What do you like best about horror movies?
 

Hey all,
This is my first post, and I wish to know everybody on this forum soon. My first question(s) is a basic one indeed. What do you like best about your favorite horror movie? What made that particular horror movie your favorite? Was it the colorful characters? Perhaps the plot details, or realism in it? Do you prefer all out blood and gore, or perhaps using your imagination (as they did with the camera angles in Texas Chainsaw massacre). The reason that I am asking you horror fans these questions, is because I am trying to get a general idea of what people are looking for in a horror movie these days, and what they want out of it. To be truly feared, or just entertained? I personally believe that horror film these days have a touch of mystery and drama to it, which is okay...but sacrifices the fear factor a bit dont you think? WHatever these answers may be, I thank you for submitting them on this post. My name is Dexter by the way, and it is nice to join the community...thank you guys very much for your concern and help.
regards
Dexter

Hey there Dexter! Welcome.

I'm personally all about the atmosphere. The movies that really give me the willies are Alien, The Ring, The exorcist, Night Of The living Dead.. the one common thread between all of them is that they set you up in a world where the horror is omnipresent and inescapable. Youhave one chance to get out alive, but it is slim.

I believe that most of us here have already been desensitized enough to miss out on the "scare" factor...So just load me up on the blood, guts and gore, thanks:)

agreed !
oh but a good chase always gets me all riled up and rooting for the killer "get her, get her !! " :p

The scare factor and, as Vodstok said, the atmosphere.

In order for me to truly like a horror movie, it must emanate darkness. No comedy, no bullshit. The Ring succeeded in this aspect. The entire movie was set up to give you an ominous feeling of dread. It was gray, even in the sunlight. Everything just felt grim, without being overly dramatic about it. Once you have this kind of atmosphere set up, the scare factor is very easy to achieve, though VERY few movies set up the atmosphere well enough to actually scare you. The Ring is a gem in my eyes. Most modern horror movies have comedy/drama/teenie bopper aspects that just don't cut it. They are out to make money, not necessarily to scare you. I refuse to see most of the new horror that comes out for this very reason.

Scare me, please, I'm waiting, GODDAMMIT.

Exactly!! I haven't been scared by a horror movie since I was a kid. The Ring came close though because of the atmosphere. It means everything. You can have all the blood and gore you want but if the atmosphere isn't there....you have nothing. Just blood and gore...which, for me, isn't too scary. I like the unknown. It gives my brain a chance to try and scare me. I find my brain works against me at times and truly scares the crap out of me!!
Like when I'm walking home late at night. I try and keep my brain occupied with a song or what I have to do the next day. If I don't, my brain takes over and starts making me hear noises or footsteps behind me. My own mind can scare me much more than any horror movie!

Ya, I'm weird....but that's the way Satan made me...

i like suspense and mystery type shit. solving crimes or whatever. i always try and find out who the killer is, well, if applicable like in scream or whatever

anyway, i love to critique and horror movies r some of the shittiest movies out there..

I have to agree Vod on the atmosphere. The Ring is the best example I can think of. It's always dark and ominous and you just feel kind of helpless through the whole thing.

I like a bit of Drama in my horror, but not to sappy. I HATE most horror-comedy, only really great movies can pull it off. If I care about the characters, I'll probably like the movie more. Thats what ruined TCM for me, I didnt know the characters at all.

Of course, the more gore the better. If you dont have a great atmosphere, I can usually be appeased with lots and lots of the red stuff :)

What I was trying to say was...Once you get to the point where NOTHING in a horror movie scares you anymore (which I believe is where most of us are here)...You may as well have the blood, guts, and gore...So that you will at least have SOMETHING...And for those of you who CAN still be scared by a horror movie...I envy you

