Horror not appreciated by general public.
 

I'm extremely tired (and a little buzzed) so please excuse me if my English is a bit muddled. I'm trying to come up with a decent list of horror movies that are held in very high regards by horror fans, but the general public hated. Some I've come up with are:

Exorcist III
Blair Witch Project
Event Horizon
American Psycho
Session 9
People Under the Stairs

Just looking for some opinions.

Some opinions?...My opinion is...

This is why you never pay attention to the opinions of the 'general public'


You always have to see a movie for yourself...Everyone's likes and dislikes are different...

Most of the stuff that I like, many peole don't


Do you really think the 'general public' would go for Toxic Avenger? :)

Absolutely not. I guess I should have mentioned I was looking for ones that got theatrical release. I remember 'American Psycho' opened at the Cinerama, the nicest theater in Seattle, where they normally only show blockbusters like Star Wars and Lord of the Rings. I went to the first showing on opening day. I was one of only 5 people in the theater. When it was over and I walked out, a couple came up to me and kept asking me questions about it, saying they were confused. I had read the book about 3 times; it was a strange experience.

everyone in my school who i have shown that movie to have loved it so far.

it seems to me its generally more rare for the 'general public' to like a horror movie and more often its only fans of the genre and maybe some critics who dig a particular horror film.

the big question is what you mean by general public. sometimes critics like a film - Blair Witch and American Psycho (the movie) had some really strong reviews and a lot of more academic critics really hail those films - but the average filmgoer doesn't care or even really hear about them (although i'd say blair witch was an exception). this reminds me of a book i've mentioned on here before - and i'm thinking of it because a friend just returned it to me and its sitting on my desk - that talked about those fairly rare films that were both great horror films and extremely popular. it listed 10 - *thumbs to index* - that caused a huge public sensation and 'redefined the notion of horror' - as the author writes. For the good of the order i'll list the ten:
Dracula, The Thing from Another World, Psycho, Night of the Living Dead, Exorcist, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Halloween, Silence of the Lambs, Scream and the Sixth Sense.

How about anything made before they year 1990?

If it's in black and white, not a whole lot of kids I know will watch it. If the effects are bad, not a whole lot of kids I know will watch it. I could go on for hours about the picky sons of bitches.

The general public doen't regard the horror genre as worthwhile to begin with and this includes the classics, too. "Halloween" "TCM" "Jaws" etc
As fans we have to support genuine attempts to create truly visceral films.

the 'general public' has its head so far up its collective ass when it comes to any kind of pop medium - that they can see light from their throats.

most everything that is mass produced is aimed at the general public - or as i call them the 'lowest common denominator'

people who demand more - who think 'outside the box' are a minority. these are the people who arent afraid of the tiny bit of extra work it takes to explore beyond what the media sells them.

fuck the common public - i hate them.

then again - i hate almost everybody.

ok - nobody read this.

But you love me!! :D

both spiritually and physically !! :p

The same kids who don't want to see Nosfaratu are the same ones who tell me Grandma's Boy and waiting are the best movies ever. Of all those films however, I see American Psycho as being the most accepted by the "general public".

Zombie Fisters

Well if you show Evil Dead to a lot of non-horror fans they would say they don't know what all the fuss is about. I know a lot of people who've said that to me.

Horror appeals to its group, and has a certain amount of wide appeal, otherwise horror films wouldn't be made. I don't think there's any genre that appeals to "everyone" widely. It takes all kinds!

The average watcher of films wants what he expects, and the films you mentioned largely go against the grain, and are challenging.

Put simply, some people are just plain thick and dull with little or no imagination nor independent thought.

Of course, it is very easy to offend people when genre fans suddenly find themselves caught up in the 'multiplex crowd' because they happened to like some of the blockbusters shown there. But you have to generalise to some extent, and the braindead among us know who they are.

Or maybe they don't - ignorance is bliss after all.

:cool:

no - they dont..

I wanted to bump this two year old thread for a few reasons.

1. Now that we've been overly bombarded with remakes (which was going on at the time as well) the general public is obviously the target for horror. The watered down PG-13 theater release and luke-warm uncut directors cut for most movies has become stale. Anyone, regardless of the old answers, have any new thoughts on the subject?

