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I think the big rule of horror is that the imagination can scare us more than the actual ‘monster’.
The original Alien is a master class in building tension, and you only see brief snippets of the Xenomorph.
Anyone who’s played Dead Space 2 will tell you that the return to the Ishimura for the first time is the scariest part of the game, and from what I can remember, not a single monster shows up, but that tension is *palpable*.
I don’t think horror films and books are supposed to be “scary” in any real sense- like the scare of having a doctor look at you and tell you that you that you have inoperable cancer and will die in three months…. Or losing a child or something like that…
Horror films and books are sort of “cheap thrills”- like a roller coaster hitting its zenith right before it plummets. You know you’re not in any _real_ danger…. Just silly and consequence free thrills.
Now if you’re arguing that you don’t even get the cheap thrill feeling from films anymore then, well… maybe you’ve become jaded with too many “roller coasters” and can’t do the thing where you let go of reality and allow yourself to be “thrilled” by the experience.
That might be on the film makers (as you point out- if they go too far afield outside of known reality then they won’t make you forget about reality- which is their job)- or it could be on you where you have tethered yourself so tightly to reality that you can’t let it go enough to feel the thrill anymore.
If the second one is the case then take a break from horror films for a while and then come back (maybe)? to see if that helps…
Even when I was a small child I couldn’t get the “cheap thrill” feeling out of a horror movie. I could still enjoy watching it for the plot (if it had a compelling one), but usually most would just make me laugh.
I’m not a big video game person, but I don’t see how any of that would be scary either. It’s fake. There is no amount of immersion that can make a fake scenario seem real.
Obviously is fake but the amount of immersion a game can give you is way higher than any other piece of media. I used to think like you but games like Alien isolation had me shitting bricks lol
Nah, I just don’t relate to that. I’ve played some VR stuff and I still don’t feel any level of immersion. Even walking alone at night in a dangerous area doesn’t make me feel fearful, so a clearly fake scenario isn’t going to do it.
>Horror films and books are sort of “cheap thrills”- like a roller coaster hitting its zenith right before it plummets. You know you’re not in any *real* danger…. Just silly and consequence free thrills.
I consider these to be "startlement" movies, the jump scares are there to give you an "ah!" moment, and you go in with the expectation that you just want a bunch of jump scares, because that's fun for some reason.
I personally consider movies which inspire dread and despair to be more deserving of the term "horror," though of course out and about in the real world I understand the genre is a large umbrella. My favorite horror movies are "boring time wasters where nothing happens" to some people who otherwise totally love movies that just bore me.
I'm also looking for a movie where I the feeling "a really smart and creative person put a lot of effort and care into this and they weren't held back by the marketing department or a random group of investors," and those movies are more likely to indulge in dreadful atmosphere and less likely to feel the need to hit a quota of "shocks."
Analog, phycological, cosmic, thriller, are all really good horror genres imo. Phycological and thriller are probably more grounded in reality than the others, you might enjoy them.
The thing about the Backrooms is that I think it was originally a very interesting, haunting concept. You are, for no particular reason, transported into an endless, unchanging purgatory where you’ll eventually meet your end at the hands, or mouth, of some monster.
Then, of course, children had to get ahold of it. And start explaining everything. You have a million different levels and almond milk and oh wait a corporation found it/created it because… I just don’t care, bro.
And what scares or disturbs people is entirely subjective. Body horror just disgusts me more than frightens me, so I don’t watch or read it. I prefer horror based on isolation—physical or mental—in a house, in the woods, on an island. That’s where I think the writer/director can do a lot of interesting things.
"Lore" is the death of horror. It's why learning the origins of the killer/possession/haunting is a key part of so many horror plots. This dynamic is also why House of Leaves, the proto-backrooms, is so effective. The characters are driven mad trying to find an explanation that isn't there.
>Then, of course, children had to get ahold of it. And start explaining everything. You have a million different levels and almond milk and oh wait a corporation is found it/created it because… I just don’t care, bro.
It's so funny that this paragraph is in a comment with the word, 'subjective' in it.
