things you love most in horror

[neilold]

an antidote to the hate thread. Things that you really love to see in horrors.
For me it's simple, the chainsaw

god i love good chainsaw scenes, it's the noise it makes, the length of its blade (yeah i know, something disturbing about that) and the effect that you know it will have that gets to me.

Unfortunately, it is also the ultimate 'teaser weapon', unlike the standard machete/axe. You see it it many horrors, (tcm particularly)but it isn't often used, or if it is, it's only the standard 'cheap looking slash to the belly' scene that you see.

Even the tcm's and its sequels and remakes, which you think with titles like that would have over excessive use, don't

Not many horrors, that i can think of', have it as the main weapon, and have good prolonged scenes of it. One of my favourite scenes is at the end of the remake of the evil dead. The girl who uses it really goes to town on that girls head, actually forcing through her head with venom, rather than the standard 'stick in', and the effects, for a change, look pretty good as well.

anyway

[Damn Heathen]

The severance of body parts

Blue or green lighting

Monsters (I'm human, so I know what to expect from human villains)

Inventive cinematography

The contemplation of death

The evoked fear of the unknown

[neverending]

An actual storyline, as opposed to a series of set pieces stuck together with jump scares leading to gruesome kills.

A director with enough talent and confidence to attempt taking the subject seriously, as opposed to "camping it up" because that's all they can do.

Atmosphere.

Actors with range.

[roshiq]

An actual storyline, as opposed to a series of set pieces stuck together with jump scares leading to gruesome kills.

A director with enough talent and confidence to attempt taking the subject seriously, as opposed to "camping it up" because that's all they can do.

Atmosphere.

Actors with range.

Ditto. Moreover, whatever the 'horror part' is (i.e. an evil force of nature or monsters, psycho-killers, supernatural entity, tough survival condition etc.), good character developments are also necessary where character(s) gets tested in terms of moral dilemma or "how far a man can go" sort of totally challenging scenarios.

[Damn Heathen]

Ditto. Moreover, whatever the 'horror part' is (i.e. an evil force of nature or monsters, psycho-killers, supernatural entity, tough survival condition etc.), good character developments are also necessary where character(s) gets tested in terms of moral dilemma or "how far a man can go" sort of totally challenging scenarios.That's the main conceit of the Saw franchise.

I think most people like to spend time with the characters, even when general expository and descriptive material does not forward the plot. Do we really need to, say, watch a family eating breakfast to relate to their familial situation?

[neverending]

We have to see SOMETHING. If we know nothing about them, there's nothing to care about. If they are just stick figures put there so they can be dismembered the only thing you are able to appreciate is the mechanics of how the image was produced. It's pure viscera, there's nothing deeper to make it memorable.

[Damn Heathen]

Such exposition can be skillfully added via dialogue or narration. If you're writing a scene in a novel, you wouldn't generally use three paragraphs to describe the scene and then provide the dialogue. The same theory applies to cinema.

[neilold]

i don't know why, but i generally find it really hard to feel sympathy for people in horrors, in fact i often scream 'get on with it' when they delay the brutality. Probably being exposed to far to much torture porn and video nasties. That's not to say i never relate to them, i always root for the tortured geek in movies and pray for his/her brutal revenge, guess that's why i love revenge horror movies so much. Sometimes the effect of fleshing out a charcter can have a negative efect though, as it's obvious that's wwhat the director is attempting to do.

[Damn Heathen]

So true. For most, it all boils down to the science of the mind. Extroverts and e-dominant ambiverts have a slow empathetic response to impersonal media. They need to hang out with or get to know a person, character, etc before they can commit to an authentic empathetic response.

[neverending]

Such exposition can be skillfully added via dialogue or narration. If you're writing a scene in a novel, you wouldn't generally use three paragraphs to describe the scene and then provide the dialogue. The same theory applies to cinema.


Dialogue happens in a place and time- such as a family eating breakfast, or whatever. Narration in a film is used as a last resort. It's often a symptom of a lazy writer or director. Not that it's never effective, just as a rule, it's avoided.

In a scene in a novel, you might not have three paragraphs in a row, describing a scene, but a writer may break it up - description... dialogue... description... dialogue... description. Or there might very well be three paragraphs of description. It depends on the style.

The original question was "what do you love most in horror." I gave my answer. I want a strong story. Roshiq added an element of character development and motivation. I agree with him. Those are the things we like, even if others may not.