Excellent advices and opinions people! This is all one next progressive step to making a fantastic next-classic horror movie. I agree with you all and vodstok that the atmosphere should be the first priority of any horror movie out there, because as egekrusher said...the scare factor would be easier to achieve in that sort of "dark, dreaded" atmosphere.. The second most important is of course, the "scare-factor". Bloodrayne made a good point that most hardcore horror fans are allready desensitized enough to miss out on the "scare-factor". Because of that, we need to pump up the viewers with true, real life brutal terror at the beginning to get them into a state of shock and fear. As in the Texas Chainsaw massacre..in the beginning of the movie at the intro there were flashes..and everytime the screen flashed, there was quick view of a face of a dead body, or skulls or whatever. You guys remember that part? I believe that part really got the viewers' brain into preparing its natural instinct of fear. third of all I learned that....the character is the 3rd most important feature..I agree with orangestar that TCM could have been MUCH better if we knew the characters more better (like the quiet driver of the van). There needs to be some sort of character introduction before the action jumps in. Tobe Hoober, the director of TCM originally meant the beginning scene of the scene of the van driving on the road scene as an introduction of the characters, which was when the teens talked in the van. Unfortunately, that wasn't good enough to know them enough..therefore to care for them during the later brutal scenes. Do you guys have any idea how Tobe Hoober, the directer of TCM could have made us know the characters a little more better than just a short van scene? I personally think that the Movie should have been longer..fitting more time in the beginning for the introduction sequence of the characters which he failed to do so. Personally, I believe that the beginning is the most important scene because it introduces the characters, and gets you to "bond up" with them for the later scenes. Do you guys agree? Allright once again..you guys had great, fantastic answers, and I will make full USE of them for my scripts. For egekrusher, I know your waiting for brutal terror, and goddamnit it I am working on it :) For Natas....regarding your brain taking you over and making sounds and stuff for you....thats called an "acid trip" :D

uh oh, watch out stingy, we may be having a new king of the long post

Yeah, I saw that! LoL! That's quite allright. As long as what he says is relevant.

Personally, I'm tired of gore. When I watched Dead Alive for the first time, I got the impression that Peter Jackson said to himself one night: "You know, the horror genre has totally gone to shit. Nobody wants to be scared anymore, they just want blood, blood, blood, guts, brains, and blood. Well, maybe if I give them something that is so blood-drenched and gut-clogged, maybe they'll move on. Maybe I can give them something that will never be able to be topped in terms of gore, that horror film makers will have to look to something else to put in their films. Maybe this film will finally put horror back on the track it needs to be." And so, Dead Alive was born. I mean, really ... horror is about FEAR, not blood and guts. And if you watch a film for the blood and guts, then you are not a fan of horror movies, you are a fan of splatter-flicks. As I wrote in an earlier thread, horror totally went down the tubes in the 80's. It abandoned the things like atmosphere, plot, and suspense for blood and guts. And this wave of horror adopted its own term: "splatterpunk". It was this trend in films that almost killed the horror fiction market all together. When fans of the films decided they wanted this same type of visceral inanity in their fiction, horror authors, for the most part, refused (there is something called "artistic integrity"). Horror authors preferred to write with atmosphere, plot and character in mind. So, when readers didn't get the nastiness in their reading, they nearly abandoned the books entirely. Which is really sad.

Its almost as if people don't want to sit and pay attention to a film anymore. "If I have to pay attention to it, then it must be shit. I don't want to devote my time to getting to know characters and 'suspensding my disbelief' and getting wrapped up in the atmosphere ... that's bullshit shit for people with standards. Just splash some chunky blood on the screen so I can drool on myself and giggle." I mean, this is almost exactly what I think of these people. I can imagine the people who want only as much blood and gore as they can get to be the same type of people that sit on their front porches for hours on end watching the bug-zapper.

The Shining, Stanley Kubrick's version, is probably the best horror film I have ever seen when it comes to providing atmosphere. The opening music is so ominous, and the hotel seems so oppressive and empty and isolated, that the viewer is on edge long before anything scary happens. And this idea of isolation is an excellent mood to put your audience in. Make them feel alone, cut-off and helpless ... and put something terrible with them. Atmosphere is so important, and I'm glad Vod was so quick to say it.

Also, natas made an excellent point. I don't want to be shown everything when I see a film. For me, once I have seen it, I can deal with it and move on. So, any horror film that leaves nothing to the imagination does not scare me in the least. The Blair Witch Project, and I know how many people here hate it (gore-mongers), was the scariest film I had seen in a LONG time when it came out. Everything in that film was left to the imagination of the audience, and it remains one of the most nerve-wracking horror movies in recent memory. It's crude, sloppy, oppressively atmospheric, and ultimately horrifying. Say what you will about the first three-quarters of this controversial, flawed masterpiece, but the last fifteen minutes are among the most genuinely terrifying I've ever experienced ... and the final, devastating image actually sent chills down my spine. When I left the film, even though I wasn't shown what happened to Heather and Mike, I was playing out their demise over and over again in my mind. It was disturbing.

One final thing: We need to care about the characters. At least care about them enough that we don't want them to get hurt too badly. And for this, you need characters that look and act like real people. The audience needs to be able to put themselves in the place of the characters if they are going to closely experience what it is the characters are experiencing. If we don't care about them, or cannot relate to them in some way, then we won't give a shit what happens to them. And all the scares go down the toilet.