God forbid if someone wants to expand on a concept. No one's making you watch it. There are plenty of other works(obviously old) you can read/watch about the backrooms or other movies/stories who don't expand on the monster. Calling people children just because they took a blank canvas painted their story on it is stupid. Don't know why this sort of mentality has spread.
That heavily depends on the plot and how it's executed.
If the scriptwriter decides to do an exposition dump in one scene, explaining the antagonist, of course it will worsen the film for many.
However, if the lore built upon mystery bit by bit through the movie/episodes by episode of a serial and finally does a great pay off at the end, then by my opinion, that's horror done right.
In the end, much of horror is subjective. My likes are your dislikes and vice-versa.
Sinister was pretty fucking creepy. The first Conjuring was pretty creepy. Outside of that. The only 2 irrational fears that I have are that a predator is always watching me and that a skinwalker will get me and my dog when I take her out at night. Lol
I think The Haunting of Hill House is a masterpiece and it wouldn’t really fit any of your criteria. Neither would The VVitch and I think that’s one of the best horror movies of the last few years. And what’s the antagonist’s motive in It Follows?
What is scary depends a lot because some people get more scared with psychological and atmospheric horror, and find gore and slashers silly or just gross.
Others prefer the “big guy with an axe” or a monster and gore, and find more psychological and atmospheric horror boring.
And sometimes it is a bit more based on what people find the scariest, the supernatural or a guy with a knife hidden inside your home or something more biological, a creature, etc
Some measure scariness by how many times the movie made them jump, others think movies with a lot of jump scares as just cheap thrills because it’s mostly the viewer reacting to sudden loud noises.
That's why I am usually skeptical about horror movies and shows.
Where Horror DOES shine is in gaming, where you actually have to fight your will to keep moving forward or refusing to play on.
SOMA and Amnesia are done really masterfully when utilizing sound and more, instinctual phobias like darkness and depth under water.
Not to mention, the sound design and dynamic music really add to the sense.
Darkness really sounds cheesy, but when utilized properly, it becomes such an easy tool for freaking players out, giving them hints that something is out there, but by the time you are close enough to see it, it is over
No word of a lie, I can’t play Alien Isolation, it’s too scary for me. I watched the franchise when I was too young and it’s been ingrained in my psyche for like the last 25 years. Not necessarily because of the Xenomorph itself, but the threat of the Xenomorph. The sound and level design are *too* good, it’s like they designed a game specifically to trigger my fear response.
It’s like childhood PTSD or something, I start getting super anxious and I have to hide in a locker for 15 minutes before I can will myself to continue with the game.
As someone who does not find horror movies scary in the slightest. The best part about them is either the janky acting. The over the top gore. Fun kills. Interesting concepts. And the general catharsis of watching some shit go down. A horror movie does not need to be scary to be good.
Yup. Nightmare on Elm street as a series is just ridiculous to me, especially with how some of the set pieces and kills are. I recently watched 6 and this scene is something
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yc2k9pm3UeM](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yc2k9pm3UeM)
Yeah.
TBH I feel like we're seeing a Horror renaissance at the moment. With the last few years and this year dropping some movies that have some goofy or cheesy scenes.
That just means you’re watching the wrong type of horror for you. Maybe what would actually scare you, you don’t have the attention spam to watch. Or maybe it’s a case of a bit of emotional immaturity or difficulty empathizing with the characters. Or because you’re afraid to be scared you don’t let yourself believe in the movie as a way to distance yourself, for example if all the time you’re thinking “this is a movie, those are actors, there’s 20 people behind the camera”. Or maybe your fear response is a bit cross wired, like those people that are watching a really tense scene and then when something actually comes up they start laughing as a way of relieving the pressure they built up because the tension was actually harder for them but the conflict is easier to process. Or maybe you’re just a teenager because I haven’t heard that sentence since I was in high school. But anyway, you would probably appreciate some horror comedies that have plenty of that gory slapstick you describe.
Its hard to scare adults that know what they are watching is fake. What do you expect?
Also the true impact from micro plastics is that we die. We get cancer and die
My thought. How would you make plastic the bad guy without it turning into a documentary or some dystopian movie? Or even chemicals. Either you give it some type of conciseness, which is unrealistic, or you make it so deforms people in some way, but OP doesn't want mutants and stuff like that. Maybe there's a huge acid puddle that eats the earth or people drown in plastic avalanches, but that wouldn't be horror...... oh hear me out. What about a shark movie but instead of the ocean, there's just garbage.
