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[Sgt. Kabukiman]

Only two or three movies have ever scared me. And two games (RE2 and Silent Hill). But I love the genre. To me, it's about mood and atmosphere more than anything else.

As you said OP, horror is at its best when it provides a disturbing and unsettling experience like The Witch. It's also the reason why I adore Lovecraft.

Jump scares can be fun but they are ephemeral. A true horror film lingers.

 

[Conkersbadfurday]

Jump scares startle in the moment, but really good horror should leave you feeling fucked up long after the story is done.

It's why I really like H.P. Lovecraft. His books aren't really scary in the moment, but the ideas behind them tend to linger.

Stephen King's Revival is maybe a better example since that book was like if Lovecraft could write good characters. The ending there stuck with me for fucking DAYS. Wonderful novel.

 

[Fisty]

I'm just starting to get into horror films, and I'm getting a feeling that I prefer atmosphere to traditional scares. Most of my favorites so far - Rosemary's Baby, The Wicker Man, Alien, The Shining, Cat People, Altered States - are more about the atmosphere than about "scares." In comparison, I found A Nightmare on Elm Street just good, not really my thing.

Although I'm not the bravest individual, I'll tell you.

I hope you mean the older Wicker Man lol

The Nick Cage one is amazing, but not as a horror movie

 

[Baron von Loathsome]

I hope you mean the older Wicker Man lol

The Nick Cage one is amazing, but not as a horror movie

Yes, I mean the 70s version. Not gonna bother with the Nick Cage version.

 

[More_Badass]

Stephen King's Revival is maybe a better example since that book was like if Lovecraft could write good characters. The ending there stuck with me for fucking DAYS. Wonderful novel.

How Lovecraftian are we talking? Like Mountains of Madness, or like The Colour Out of Space?

 

[Polioliolio]

To me, horror is merely a genre or sub genre.

Addams Family is horror, in my book.

 

[Fancy Clown]

I'm just starting to get into horror films, and I'm getting a feeling that I prefer atmosphere to traditional scares. Most of my favorites so far - Rosemary's Baby, The Wicker Man, Alien, The Shining, Cat People, Altered States - are more about the atmosphere than about "scares." In comparison, I found A Nightmare on Elm Street just good, not really my thing.

Although I'm not the bravest individual, I'll tell you.

You should check out Don't Look Now and the Herzog Nosferatu

 

[Metalmarc]

I agree OP, i used to be uptight with my horror choices and say something similar, i still am to a degree sometimes, depends on my mood, where if it's just reliant on constant Jump Scares only and nothing else then i still tend to be dissapointed, but if it has good characters, story, or is just damn fun i will be happy with it, along with as many Jump scares as they want to present to me, or none.

I think what happens is the more we consume Horror the more desensitized we become to it, so somethings then will bore some of us, because we just want the thrill of a fright right? Or at least thats how i kinda felt in my twenties, now in my 30's maybe not so much.

But then i learned as OP has said it doesnt have to always be scary, it can just be taged horror and you can have a good time, like for example you may get a horror comedy with practically Zero to a few jump scares, and still will be enjoyable.

So now if i want to be scared as such I will consume horror media that is bizzare, twisted, full of dread and then it tends to stay with you, thats why some of the Japanese and other foreign movies started to intrigue me.

But also i will admit sometimes i am also happy just watching a bunch of schlock, or so bad it's good.

Overall i am not sure what i am saying, i am repeating stuff thats already been said, sorry about that, i am typing this whilst watching Tom Savinis Night of the Living Dead (this is in no way particularly scary, yet its one of my favourite Horror movies and a remake i may add) and am tired, but i think i am enjoying Horror more as a Genre as i grow older, not as something just to scare me.

Or to sum it up Horror is not just for Halloween, Horror is for life.

 

[muntersaur]

After the age of eight, I have failed to be scared by a horror film, yet horror is my favourite genre. Most people who make the argument that a horror film was not good precisely because it was not scary do not seem to be fans of the genre.

I watch films to be entertained and a horror film does not have to scare to be entertaining.

 

[Snagret]

Yeah he really nails the horror aspect of "dream" logic really well, like hyperreality and deep metaphor. Blue Velvet is masterful in it's ability to ratchet up tension and keep it at an insane level for an insane length. Basically when Kyle MacLaughlin gets in the car with Hopper, its the most tense and uncomfortable series of scenes in probably any movie I've seen.