2. It's getting close to Halloween, the forum is being flooded as usual, and we could use some real horror discussion on here.

3. All the n00bs need to get the chance to see urges old avatar in its full glory.

I've been thru 10000 pages of threads in the past few weeks with those directories. Been there, done that.

Blair Witch in the OP is one of the most successful indies ever made, so I'm guessing it was popular with the public too.

I love that little guy.

http://horror.com/forum/customavatars/avatar3715_1.gif

:D

...

I feel as though the horror genre in general is not appreciated by the general public. I think that a lot of the Hollywood Horrors or bad serial horrors give the genre a bad name. When I tell people that I'm a "horror fan," their initial reaction is to laugh (then, of course, I stab them in the throat... WHO'S LAUGHING NOW?!?!?!)

...

Anyway.

Horror movies that I've always thought were incredibly underrated...

• Black Christmas (1974) - I honestly feel as though this film is ahead of its time; aside from the serial murders, there were (*GASP*) talk of abortion and women's liberation... The direction was creepy and crisp and an obvious inspiration for the famed Halloween that would come out four years later (and would earn the role of being the iconic film that Black Christmas should have been).
• Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance and Lady Vengeance - While I think that Oldboy is a brilliant film, I feel as though it unjustly overshadows the other two volumes of the collection (I think that Sympathy, in particular, is the superior film).
• There are countless foreign films that I could name here, which belong because, unfortunately, the general audience has a problem processing foreign languages and subtitles. To name a few: Audition, Ils, Inside, The Devil's Backbone (Pan's Labyrinth was the hot one, but I think Devil's Backbone was the superior one).
• The Grudge (remake) - I would actually make the argument that The Grudge remake was incredibly under appreciated. I have seen both versions of the film and I honestly feel as though Takashi Shimizu too this remake as an opportunity to apply some much-needed editing to his original fright fest. I thought that The Grudge was incredibly well-crafted, atmospheric, and genuinely creepy. I think that its timing is what was working against it as it followed the far inferior remake of The Ring and audiences were just not impressed (The perception, I believe, was that it was just another Ring knock-off).
• Blair Witch Project - I agree with your original post, Flayed; Blair Witch wasn't appreciated by the general audience (I think) because of its unprecedented filmmaking and style (I had friends who thought that it was funny). In terms of the horror community, I think that the elite began to turn their nose up at the film as soon as it started to bank (because that means you're a sellout). I thought that Blair Witch Project was a brilliant piece of work that unfortunately goes unappreciated.

I don't think that was the case at all. Blair Witch got so much shit because it was a gimmick trying to pull off being more scary than it actually was. It paved the way for countless overhyped lightweight screamteen flicks that pissed all over the genre and almost buried it during the late 90s early 2000s.

Horror in general is not appreciated by the general public. I work for a market research firm that studies movie trailers. Most people are into comedy and action movies- they just want to turn off their brains for a few hours and have a good laugh or watch stuff blow up. Movie studios give the audience what they want.

Horror fans (and we research samplings of horror fans as well) are just like general moviegoers- they just want to turn off their brains for a few hours and watch people get killed. So studios give them the cookie cutter brain dead horror movies they want.

I honestly don't know how any good movies of any kind get made these days.

Government cuts in education= braindead audiences(and film makers). Simple math.

As far as Blair Witch, I don't hate it as a movie, but I do hate it because of the ties it has to the city of Sarasota Florida. I think the guys who made it are from there. I used to live their and didn't like the experience.

Like urgeok said FUCK THE GENERAL PUBLIC. They can't appreciate old movies but like some of the shittiest new horror movies(because it looks new and clean).Same thing with music.. I really don't understand why people like the shit they do. I loved the movies named off.

TOXIC AVENGER!! I was at my bro's house this past week and his boyfriend is a big horror(films in general but mainly horror)buff and he had Toxic avenger and I remember seeing this when I was younger(but I don't remember too much) He said He loved the series and I totally wanted to see it, I know for sure I'll love it.

I remember the scene with the bad guys and the poor kid on the bike and I never thought that was what the movie held but It looks great really fun wanna check it out. I always had a love for the Toxic avenger and the story(sounds dumb since I haven't seen it) just never really got to see the whole thing.