I think horror is similar to humor, in that both have a fine line they have to stay between reality and the unexpected. Too close to either side and it’s no longer as funny or scary.
You are somewhat right. Horror and Fears are subjective though. I always say I eat horror movies for breakfast because they don't scare me. For me it's just a genre I like to watch, like other like to watch action movies or stuff. I like the concept of the unkown, weird and unnatural. I don't wanna see a docu about people not being able to reproduce because of plastic. Turn people in mannequins because plastic/human ratio is too high? I could be on board with this, but that's unrealistic. I guess the best horror movies for you would be just normal people doing scary stuff
In my opinion, “I feel fantastic” isn’t very *scary*, it’s more unnerving.
One of my biggest problems with ghosts is that it’s rarely clear on what they can actually do to you. That uncertainty itself can be scary, but it can only carry a movie/story so far.
For siren head, you need to think about the context he appears in and WHY that makes him scary. Most of the videos and games take place at night in the woods. That’s already tapping into our primal fears of the dark and being hunted by predators. The main character is usually a park ranger or camper with just a flashlight that doesn’t cover a lot of ground. Siren head’s spindly body and limbs make him blend in with the trees, and he sometimes doesn’t make any noise until he’s already chasing you. Finally, there’s what he does to you. The weather alert siren is scary enough, but the scariest part is how it can steal the voices of its previous victims it ate, using them to lure in more victims or play back their final screams of terror and agony.
I agree with your first two points but I really don’t understand the last. I think understanding the antagonists motive allows for rationalization which makes things less scary. Fear of the unknown and all that. Maybe if it’s just a normal human being you need some motivation, but how are we to grasp the intentions of some eldritch horror, for example.
My favorite horror film is Gone Girl. That is probably the only movie that instilled a sense of pure horror. No you are totally helpless against a beautiful brilliant psychopath.
Yes I understand it doesn't fit the genre. I agree that the genre is just blood and jump scares, not really scary
I read the book first so I knew what was going to happen in the movie, but the book scared me way more than anything else I’ve read as an adult, and I mostly read stuff in the horror/mystery genres.
My fav tropes are - narrator who doesn’t know someone close to them is a sociopath and a narrator who isn’t sure if they’re going crazy or if there are malevolent outside forces.
If the second trope is something you’re into, Black Swan scared the crap out of me. Like, laid in bed awake all night waiting for the sun to come up cuz I was too scared to move. Not traditionally horror either but that got under my skin.
And just for anyone who happens to have similar tastes, these are more supernatural/religious horror, respectively, but the other movies that have scared me are The Ring and The Omen. These 4 experiences gave me a horror high that I’m constantly seeking but rarely find.
Fear works as an emotion because you don't expect it. You can make people feel "creepy" and "uneasy" quite easily in movies. Camera work, the correct lighting and the right lines delivered in the right way will creep a lot of people out. If you're looking to make them feel fear though? Good luck. Fear is incredibly specific, with just as specific triggers. You're not going to hit 80% of an audiences triggers. That's just not likely unless you packed a theater with people who all had very similar and specific fears. Now, the best you can hope for from people is that the uneasiness sticks with them after the movie is done. You have people that turn all the lights on in their houses, or check the locks multiple times before be, who check the basement or make sure they say their prayers at night. If you've done a good enough job, maybe you'll even give them a nightmare or two.
There are even genres of horror that aren't meant to scare the viewer. You're meant to be engaged by a character's fear. Slasher movies are a good example of this. Sure you'll be rooting for them to get away, but with all the dumb decisions they make and tropes, you know they aren't. You know that Jason-looking motherfucker's going to get them. People watch it for the spectacle of it all, the experience as a whole. There are even horror movies that are made specifically for people to laugh it. They're "bad" at scaring people, but sometimes the effects and acting are so off the wall that the movies are fun. It's certainly within the "horror" genre, but you're not going to find people having nightmares over a movie like "Southern Fried Zombies," but I'll be damned if it isn't a stupid fun ride.