The episode of Twin Peaks where the killer is revealed and the following murder are definitely up there as well, and alot of that is down to the filming technique and the build up of the series to that point. Still get queezy in the run up to that episode.

Eraserhead was fantastic because it was almost cosmic horror, just completely baffling and anything can happen because there seems to be no logical reality that binds the narrative.

Hell even the first "bum guy" scene in Mulholland Drive is pretty terrifying, and i see shit like that on a daily basis

It's easily the most terrifying television I've ever watched, I'm pretty sure I forgot to breathe during those scenes. I'm baffled when people say "don't watch the second season of twin peaks" considering the first third of it is so incredible and has finishes out that arc (despite dragging it back out again).

Totally agreed with the OP. I much prefer the "psychological thriller" approach to horror than the incredibly formulaic jump scares. Green Room is maybe the scariest movie I've ever watched, and it doesn't play to genre conventions at all.

The Witch is an interesting example, it's such an absorbing film and has such a thick atmosphere of dread. The moments it decides to cash in on that dread are absolutely incredible, there are certain scenes in the movie that were so intense I felt like I had snapped out of a trance after they ended (which is sort of how I felt walking out of the theater, actually). It's the perfect example of why I love horror movies, they have the potential to completely pull you in and make you feel like what's happening to the characters is happening to you. And that's a feeling you carry with you.

 

[Wensih]

Sure. However, I would also say that for some of these horror movies, e.g. The Exorcist or a more recent release It Follows, I wasn't scared or unsettled.

Edit: And I find this more so in horror games. They're not unsettling. They're usually not even tense after the first few failures and once the player learns the system. The dread and horror becomes routine by the end.

 

[Dynomutt]

By " scary " people usually mean jump scares.

I hate jump scares that's why I don't play most horror games because they heavily rely on this overused mechanism. I liked movies like The Witch because : no jump scares. I really hope we'll see more movies like The Witch who only rely on the atmosphere and writing to convey the horror.

Thanks for clarifying. Because to me Rosemary's Baby, The Shining, and the Exorcist were not jump scary but the atmosphere was very much "dreadful".

 

[DirtyLarry]

Horror for me has always been about is it unsettling. There are so many different things in this life to be unsettled about, so it is not always about the traditional "scary."

With that said, I do love horror that can do both.

 

[Dusk Golem]

It's easily the most terrifying television I've ever watched, I'm pretty sure I forgot to breathe during those scenes. I'm baffled when people say "don't watch the second season of twin peaks" considering the first third of it is so incredible and has finishes out that arc (despite dragging it back out again). .

I think a lot of people forget that Season 1 ends in the big series of cliffhangers (like the mill fire) and think it ends when Killer subplot is resolved. Twin Peaks through episode 16 is absolutely worth watching, and actually most of the show's "scary" scenes and most memorable scenes in the whole show happen in Season 2.

I like the 'lull' of Season 2 more than most, there is a 4-5 episode range the lull is a bit stronger than most, but I'd say the first few episodes after the killer subplot is finished and the last few episodes of Season 2 are certainly worth watching as well.

Really, I'd say 2/3rds of Season 2 is quite good, while a third of it is a bit of a lull. That's just my opinion though. But I think the highs of Season 2 are higher than the highs of Season 1 (though so are the lows are lower).

 

[muntersaur]

Because horror films have to be scary, horror comedies are often not deemed to be horror films, which again is bullshit. A horror simply needs to focus prominently on themes of horror, it does not have to be scary, and can simply be surreal, atmospheric, psychological, erotic, campy, or comic etc.

 

[Snagret]

I think a lot of people forget that Season 1 ends in the big series of cliffhangers (like the mill fire) and think it ends when Killer subplot is resolved. Twin Peaks through episode 16 is absolutely worth watching, and actually most of the show's "scary" scenes and most memorable scenes in the whole show happen in Season 2.

I like the 'lull' of Season 2 more than most, there is a 4-5 episode range the lull is a bit stronger than most, but I'd say the first few episodes after the killer subplot is finished and the last few episodes of Season 2 are certainly worth watching as well.

Really, I'd say 2/3rds of Season 2 is quite good, while a third of it is a bit of a lull. That's just my opinion though. But I think the highs of Season 2 are higher than the highs of Season 1 (though so are the lows are lower).

The final episode of S2 makes the journey worth watching. It's another example of Lynch's masterclass talent for drawing horror from bizarre, surreal imagery (particularly in editing and scene construction). It stands up with the rest of the best episodes in the series (which easily, together, stand up with the best of his films). Season 3 can't come soon enough!

