, it was brutal murder of a protagontist about halfway though the movie in an era of John Wayne rescues.
Like the undead, for example. Why are ghosts and zombies so scary? Because they defy death, and death is the most permanent and inevitable thing in human existance. It's going in the face of everything we understand, and we fear what we can't understand. Like when things move for no reason. Like when someone turns around and they don't have a face. Like in the Exorcist (just saw the preview, actually) when the girl's head spins around, or she walks down the stairs upside down. Because there's something there that makes you think, <i>that just isn't quite right</i>.
We also are afraid of the unknown. We always like to be in control of the situation, and when we don't know what's going on, we get afraid. That's why we're afraid of, say, a howl far off in a dark forest -- because we don't know what's out there. It's a natural human instinct, to protect us from predators. That's also why we grow up being afraid of the closet, under the bed, the basement, etc. -- because we don't know what could be hiding where we can't see.
To conclude my rambling, I'd say we're also afraid of betrayal. That idea was used a lot in the Ring--the seemingly normal occurence of watching a video goes wrong; a little girl, the image of innocence, is evil; at the end, when everything seems like it's going to be alright, it turns out that Samara always wanted to kill people anyway. A frightening or abnormal situation juxtaposed with a harmless environment that we trust heightens the terror. We work so hard to protect ourselves from danger, to maintain a safe world, and when that safe world is violated by evil, it scares us.
I think the "scariest" movies are the ones that just leave you thinking. You don't need tons of silly gore in front of your face - that's grotesque. Few directors actually make good use of blood and splatter. <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
yes music is a very good part too. although sometimes it gives things away. But then again those suden shrill sounds just get you going.
"Scary movies that make you think"
The Others.
Several freaky moments. In the end, well, that was unexpected. And it makes u think. A lot. <!--emo&;)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/wink.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='wink.gif'><!--endemo-->
Yeah. She was also <i>nekkid</i>. <!--emo&:0--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/wow.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='wow.gif'><!--endemo-->
I believe that what truly makes a scary movie is indeed fear of the unknown; apprehension as to just what is 'underneath the water', per se.
When used correctly (as Hida demonstrated above), suspense is the chief tool used to deliver terror into our hearts.
Psycological Thrillers.
You know what scares me? Someone alone, when it's TOTALLY not nessecary. Or when they look at something and nothing's there and they give a sigh of relief to turn around to find something horrendous. Or when something's there but you can't see it until it moves, like the basement scene in "Signs."
Midnight, thunder storm w/ heavy rain, and a character is with his/her friends or something walking down a hallway, and lightning flashes, casting a shaddow in the shape of a person through the window BEHIND the characters.
Same scene some minutes later or seconds after the characters leave the area the shadow isn't there. o.0 and then it is again. One scene could be where there are many shaddows, and a small and seemingly insignificant (among the group of shadows) shadow moves or changes. Just because a shadow moves doesn't mean its a killer. <!--emo&;)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/wink.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='wink.gif'><!--endemo--> the "taunting" shadows are creepy too, because its like "OMG DUDE! TURN AROUND!" you know, the ones that come and go when the character(s) arn't looking; usually apearing on a wall behind them. <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif'><!--endemo-->
things casting shadows are always scarry because you dont know what it is, unless its blattently obvious, and your mind trys to figure out what it is without looking at the object that cast it. having quiet sounds or over-powering sounds are creepy also, since its like "Hey, what was that?" or "Cant hear a thing with all this noise". This is why thunder storms are so scarry; brief but large amounts of light casting lots of shaddows, with over-powering sounds like thunder-claps or rain for just afew seconds or somewhat soft rain.
I think only true horror can be achived when you yourself are in it. <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif'><!--endemo--> (For obvious reasons)
While Lynch's movies don't exactly fit the horror category, please do try one of the following when you are home alone at night. Remember to turn off lights first.
1) Watch the sexual abuse scene in Blue Velvet
2) Watch the videotape scenes in Lost Highway
In conclusion, I believe that real horror can be found in film scenes where the "this is SO wrong" factor is at its highest. One scene that sums everything I'm trying to say up is the one from Twin Peaks where Laura Palmer's cousin (I don't remember her name, the girl that looked exactly like Laura) tells Laura's parents that she's leaving tomorrow. The resulting silent farewell scene is absolutely chilling for some reason.
About music, then. Most horror film scores just annoy me. I hate it when every 'designed to shock'-scene is accompanied by a silly orchestra blast. What I'd like to hear more is bizarre ambient and noise. If you want a good example of what I consider a truly atmospheric soundtrack, find the album Zoetrope by Lustmord. It's a musical score to a film of the same name, absolutely great and very dark stuff.
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Oh, and I can't find the suspense in Hitchcock films. Is there something wrong with me or is it just that they are overrated?
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The Texas Chainsaw Massacre scared the living **** out of me when I was about 10 years old, and even when I watch it now it still gets to me. If you think about it, it really could happen.....and supposably it was based on true events.
If you think The Blair Witch is a scary camping movie, try watching <b>Deliverance</b>.....that movie makes you think twice about camping...squeel like a pig.....
/me shudders
Scarry movies are only scary when your a child...IMO.
Perfect Blue is meant to be quite good but I haven't seen it yet, although I'm quite sure Inf will
When the girl came out of the TV towards the end of the movie, that <i>really</i> freaked me out. The reason it was creepy is because you'd never believe the girl would keep walking through the TV. It was totally unexpected, and you could actually <i>feel</i> the level of fear in the theatre going from a negligible amount to "very tense".