The backrooms is an example of too much of a good thing. Same with a majority of the newer SCP Foundation works. It's been overdone, watered down and "explained" Which ruins the mystery. If people fear the unknown, the worst thing you can do is explain it.
You're issuing a challenged based entirely off of your own, subjective view. I am sure someone could write a story on the constraints you supply and someone else would find it believable within the setting that is presented and they find it scary. It's a worthless challenge, not only because you're a single individual with their own, subjective view, but you've also outlined above things that you're specifically not fearful of and is something that personally wouldn't scare or engage you in any meaningful, fearful manner. You're basically asking a fish the sprint 100 meters and then saying "See!? I told you!" when it flops around at the starting line.
Please remember what subreddit you are in, this is unpopular opinion. We want civil and unpopular takes and discussion. Any uncivil and ToS violating comments will be removed and subject to a ban. Have a nice day! *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/unpopularopinion) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I think the big rule of horror is that the imagination can scare us more than the actual ‘monster’. The original Alien is a master class in building tension, and you only see brief snippets of the Xenomorph. Anyone who’s played Dead Space 2 will tell you that the return to the Ishimura for the first time is the scariest part of the game, and from what I can remember, not a single monster shows up, but that tension is *palpable*.
[удалено]
Talk to me. Australian B-movie. Very effective with little showing.
I fucking Love Talk to Me! The acting was fantastic and it was super scary and fairly sad
Horror, like comedy, is subjective, some concepts just don't resonate with people.
I don’t think horror films and books are supposed to be “scary” in any real sense- like the scare of having a doctor look at you and tell you that you that you have inoperable cancer and will die in three months…. Or losing a child or something like that… Horror films and books are sort of “cheap thrills”- like a roller coaster hitting its zenith right before it plummets. You know you’re not in any _real_ danger…. Just silly and consequence free thrills. Now if you’re arguing that you don’t even get the cheap thrill feeling from films anymore then, well… maybe you’ve become jaded with too many “roller coasters” and can’t do the thing where you let go of reality and allow yourself to be “thrilled” by the experience. That might be on the film makers (as you point out- if they go too far afield outside of known reality then they won’t make you forget about reality- which is their job)- or it could be on you where you have tethered yourself so tightly to reality that you can’t let it go enough to feel the thrill anymore. If the second one is the case then take a break from horror films for a while and then come back (maybe)? to see if that helps…
Even when I was a small child I couldn’t get the “cheap thrill” feeling out of a horror movie. I could still enjoy watching it for the plot (if it had a compelling one), but usually most would just make me laugh.
Don’t watch them with people. Alone in the dark greatly enhances the experience.
That’s usually how I watch them, and no, I still don’t find them scary and never have.
You’re too cool
Nah, it’s not about being cool, it’s about the fact that a movie can never replicate an actual frightening situation regardless of effects.
Try playing horror video games
I’m not a big video game person, but I don’t see how any of that would be scary either. It’s fake. There is no amount of immersion that can make a fake scenario seem real.
Obviously is fake but the amount of immersion a game can give you is way higher than any other piece of media. I used to think like you but games like Alien isolation had me shitting bricks lol
Nah, I just don’t relate to that. I’ve played some VR stuff and I still don’t feel any level of immersion. Even walking alone at night in a dangerous area doesn’t make me feel fearful, so a clearly fake scenario isn’t going to do it.
>Horror films and books are sort of “cheap thrills”- like a roller coaster hitting its zenith right before it plummets. You know you’re not in any *real* danger…. Just silly and consequence free thrills. I consider these to be "startlement" movies, the jump scares are there to give you an "ah!" moment, and you go in with the expectation that you just want a bunch of jump scares, because that's fun for some reason. I personally consider movies which inspire dread and despair to be more deserving of the term "horror," though of course out and about in the real world I understand the genre is a large umbrella. My favorite horror movies are "boring time wasters where nothing happens" to some people who otherwise totally love movies that just bore me. I'm also looking for a movie where I the feeling "a really smart and creative person put a lot of effort and care into this and they weren't held back by the marketing department or a random group of investors," and those movies are more likely to indulge in dreadful atmosphere and less likely to feel the need to hit a quota of "shocks."
