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Horror movies/games/etc. don't have to be "scary"
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KonradLaw
Member
I think you loose a lot of uniqueness of horror if you can't create fear of some sort. This is what makes it unique among story types, it and porn are the only two genres designed to evoke specific physiological reaction.
Now, it's not enough to just be scary, but I do think every horror could be improved by adding scarriness to it. It doesn't need to be jump scares. Unsetteling, tension, dread all work well. It's pretty nicely shown in literaly form where jump scares are impossible, but great novels can still give you nightmares
Now, it's not enough to just be scary, but I do think every horror could be improved by adding scarriness to it. It doesn't need to be jump scares. Unsetteling, tension, dread all work well. It's pretty nicely shown in literaly form where jump scares are impossible, but great novels can still give you nightmares
Kindred spirits! http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1113316&highlight=
It's like getting off a roller coaster and saying "It was fun, but I didn't think I was going to die."
I try and ignore it now. First way to tell if someone just isn't a fan of the genre.
It's like getting off a roller coaster and saying "It was fun, but I didn't think I was going to die."
I try and ignore it now. First way to tell if someone just isn't a fan of the genre.
Yup. I feel like movies like Kids, Happiness, Get Out, Irreversible, Enter the Void, Serbian Film, Martyrs, Funny Games, Amore, etc are the horror movies of today and allegorical stuff like vampires, zombies, etc is a relic of another time. Those movies might still creep you out or spook you, but horror for the millennial generation is grounded in reality/real life horrors.
Tell me more
Berserking Guts
Member
Noroi is another movie that's able to sustain dread throughout. That movie was less about jump scares and body horror and more about making you feel uneasy.
It Follows had an amazing first half. But kinda falls flat near the end.
It Follows had an amazing first half. But kinda falls flat near the end.
Can't post hentai.
I understand the OP and the feeling that jump scares aren't required, and that scary can mean different things, but I think part of the reason games have to rely on a combo of body horror/gore and jump scares more often is that a film is not interactive, so it's easier to sustain a sense of dread when everyone who experiences it does so passively.
You can't make Rosemary walk into her neighbour's door over and over again because she doesn't have the key in Rosemary's Baby. You simply watch helpless as she's dropped into a living nightmare.
In many horror games however, you can do all kinds of atmosphere-breaking goofiness if you want that will limit a players sense of dread because the player has a degree of control and agency over the events (to a greater degree than a film or novel). At the very least keeping an atmosphere of dread for 20 hours uninterrupted is going to take a hell of a lot of doing and most games aren't structured around that without limiting the player in some way (ie Amnesia having no weapons) or making the game world restrictive in unnatural ways (ie a locked door can only be be opened by finding a key, instead of breaking the window next to it to get in/out or breaking the door itself) in order to do so.
Sound design is essential for good horror games, imo, games like Gone Home (inadvertently given its subject matter), Beyond the Sleep, and Alien Isolation use this really effectively.
You can't make Rosemary walk into her neighbour's door over and over again because she doesn't have the key in Rosemary's Baby. You simply watch helpless as she's dropped into a living nightmare.
In many horror games however, you can do all kinds of atmosphere-breaking goofiness if you want that will limit a players sense of dread because the player has a degree of control and agency over the events (to a greater degree than a film or novel). At the very least keeping an atmosphere of dread for 20 hours uninterrupted is going to take a hell of a lot of doing and most games aren't structured around that without limiting the player in some way (ie Amnesia having no weapons) or making the game world restrictive in unnatural ways (ie a locked door can only be be opened by finding a key, instead of breaking the window next to it to get in/out or breaking the door itself) in order to do so.
Sound design is essential for good horror games, imo, games like Gone Home (inadvertently given its subject matter), Beyond the Sleep, and Alien Isolation use this really effectively.
CadetMahoney
Member
Thank you. Made a post about this in the VVitch thread and it really bugs me. "It wasn't scary"
Always feels like such a childish critique.
There used to be a difference in fiction between "terror" (stuff that scares you) and "horror" (stuff that deals with dark or creepy subject matter) and I know It's gone for good, but boy is it handy.
In other news so can't play scary videogames. Too spooky. I hate it.
Always feels like such a childish critique.
There used to be a difference in fiction between "terror" (stuff that scares you) and "horror" (stuff that deals with dark or creepy subject matter) and I know It's gone for good, but boy is it handy.
In other news so can't play scary videogames. Too spooky. I hate it.
DontBeThatGuy
Member
Horror is a film genre I've probably spent the most amount of time with, but none of that shit actually 'scares" me. I don't expect it to.
I find video games more effective in that regard.
I find video games more effective in that regard.
Videogames that have immersive, realistic-looking, believable environments like RE7, PT, Gone Home (even if it looks stylized, the house feels lived in and the feeling that you're looking through someone's place of residence is palatable) in particular can be really effective. When you're playing a horror game and you almost don't even think about the environment being graphics, but just a legit place that you're exploring/trapped in/ etc, it can be pretty unnerving lol. Would be interesting to see if a horror movie filmed in FPV that is watchable in VR would have a similar effect.
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