 

[Conkersbadfurday]

How Lovecraftian are we talking? Like Mountains of Madness, or like The Colour Out of Space?

Revival is more "Mountains of Madness" probably. It goes cosmic horror.

Granted, it only does that during the last...maybe two and a half chapters. It's a short book as far as King goes, but a bit of a long con as far as the narrative is concerned.

 

[.JayZii]

The horror movies I like and remember are the ones that leave me feeling disturbed, creeped out or tense through their atmosphere as opposed to making me jump with a loud noise. Some people's definition of "scary" is narrow, and that's their loss.

Some people also say it as some sort of "I'm a badass" implication, which is especially dumb.

How Lovecraftian are we talking? Like Mountains of Madness, or like The Colour Out of Space?

Is one more Lovecraftian than the other?

 

[Messofanego]

Yes, I mean the 70s version. Not gonna bother with the Nick Cage version.

Big mistake!

 

[Fisty]

Big mistake!

Yep it's an amazing comedy, definitely don't skip the Nick Cage version of Wicker Man. Even better, watch it with the accompanying Rifftrax for maximum laughter.

"What's in the bag... a shark or something?"

 

[rackham]

Most of the Silent Hill, Resident Evil, and Fatal Frame games have never scared me (REmake did in parts and so did Silent Hill 4 in parts), but I enjoy them all, would consider them horror, and think most people would too. In general, most horror games don't scare me. Amnesia didn't scare me neither (But strangely, Penumbra and SOMA did in parts).

Scariness is too subjective a thing to be a proper gauge.

Yes but they should leave you feeling uneasy and if you're saying that you played all of those games for the first time without any feeling of uneasiness, you're lying.

 

[IdreamofHIME]

The witch wasn't just unscary, it was plain boring.
The BBC makes better period dramas.

 

[More_Badass]

Is one more Lovecraftian than the other?

Well, I'd say the former is more "otherworldly beings, other places, cults, etc," and the latter is more "unexplainable phenomenon that corrupts and terrifies"

Yes, I mean the 70s version. Not gonna bother with the Nick Cage version.

Nick Cage one is a great comedy

 

[IdreamofHIME]

Jump scares startle in the moment, but really good horror should leave you feeling fucked up long after the story is done.

Check out the movie The Borderlands for this kind of Lovecraft feeling. A happy go lucky vibe that turns sour and will leave you disturbed after it's finished without ever being "scary".

 

[parrotbeak]

I agree.

What movie are they watching?

 

[More_Badass]

I agree.


What movie are they watching?

Paranormal Activity

 

[More_Badass]

Check out the movie The Borderlands for this kind of Lovecraft feeling. A happy go lucky vibe that turns sour and will leave you disturbed after it's finished without ever being "scary".

This movie?
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00T5DOJ1Y/?tag=neogaf0e-20
Sounds like my kind of movie

 

[Auctopus]

Totally agree, OP. I never enjoyed the late 00s trend of horror movies having to make you jump - it's cheap, it doesn't mean you're actually "scared", you're just caught off guard. I could make you jump by surprising you with a cake for your birthday, it doesn't mean it's scary.

My favourite horror (as mild as it's rating is) is The Strangers. The film does such an excellent job of building tension in an environment that everybody is familiar with, being home alone.

The scene where the intruder steps out behind the wall and there's not a single music cue, leaving the audience to notice the figure for themselves is brilliant.

 

[gamz]

Totally agree, OP. I never enjoyed the late 00s trend of horror movies having to make you jump - it's cheap, it doesn't mean you're actually "scared", you're just caught off guard. I could make you jump by surprising you with a cake for your birthday, it doesn't mean it's scary.

My favourite horror (as mild as it's rating is) is The Strangers. The film does such an excellent job of building tension in an environment that everybody is familiar with, being home alone.

The scene where the intruder steps out behind the wall and there's not a single music cue, leaving the audience to notice the figure for themselves is brilliant.

Could not agree with you more. It's such a masterwork in tension. The background and foreground work reminded me of Carpenter. Session 9 is another one.

Krisha is another movie that doesn't get it's due. It's the most assured debut I've seen since the Coen's Blood Simple. It's an amazing movie that never ever steps wrong.

 

[Wensih]

Yes but they should leave you feeling uneasy and if you're saying that you played all of those games for the first time without any feeling of uneasiness, you're lying.