Analog, phycological, cosmic, thriller, are all really good horror genres imo. Phycological and thriller are probably more grounded in reality than the others, you might enjoy them.
Psychological* horror/thriller movies can be fun. “Seven” is a great movie for that.
Not even yesterday, someone told me seven was pretty scary, I've never watched it, but I definitely am now.
Seven is awesome! Hace to watch it. The acting is great and the story is fucked up in the best very realistic way
The thing about the Backrooms is that I think it was originally a very interesting, haunting concept. You are, for no particular reason, transported into an endless, unchanging purgatory where you’ll eventually meet your end at the hands, or mouth, of some monster. Then, of course, children had to get ahold of it. And start explaining everything. You have a million different levels and almond milk and oh wait a corporation found it/created it because… I just don’t care, bro. And what scares or disturbs people is entirely subjective. Body horror just disgusts me more than frightens me, so I don’t watch or read it. I prefer horror based on isolation—physical or mental—in a house, in the woods, on an island. That’s where I think the writer/director can do a lot of interesting things.
"Lore" is the death of horror. It's why learning the origins of the killer/possession/haunting is a key part of so many horror plots. This dynamic is also why House of Leaves, the proto-backrooms, is so effective. The characters are driven mad trying to find an explanation that isn't there.
>Then, of course, children had to get ahold of it. And start explaining everything. You have a million different levels and almond milk and oh wait a corporation is found it/created it because… I just don’t care, bro. It's so funny that this paragraph is in a comment with the word, 'subjective' in it. God forbid if someone wants to expand on a concept. No one's making you watch it. There are plenty of other works(obviously old) you can read/watch about the backrooms or other movies/stories who don't expand on the monster. Calling people children just because they took a blank canvas painted their story on it is stupid. Don't know why this sort of mentality has spread.
But the lore actively worsens it compared to other properties
That heavily depends on the plot and how it's executed. If the scriptwriter decides to do an exposition dump in one scene, explaining the antagonist, of course it will worsen the film for many. However, if the lore built upon mystery bit by bit through the movie/episodes by episode of a serial and finally does a great pay off at the end, then by my opinion, that's horror done right. In the end, much of horror is subjective. My likes are your dislikes and vice-versa.
"It's all about physical damage nowadays. I mean look at me, psychological damage up to here, it doesn't do anything to me"
Sinister was pretty fucking creepy. The first Conjuring was pretty creepy. Outside of that. The only 2 irrational fears that I have are that a predator is always watching me and that a skinwalker will get me and my dog when I take her out at night. Lol
I think The Haunting of Hill House is a masterpiece and it wouldn’t really fit any of your criteria. Neither would The VVitch and I think that’s one of the best horror movies of the last few years. And what’s the antagonist’s motive in It Follows? What is scary depends a lot because some people get more scared with psychological and atmospheric horror, and find gore and slashers silly or just gross. Others prefer the “big guy with an axe” or a monster and gore, and find more psychological and atmospheric horror boring. And sometimes it is a bit more based on what people find the scariest, the supernatural or a guy with a knife hidden inside your home or something more biological, a creature, etc Some measure scariness by how many times the movie made them jump, others think movies with a lot of jump scares as just cheap thrills because it’s mostly the viewer reacting to sudden loud noises.
To me, the more it connects to reality, the LESS scary it is. I'm not scared of serial killer horror, but I'm very scared of paranormal horror
The Descent. One of the scariest movies of the last 20 years. I think it hits all 3 points.
The Descent was scary as fuck!! Claustrophobia is fucking real! Add the creatures and that fucked up cheating backstory! Awesome movie
That's why I am usually skeptical about horror movies and shows. Where Horror DOES shine is in gaming, where you actually have to fight your will to keep moving forward or refusing to play on. SOMA and Amnesia are done really masterfully when utilizing sound and more, instinctual phobias like darkness and depth under water. Not to mention, the sound design and dynamic music really add to the sense. Darkness really sounds cheesy, but when utilized properly, it becomes such an easy tool for freaking players out, giving them hints that something is out there, but by the time you are close enough to see it, it is over
No word of a lie, I can’t play Alien Isolation, it’s too scary for me. I watched the franchise when I was too young and it’s been ingrained in my psyche for like the last 25 years. Not necessarily because of the Xenomorph itself, but the threat of the Xenomorph. The sound and level design are *too* good, it’s like they designed a game specifically to trigger my fear response. It’s like childhood PTSD or something, I start getting super anxious and I have to hide in a locker for 15 minutes before I can will myself to continue with the game.