It's true in this day and age that people raised in these hyper-kinetic times may not have the patience for a well crafted story, and only want the visceral thrill of jumps and "kills." Different strokes, as they say.

[neverending]

So true. For most, it all boils down to the science of the mind. Extroverts and e-dominant ambiverts have a slow empathetic response to impersonal media. They need to hang out with or get to know a person, character, etc before they can commit to an authentic empathetic response.



This is exactly the argument for why we need a strong plot with well motivated characters revealed through expository situations. The rush to the "meat" doesn't allow time to get to know and accept the characters.

[Damn Heathen]

This is exactly the argument for why we need a strong plot with well motivated characters revealed through expository situations. The rush to the "meat" doesn't allow time to get to know and accept the characters.

Some call this gawker syndrome. The driver passes by the victim on the side of the road because they can't relate. Lol You're not wrong. You're normal.

[DrFrankensteinsGirl]

Hey everyone who remembers me. Im back again hopefully for a while. Any way I love a film with time to build an atmosphere. I hate it when a film maker thinks I need to have something pop out at me 5 minutes in or he'll lose me. Yea well having something jump out every 5 to 10 minutes will only get you so far and it's easy to see the set up. Its like watching prank videos on YouTube except for with ya know...murder. Anyway I love the time taken to weave an atmosphere. I love plot and sympathetic characters. I will worship a director that that makes horror into art like Daario Argento or Clive Barker.

[Baron Von Marlon]

Weird characters
Weirdos, psychos and misfits are usually more interesting than the average Joe.
I think this is why prison movies are often good because you got a whole bunch of "abnormal" people together.

Monsters/creatures
Just because.
And as a kid I was big time into dinosaurs, the ninja turtles and animals in generals. Might have something to do with it.
I still like (and collect) a lof of nature documentaries.

The supernatural/extraterrestrial/unknown
Lost worlds, mythical creatures, ancient evil,... You know.

Unusual and over-the-top stuff
There's more chance you'll get to see this in horror movies than in the let's say "more serious" movies.
An ass demon, a guy with a chainsaw where his hand used to be, a near dead woman getting mouth raped by a baby monster, a spaceblob eating people,...

Dark humour
The devil in me likes to laugh. I find certain acts of evil just hilarious.
Along with the unusual situations.

[Anthropophagus]

I would love to see more `real` people.by that i mean adults or everyday folk,not sexy teens or pre-pubescent kids,but characters i can relate to.

Settings to also be `normal`,by that i mean normal houses or buildings,not the millionaire mansions or over the top hide away with acres of land and stunning sceney but real places that we live in and know well.

Creepy music,no pop or rap or even heavy metal (which i love but does not belong),but atmospheric music,Goblin are one such notable musicians i love and Carpenters own scores.

Non CGI but `live` FX,the likes of Rob Bottin,Winston,Baker and the other creative artists from days past,where gore and blood looked real and not something concocted by a computer.

[ShankS]

Sound effects and a good sound track is first what I like.. the music especially during the titles and first few opening scenes seam to get me more interested in a film. Berberian Sound Studio was recently on C4 frightfest season ..."A sound engineer's work for an Italian horror studio becomes a terrifying case of life imitating art." that i'm looking forward to watching.

[Geordie9]

Ilike seeing the gore, thats what makes a horror for me.

[horcrux2007]

I like horror movies that have both jump scares and good suspense.

[MichaelMyers]

This always pumps me up. b_kGPh5Hnwg

[Damn Heathen]

Melty skin makes me hungry.

nQRl6eRL2c4

[tfantasy]

It depends on my mood....

I mainly go for the gore, LOTS of it!!!!!

Other times, I hope for something very creepy, something that actually might give me the chills. Unfortunately, this rarely happens. ::sad::

[neilold]

i aggree with the good story element. However, i have lost count of the amount of times i have watched a horror waiting for the story too build up, then it has either gone flat, gone stupid, or just plain fizzled out, and at the end you think 'god i wasted 90 mins of my life on this shite'. It happens more often than not and it's the fact that you wasted your precious time on it, rather than something else that annoys you.

[Ripley666]

an antidote to the hate thread. Things that you really love to see in horrors.

Cats.

[neilold]

but what about the ones that terrorise people like in that horror anthology story, then again there was that cat in cats eyes, awww, there there, good kitty