So: 1) Atmosphere; 2) Leave MUCH to the imagination; 3) Believable characters the audience can like and relate to.

Those are my three reccommendations.

Sorry for the long post.

if this gore-hound may respond, yes leave much to the imagination but give us something....the haunting (original) is a classic film, the only visible sign of something untoward was that of a bulging door the rest was sound effects. did blair witch give us even that? not that i remember.

ok so this is turning into a blair witch witch hunt.....and i haven't even mention an italian horror film. i must be slipping, first kpro is nice to n00bs, now this......

Did Blair Witch give us anything? It gave us bloody teeth in a rag, children's hand prints on the walls of a house that shouldn't have been there, ectoplasmic slime on Josh's canteen ... and some pretty creepy sound effects: the children laughing outside of the tent, and the sound of something growling in the woods. But most of the scares were there for the people who paid attention to the film. The characters never told us what the seven piles of rocks that made up the cemetery were, but if you listened you could make the connection that they stood for the seven kids that Rustin Parr lured into the woods and killed. Then, when the characters find three piles of rocks outside of the tent in the morning, you would know that they were meant to represent the three campers. It was a warning, or a threat, that they were all going to die.

Also, you would not have gotten shocked by the last scene if you had not paid attention to the story of Rustin Parr told at the beginning of the scene. And if you listened to what Rustin Parr did to his victims, you would be able to picture it happening to Heather and Mike. You didn't need to be shown. And since it was in the mind, it was probably far more horrible than anything they could show on screen.

Meh, give me good ole blood and guts anyday, the spook factor is nice, but nothing really spooks me anymore...

I agree, zwoti. We DO need SOMETHING ... but I personally don't want to be shown everything. As I said, once I have seen it, I can deal with it and move on. It won't stick in my mind (like a horror film should). And there is nothing wrong with some blood and gore in a horror film -- don't get me wrong. I like to slum every once in a while, myself. A good gross-out can be pretty effective. My critique was really aimed at those people who think a horror movie sucks if it isn't gory. These people don't care about the finer elements of horror ... they just want the eye candy. Don't want to have to think about anything or use their imaginations. Which is why I never really got into any slasher flicks at all. Sorry if I offended you. :) (<---- making friends grin)

no arguments there, there needs to be something to set a tone, to build up the suspense....i just felt that bwp didn't do that, well for me anyway.

as for gore, gore is gore it can enhance a film but not MAKE a film, even i can admit that.

no offence taken, unless of course you're having a go at italian films.....in which case i'm gonna have to ask you to step outside :D

Thats exactly why I loved Blair Witch too, because I paid attention too it.

Honestly, the only Italian film I have seen is Dario Argento's Sleepless. And I really enjoyed that. The murder with the French horn was particulalry horrendous and disturbing. But there are films like these that take themselves seriously, even though they are gory. It had a good plot, plenty of fine twists and suspense ... but it wasn't scary. I really can't stand a film that is so incredibly stupid because all of the brains behind the project went into making the guts look real. And most of the time, even that doesn't work. But, there are fans of these films! There are people who will watch the same story over and over and over again, just to see the blood (*ahem* Friday the 13th series). I just don't get it.

There are certain movies that can be intelligent and gory at the same time. A Nightmare on Elm Street for example. I think people put it in the same category as F13 and Halloween, but I think its much smarter. The gore and blood doesnt necessarily make it a dumb splatter movie.

4 recent horror movies Cabin Fever had everything, it was great blood, jokes, smart story well maybe not that smart but still gnarly, and the new dawn was pretty cool

I see where we are going with this. From what I see by reading the debates and arguments, after some point, there actually seems to be 2 different horror fan types... 1. The ones that prefer to think over and use their imagination (Blair Witch Project) and 2.The fans that aren't scared of anything anymore, and are bloodhound thirsty beasts (house of 1000 corpses etc). I think the key here is like what Nightmare on Elm street was..by mixing in all of the elements in a way that would attract all types of horror fans, the more sophiscated class, and the gore-thirsty grunt ones.