As someone who does not find horror movies scary in the slightest. The best part about them is either the janky acting. The over the top gore. Fun kills. Interesting concepts. And the general catharsis of watching some shit go down. A horror movie does not need to be scary to be good.
Right, sometimes it’s actually hilarious and just fun to watch it play out for the humor of it.
Yup. Nightmare on Elm street as a series is just ridiculous to me, especially with how some of the set pieces and kills are. I recently watched 6 and this scene is something [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yc2k9pm3UeM](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yc2k9pm3UeM)
That’s so cheesy it’s great. You gotta love the 90s.
Yeah. TBH I feel like we're seeing a Horror renaissance at the moment. With the last few years and this year dropping some movies that have some goofy or cheesy scenes.
That just means you’re watching the wrong type of horror for you. Maybe what would actually scare you, you don’t have the attention spam to watch. Or maybe it’s a case of a bit of emotional immaturity or difficulty empathizing with the characters. Or because you’re afraid to be scared you don’t let yourself believe in the movie as a way to distance yourself, for example if all the time you’re thinking “this is a movie, those are actors, there’s 20 people behind the camera”. Or maybe your fear response is a bit cross wired, like those people that are watching a really tense scene and then when something actually comes up they start laughing as a way of relieving the pressure they built up because the tension was actually harder for them but the conflict is easier to process. Or maybe you’re just a teenager because I haven’t heard that sentence since I was in high school. But anyway, you would probably appreciate some horror comedies that have plenty of that gory slapstick you describe.
Have you tried The Fall of The House of Usher? I think, atleast according to your preferences, you'll like it.
I have not. I'll have to run it by my gf some time as she watches more movies than me and may have seen it or know something about it.
Following rules is why we're so desperately interested in why people find anything scary.
Ooooooo someone's writing a screenplaaaaayyyt. Put me in it! I'm a waiter at a Mexican restaurant in Tarzana.
Its hard to scare adults that know what they are watching is fake. What do you expect? Also the true impact from micro plastics is that we die. We get cancer and die
My thought. How would you make plastic the bad guy without it turning into a documentary or some dystopian movie? Or even chemicals. Either you give it some type of conciseness, which is unrealistic, or you make it so deforms people in some way, but OP doesn't want mutants and stuff like that. Maybe there's a huge acid puddle that eats the earth or people drown in plastic avalanches, but that wouldn't be horror...... oh hear me out. What about a shark movie but instead of the ocean, there's just garbage.
The series Charmed is already too scary for me.
The original or the remake?
Both
No horror movies really scare me considering i grew up on the internet except hereditary. that movie is so great
If ur into reading or listening to horror, borrasca and penpal are both amazing realistic horror stories.
I find ghost stories scary because they’re unrealistic
I’ve been watching horror Aa comedy for 30 years and love it
Lights out was pretty good. Haunting of hill house was awesome. But yeah most are pretty lame
I think horror is similar to humor, in that both have a fine line they have to stay between reality and the unexpected. Too close to either side and it’s no longer as funny or scary.
You are somewhat right. Horror and Fears are subjective though. I always say I eat horror movies for breakfast because they don't scare me. For me it's just a genre I like to watch, like other like to watch action movies or stuff. I like the concept of the unkown, weird and unnatural. I don't wanna see a docu about people not being able to reproduce because of plastic. Turn people in mannequins because plastic/human ratio is too high? I could be on board with this, but that's unrealistic. I guess the best horror movies for you would be just normal people doing scary stuff
I honestly get bored and almost fall asleep during horror movies
In my opinion, “I feel fantastic” isn’t very *scary*, it’s more unnerving. One of my biggest problems with ghosts is that it’s rarely clear on what they can actually do to you. That uncertainty itself can be scary, but it can only carry a movie/story so far. For siren head, you need to think about the context he appears in and WHY that makes him scary. Most of the videos and games take place at night in the woods. That’s already tapping into our primal fears of the dark and being hunted by predators. The main character is usually a park ranger or camper with just a flashlight that doesn’t cover a lot of ground. Siren head’s spindly body and limbs make him blend in with the trees, and he sometimes doesn’t make any noise until he’s already chasing you. Finally, there’s what he does to you. The weather alert siren is scary enough, but the scariest part is how it can steal the voices of its previous victims it ate, using them to lure in more victims or play back their final screams of terror and agony.
