what makes horror movies scary?

[lemmel]

I'm doing this school project where I'm making my own horror movie and I'm also supposed to find out what makes horror movies scary.

so that's my question to people, why are they scary and what makes people watch them?

[The Villain]

Because each and every one of them are true stories. They try and keep it a secret. It's all just one big government cover up but we know the truth.

[_____V_____]

I am beginning to find school projects scary. :eek:

lemmel...any relation to Leatherface?

[neverending]

Cheese.....

Mostly Brie.

[crabapple]

Each horror film contains cheese--a small amount of cheese in its composition, yes. And two small, fine hairs from the back of a skunk! And some other things which add to the recipe that makes them scary.

[wizard of gore]

yes a big chunk of moldy cheese coverd in blood

[ZombieBodhi]

Hmm, this is something I think about every once in awhile since I'm trying to write in the horror genre, so I'll try to give Lemmel a somewhat serious answer to the question, though I suspect it's a topic that's been discussed here before.

For me, it's all about the suspension of reality. For a movie or story to scare someone, it needs to trigger the instinctual flight or fight response, thus if we are able to get drawn into a movie to the point that our subconscious is willing to suspend reality then one's ability to be "scared" increases.

This is one of the reasons that I find the found footage genre so compelling and more scary than traditional modern horror movies, because to me, they are more believable, are more likely to induce us to suspend our realities, and try to convince us that the situations in the movie could actually happen.

Hope that helps and would love to see your project when it's finished.