A good start-out in the movie would be blood and gore to fire up the imagination, but the rest would be used by the imagination and creativity, because like Stingy Jack said..we dont want to be shown the same bull over and over...once we see something, we will move on. Personally, I found the Blair Witch project quite scary..but that is a movie which would suck to view over and over, because there isnt any blood or gore to drool at, therefore the Blair witch project tape would be a waste at buying. That movie is great for first timers and rentals, and really sends the chills down it paid attention to. Remember though, this is a movie..not a book. Some people watch movies over books for that very particular reason...to just sit back and enjoy the show, rather than thinking logically. Well, stingy, it looks like I have some King of the Long post competition to do :) its glad to know I have some challenge around here at least lol.
Dexter

Well, if you're going to make a film (or, at least write a screenplay), then the only advice I wish to give is to make sure the story is one you want to tell told in a way you want to tell it. There are so many good artists out there who don't realize that they have become prostitutes with their art: they do something base and vulgar for money, something that they normally wouldn't do. Don't pander to the demands of the masses. Write what you want, how you want to write it, and don't make changes to the script you feel uncomfortable with because some producer is telling you that it won't sell as it is. And take offense with anybody who tells you that you need to dumb-down your material if you want to make more money.

Example: If I was a chef, and had spent a lot of blood, sweat and tears creating a new dish, I wouldn't really be bothered if people liked the food or not. It is my creation, take it or leave it. However, when you come in and taste my food and begin to tell me things like "you should fry this squash instead of roasting it, and this chicken needs to be salted down", that's when I become offended. "I would like it, if it wasn't what it is." No you wouldn't! You wouldn't like it because it would be something else if I changed it. You would like the other thing! If I change it just to make money, then my creation, the way I intended it to be, is gone. And then you haven't really created anything there that is your own.

Oh! I just thought of the perfect example for my argument while I was preparing the coffee pot (I apologize that I seem to be overthrowing this thread ... its just that this is a subject I care a lot about.) Okay, Night of the Living Dead was scary ... and it was gory (particularly for its day). But then we got Return of the Living Dead and its sequels. None of these were scary. They didn't bother with things like atmosphere and character development that the first film had -- they were more concerned with making some gruesome corpses and showing a lot of brains getting eaten. And they turned the zombies into a big-ass comedy troupe! They're all running around, pratfalling and zinging off a one-liner: <in a thick, Southern accent> "Get that damn screwdriver out of my head!" These are the movies I'm talking about. I can't call these things "horror" movies, because they don't even try to scare. They try to make the audience laugh in the same way the bug zapper makes its audience laugh.

Anyway, I'm done now. Unless someone adds something I want to comment on. :)

I believe those kind sof movies are referred to as "Splatter Comedy". They would give kids nightmares, but not their intended audience.

A movie that masterfully mixes gore with suspense and intelligence is the original Alien. It never shows you too much, but has TONS of suspense (and uses claustrophobia and hopelessness with artfulness), and has one of the most classic gore scenes ever. (John Hurt on the table :D)

To me, it is one of the most perfect horror movies ever, unclouded by conscience, remorse, or delusions of morality.

Sorry, i lost myself for minute.

I agree. Alien has always been one of my favorites. It is a true masterpiece, and I will rank it right up there with The Shining in terms of establishing the feel of isolation. Alien never made it to my horror collection, though. I always thought it was too sci-fi.







Maybe I need to rethink this.

im a fan of the grotesque gore filled films and also low budget horror.
and that does'nt mean i dont like and understand films like the exorcist and blair witch project, alien, the shining and lots more, because i found those films very shiver up the spine scary, especially the exorcist and blair witch, when all my mates found blair witch hilarious, who talk with there mates the whole fucking way through-not paying atttention to the film. i even have a freind who found 'the evil dead' hilarious.
but like i say i do not know why but i have well.... almost a fetish for being grossed out, so i really love splatters and gorey cheesy indie films

I like being scared i guess.

I think The Evil Dead is supposed to be hilarious. It is to me, anyway.

And again, I have no problem with people who love the gore in horror films. As I have said, it can be entertaining and even add to the film (particularly with a zombie film. A zombie is much more disturbing if it is coming at you with half of its face hanging off than, say, a little moss on the corner of its mouth and some eyeshadow.) My only beef is with those people who MUST HAVE GORE in a horror film, otherwise they'll think it sucks.

But, you're not one of those people. :D

Sorry...I think I have to agree with your friend on that one...Not sure about "hilarious"...But, certainly funny :)

Okay...Let me share a little of my perspective here, as I think I may have been misunderstood...