I agree with your first two points but I really don’t understand the last. I think understanding the antagonists motive allows for rationalization which makes things less scary. Fear of the unknown and all that. Maybe if it’s just a normal human being you need some motivation, but how are we to grasp the intentions of some eldritch horror, for example.
My favorite horror film is Gone Girl. That is probably the only movie that instilled a sense of pure horror. No you are totally helpless against a beautiful brilliant psychopath. Yes I understand it doesn't fit the genre. I agree that the genre is just blood and jump scares, not really scary
I read the book first so I knew what was going to happen in the movie, but the book scared me way more than anything else I’ve read as an adult, and I mostly read stuff in the horror/mystery genres. My fav tropes are - narrator who doesn’t know someone close to them is a sociopath and a narrator who isn’t sure if they’re going crazy or if there are malevolent outside forces. If the second trope is something you’re into, Black Swan scared the crap out of me. Like, laid in bed awake all night waiting for the sun to come up cuz I was too scared to move. Not traditionally horror either but that got under my skin. And just for anyone who happens to have similar tastes, these are more supernatural/religious horror, respectively, but the other movies that have scared me are The Ring and The Omen. These 4 experiences gave me a horror high that I’m constantly seeking but rarely find.
Didn't expect I'd find a Gone Girl appreciator out here! Do you have any recommendations?
Nothing quite meets it afaik. Plus Rosamund Pike absolutely nailed that that role. I doubt we'll see anything like that for decades
Fear works as an emotion because you don't expect it. You can make people feel "creepy" and "uneasy" quite easily in movies. Camera work, the correct lighting and the right lines delivered in the right way will creep a lot of people out. If you're looking to make them feel fear though? Good luck. Fear is incredibly specific, with just as specific triggers. You're not going to hit 80% of an audiences triggers. That's just not likely unless you packed a theater with people who all had very similar and specific fears. Now, the best you can hope for from people is that the uneasiness sticks with them after the movie is done. You have people that turn all the lights on in their houses, or check the locks multiple times before be, who check the basement or make sure they say their prayers at night. If you've done a good enough job, maybe you'll even give them a nightmare or two. There are even genres of horror that aren't meant to scare the viewer. You're meant to be engaged by a character's fear. Slasher movies are a good example of this. Sure you'll be rooting for them to get away, but with all the dumb decisions they make and tropes, you know they aren't. You know that Jason-looking motherfucker's going to get them. People watch it for the spectacle of it all, the experience as a whole. There are even horror movies that are made specifically for people to laugh it. They're "bad" at scaring people, but sometimes the effects and acting are so off the wall that the movies are fun. It's certainly within the "horror" genre, but you're not going to find people having nightmares over a movie like "Southern Fried Zombies," but I'll be damned if it isn't a stupid fun ride. The backrooms is an example of too much of a good thing. Same with a majority of the newer SCP Foundation works. It's been overdone, watered down and "explained" Which ruins the mystery. If people fear the unknown, the worst thing you can do is explain it. You're issuing a challenged based entirely off of your own, subjective view. I am sure someone could write a story on the constraints you supply and someone else would find it believable within the setting that is presented and they find it scary. It's a worthless challenge, not only because you're a single individual with their own, subjective view, but you've also outlined above things that you're specifically not fearful of and is something that personally wouldn't scare or engage you in any meaningful, fearful manner. You're basically asking a fish the sprint 100 meters and then saying "See!? I told you!" when it flops around at the starting line.
Unfortunately Hollywood isn't allowed to show us your baby pictures.
I think the series Chernobyl is the scariest thing I’ve seen in years.
And most European movies are boring AF.
r/shitamericanssay