The feeling of uneasiness quickly fades when you realize the mechanics of the game. The original silent hill, amnesia, and SOMA do not sustain the dread and horror past the first enemy encounter.

 

[bob_arctor]

Zodiac. Basement scene.

 

[wanderingprostheyltite]

Yeah he really nails the horror aspect of "dream" logic really well, like hyperreality and deep metaphor. Blue Velvet is masterful in it's ability to ratchet up tension and keep it at an insane level for an insane length. Basically when Kyle MacLaughlin gets in the car with Hopper, its the most tense and uncomfortable series of scenes in probably any movie I've seen.

The episode of Twin Peaks where the killer is revealed and the following murder are definitely up there as well, and alot of that is down to the filming technique and the build up of the series to that point. Still get queezy in the run up to that episode.

Eraserhead was fantastic because it was almost cosmic horror, just completely baffling and anything can happen because there seems to be no logical reality that binds the narrative.

Hell even the first "bum guy" scene in Mulholland Drive is pretty terrifying, and i see shit like that on a daily basis

The bum scene perfectly encapsulates a particular kind of fear in dreams at witnessing something unreal, something that shouldn't be there, an invasion of something potentially sinister/supernatural into mundane reality. I've had nightmares like these, in particular themes involving doppelgangers (which Lynch uses to perfect effect in Peaks). The way he muffles the audio as the guy slumps to the ground from the fright, paralyzed with fear...I was astounded when I first saw this scene play out, it was like an exact representation of dreams I used to have as a kid.

Lynch has mainline access to our subconscious fears, he's a true artist at capturing that level of darkness. Another example is the Phillip Jeffries scene from Fire Walk With Me, Coop's back and forth trot between the hallway and security camera monitors, finally spotting his dream from the night prior playing out in front of him, seeing his image frozen on the monitors in real time despite being in the security room...and then the mindfuck montage of the room above the convenience store, the Jumping Man with that mask-face :shudders, it's some of the most utterly spellbinding otherworldly kind of horror out there. As you can see I kinda dig Lynch's style

edit: To add to the Eraserhead love...upon first viewing it mostly terrified and confused the hell out of me. Had to rent it from a video store with a few hundred dollar deposit due to its at the time rarity (this was prior to the DVD release). Upon repeat viewings, years later, its probably the most effective film at putting you in a headspace that feels akin to an altered or elevated state of consciousness and maintaining that feeling throughout its runtime. It's like an unbroken chain of dream logic distilled into its purest form, and no doubt Lynch practically living on set in that "world" off and on for years certainly helped elevate that effect. I go back and forth on this but its his finest film next to Velvet and MD.

 

[More_Badass]

The feeling of uneasiness quickly fades when you realize the mechanics of the game. The original silent hill, amnesia, and SOMA do not sustain the dread and horror past the first enemy encounter.

The dread and horror in SOMA didnt exactly come from the monsters. I wouldnt play the game with them disabled, but they werent what made the story such a good horror game

 

[Chabbles]

Being unsettled, disturbed, uncomfortable and tense sounds like being frightened or scared on some level, but fear is so subjective its impossible to prove horror needs to be "scary".

 

[ryseing]

Stephen King's Revival is maybe a better example since that book was like if Lovecraft could write good characters. The ending there stuck with me for fucking DAYS. Wonderful novel.

I think about Revival's epilogue far more often than I should. Masterwork of storytelling.

 

[Wensih]

The dread and horror in SOMA didnt exactly come from the monsters. I wouldnt play the game with them disabled, but they werent what made the story such a good horror game

I wasn't horrified or dreading the ideas of consciousness that were put forth in SOMA. I thought they were interesting to explore, but I wouldn't say it left me uneasy.

 

[More_Badass]

I wasn't horrified or dreading the ideas of consciousness that were put forth in SOMA. I thought they were interesting to explore, but I wouldn't say it left me uneasy.

Case in point for the previous posts about how horror is subjective. I personally found SOMA to one of the most haunting and unsettling games I've every played

 

[Horse Detective]

I feel like "disturbed" or "In disbelief" are better phrases to describe my personal interest in a horror movie.

Technically a jump scare can "scare" me, but as the great Chris Stuckman puts it, that is because a loud noise happened.

Movies like The Babadook and The Void more so give me this expression where my jaw sort of drops as I try to comprehend what I am looking at. Also, the processing of emotions at the same time. That is the sort of stuff that sticks with me.

 

[Dusk Golem]

Yes but they should leave you feeling uneasy and if you're saying that you played all of those games for the first time without any feeling of uneasiness, you're lying.