I love a dark, creepy, atmospheric feel...a psychological, sanity twisting mind fuck...heartbeat accelerating, pulse pounding, gut wrenching, spine tingling, afraid to turn the lights out, have to check under the bed before you go to sleep with your head covered and no limbs hanging over the edge, brain screaming terror....I mean isn't that fear induced, endorphin releasing, adrenaline rush what hooks us in the first place, and the neverending quest for that feeling, that KEEPS us hooked?.....Unfortunately...I just don't see that happening anymore, I think it pretty much ended when I was around 15, a drawback of growing up on horror?...Early burnout?....and so THAT is why I want the blood, guts and gore...So that I will at least have SOMETHING.....Now, if you COULD manage to make a movie that actually scares me, I would be eternally grateful and extremely surprised...and I'm sorry Stingy Jack, but Blair Witch Project DEFINITELY isn't it...And we actually watched that one at the drive-in, in the dark, completely surrounded by woods, with bats flying across the screen...now THAT is atmosphere:cool:

something else you might think of is something that f13 and scream knew. sometimes you just want the people to die. why do you think most of the victims get on your nerves. its important for some people to support the bad guy. sure, they were trying to say drugs, alcohol, and premarital sex are supposedly wrong, but maybe they just wanted the nerds to have someone to cheer for. lol.

Horror
 

The atmosphere, the sound effects and the visual effects.

No, no. I understood you. :) But I really enjoyed this post! Good description of fear. And you're right: it is the feeling of being scared that thrilled us in the first place. For some of us, fear has been the most powerful emotion we have felt, making the horror genre the one we identify with the most. I, myself, don't get scared like I used to. Like you, I haven't had any trouble turning out the lights at night since my mid teens.

But there are ways for me to get to creeped out pretty good, and that usually (if not always) involves me having to use my imagination. Again, let me go back to The Blair Witch Project (which I know you don't like, but hear me out). The ending shows Mike standing in the corner of the basement, and then Heather gets the camera knocked out of her hand. Silence ... the camera rolls for a bit, filming nothing but the basement floor ... then black. Now, according to the Rustin Parr story, we can assume that Heather will be disemboweled first, and Mike shortly afterwards. That's really all that the story gives us. I, for one, am glad that they don't show it. If they had showed it, I would have left the theater knowing what happened, and how it was done, and how bad it really was for them. But since they did not, I was stuck with all sorts of questions: What was in the basement with them? Was it Josh, being controlled by the witch like Rustin Parr was? Was it the witch herself? What did she look like? Like that horse-hair thing the crazy woman described? What really happened after the camera was turned off? Were they disemboweled, as the story goes? Or ... was it much, much worse? And this type of questioning led me down paths in my mind that creeped me out for hours. My wife was really bothered (we were living in the woods, at the time), and didn't want me to leave for work (I worked the night shift at a gas station then). Sure, they could have shown us the guts and the blood and the whole act of disemboweling ... but it would not have been nearly as effective.

The Evil Dead, for me, is a classic because of it's comedy. It was one of the first horror movies to really achieve that level of comedy.

I agree. The Evil Dead is supposed to be funny. That's what makes it great! It would not have been the same if it didn't have Bruce Campbell. Same with Bubba Ho-Tep. What's your favorite line from that movie, anyway? I totally cracked up when Elvis was trying to explain to the doctor about the bug in his room, and couldn't do it ... so he ends up saying: "What do I care? I got a growth on my pecker."

I just want to say one more thing, sort of continuing with my last post. The only thing that can really creep me out nowadays is my own imagination ... a movie needs to leave plenty for my imagination to chew on if I am to get creeped. It was not knowing what happened to the characters in that movie that scared me. And this also why, I think, Lovecraft is so great a writer. He said (and I will probably misquote) "The oldest and strongest emotion in man is fear. And the oldest and strongest type of fear is fear of the unknown." I think this is true, and will always be true. And his writing really reflects this philosophy. If you've read him, you'll notice that he never really shows his reader the scary stuff. Even when his protagonists encounter something truly frightening, he always describes it as "too horrible to be described" or something similar. He's one of those authors who puts something really nasty behind the attic door, then gives us just a peek at it before he ends his story. This is more satisfying to me, both emotionally and mentally, than if he spelled out exactly what the bad thing was and what it looked like and what it did. If you leave us with something to think about, we can always imagine: "It could have been worse ... " and then our minds will make it worse.

Anybody follow me? :confused:

Agreed....you want gore..go watch some anime....its so tired in horror movies...suspense and music for me...

I actually haven't seen Bubba Ho-Tep. I thought it was supposed to be a comedy up until a couple of days ago, and you can't tell from the cover that Bruce Campbell is in it.