Some Disney movies made me uneasy and even scared me when I was a kid? In fact, I bet you could talk about lots of children's cartoons which had scenes that scared kids and some adults a lot when they aired. Does that make Disney films horror movies?

This train of logic is incredibly flawed for a number of reasons. Does a scary scene in a film make the movie a horror movie? Does something with horror tropes that's not scary become not a horror movie? And who's taste of being "scared" are we talking about?

Resident Evil REmake was the only RE game that fully scared me. RE2, RE3, Code Veronica, etc., didn't make me that uneasy. There's a few startle moments, but I wouldn't say I was feeling dread the first time I played these games at all. Or a lot of people are afraid of the Fatal Frame series, but I just think its combat is very fun which detracts the overall horror for me, since ghosts appearing means "point opportunity" for me. and Silent Hill series is like a museum, where I more artistically analyze and enjoy the scenes when I first played the games rather than be scared of them. The appreciation of the effort and execution took too much away for it to fully scare me. I would not change any of these games since I still very much enjoyed them, but different people experience things differently.

Such a gauge is basically trying to make a 100% subjective thing standardized, but that just furthers the gray line of what horror actually is because everyone's scare factor is in completely different places and different people are scared of different things. Horror is a LOT more than just being scared/disturbed/etc. There's a lot about horror media to be enjoyed rather than just being scary.

 

[Bronx-Man]

I don't delve into horror that often, but this is why I love things like P.T. and Get Out. The experience is so much better when you can feel the tension amp up and the sense of dread just keeps getting bigger and bigger. Love horror stories like those.

 

[Extra Sauce]

Correct. Would you also agree that comedy movies don't have to be funny?

Norm MacDonald made a compelling point on some podcast I can't remember by comparing "comedies" with movies containing humor, basically suggesting that the latter tend to be funnier because the funny comes more organically.

 

[Kitsunebaby]

I really love psychological horror, body horror, surreal horror, and erotic horror. I lot of my favorite works in these genres aren't necessarily "scary". More than heart pounding fear, they leave me with a sense of unease, uncertainty, curiosity, and repulsion (and sometimes titillation). I find that so much more satisfying than jump scares and simple gore, though those have their place as well.

 

[nekkid]

Norm MacDonald made a compelling point on some podcast I can't remember by comparing "comedies" with movies containing humor, basically suggesting that the latter tend to be funnier because the funny comes more organically.

I agree with this. The Martian is a good example.

The same applies to me for horrors as well. Movies containing horror, but where the horror is not the point, are far better than movies where the writers' first line in the pitch is "it's a horror".

In fact, horror for the sake of horror is just shit imo.

 

[CaviarMeths]

Correct. Would you also agree that comedy movies don't have to be funny?

Also correct. In fact a comedy is often just a tragedy that doesn't take itself seriously. The stories revolve around unfortunate characters who go through some pretty rough shit, but in the comedies, we're meant to find it amusing. Look at Shakespeare's plays. The only major difference between his comedies and his tragedies is that 90% of the cast doesn't die at the end of his comedies.

Which is why the popularity of the style of comedy movies where you just take a handful of comedians and shove them in the same room together and let them improv is kinda disappointing.

 

[NoblesseOblige]

My favorite horrors are those that are more disturbing than scary. Fear is easy and typically a cheap thrill. There's something much more psychological about being unsettled though.

 

[MrRudiMentary]

Correct. Would you also agree that comedy movies don't have to be funny?

A movie can be funny without making you laugh.

 

[nkarafo]

Horror games/movies should not need to "scare" you with jump scares. Jump scares aren't scary, just startling.

That's pretty much it.

 

[Zombine]

Horror movies don't "scare me" in a traditional sense anymore. I love the genere for what it presents in atmosphere, storytelling, and technical accomplishments. I approach the genre as modern folklore, and I appreciate the stories that they are trying to pass down to a new generation.

I am someone who at this point leaves the film after it ends, but If I can at least feel a sense of dread while watching, and then feel the relief of the survivors or the hopelessness of the ending then it's a damn good horror film.

 

[lvl99 Pixel]

Gaspar Noe's movies were more unsettling than horror genre specific stuff, same goes for David Lynch etc. Ghost stuff, especially Japanese ghost type horror are super trite at this point.

 

[Rien]

Inland Empire, Lost Highway and Eraserhead by Lynch are really great horror films without any gore and general horror stuff.