The essence of a Horror film

I think to often horror films often unfairly get lumped into the same level of thinking because so many people think of horror films as basically the same formula and basically the same story line.

I personally believe this is wrong. Halloween is very different to Saw, The Blair Witch Project is very different to Friday the 13th and not many films have achieved for sheer terror factor that Silence of the Lambs achieved.

The thing for me is that each of these films and other films are wonderful and unique in their own way and if you ignore the sometimes bad sequels. I loved that Myres was this unstoppable force. I loved that Kruger could get you when you were most venerable and I loved that in the end the Blair Witch was so scary because she was exactly not what we would believe.

How do you feel on this?

__________________
twitter: @ginock
livejournal film reviews: http://windsoc.livejournal.com/
photos: http://www.instagram.com/christopherwindsor

Psychological Horror >>>>>> any other horror sub-genre.

I was thinking about horrors the other day and came to a pretty strange conclusion...


It was about The Texas Chainsaw Massacre... what makes that film so scary and puts the audience on the edge of their seats isn't simply shock factor or gore or even a weird family of cannibals.


It's sound.


The voices, accents, beats in the dialogue, screaming and the noise of the chainsaw (the chainsaw noise seems to have been altered somehow, maybe in the looping)...

__________________

I's say the differences are even more broad then you make them out to be. Have you ever seen the Japanese grudge vs the American one? What a huge difference there is in what is nothing more but a different version of the same film. Or look at the Korean horror film "Phone" which is, as far as I'm concerned far scarier than most American horrors that I've seen. The story in them can also be super complex and interesting, far more than some major blockbusters even. I agree that horror isn't given enough credit.

I'm a psychological horror guy so Ill say that I think what makes it great.First of all atmosphere and building tension,good story is also big plus,mystery part needs to be good,if you don't know what is happening that is even better,if you are finding clues or something like that then reveling part by part the whole story,acting ofc needs to be good in every genre.I'm not a big fan of jumpscare horror,I find it,not that good or not good at all.

__________________
“By definition, you have to live until you die. Better to make that life as complete and enjoyable an experience as possible, in case death is shite, which I suspect it will be.”

I agree, the usage of sound is fabulous, that eerier scratching noise throughout the film and also the uses of colour, camera angles and just the usage of space.

I haven't seen many of the american re-makes. I have been told that the Re-make of Ring is not bad and I tried to watch the re-make of Dark Water but I just couldn't get through it. I may try to watch more though.

^ dayum, The Tenant is that scary? I remember seeing like half of it ages ago, and it seemed like a drama back then. Will have to see the whole movie one day for sure.

I too shall contribute to this thread with a gif from one of my favorite psychological horrors



If you're a fan of the sub-genre and you haven't seen it yet, then you should see it asap. One of the scariest and most disturbing horrors that I've seen.

I don't recognise this film, which one is it? Based on this GIF I want to

I guess it's Jacob's Ladder, but not sure.

Creepy

yes, it's Jacob's Ladder. How silly of me to not even mention the title.

I haven't seen either of those myself. I've been meaning to, but I keep not doing it.

I found it more exciting than actually scary. Scary for me is psychological horror, as Mr. Minio explained.

The original Texas Chainsaw Massacre is full of distinct, memorable sound. I agree with you. I'm not sure if it's exactly what scares people, but when you mention the sound of that movie, I can hear it all. There's lots of strange drum sounds and other instruments you'll hear throughout the movie. Lots of hissing. Loud motors. The chainsaw. The screaming. The weird gobbledygook that Leatherface mutters. Chickens squawking. Squealing. Random buzz sounds. The camera noises in the very beginning. Engines. You name it.

It has a lot of atmosphere.

To me I always distinguished Horror apart from Thrillers by a simple method (without going into sub genres). If it had monsters or supernatural beings it was a Horror, if the antagoniser was human I classed it a thriller more than a Horror.

Examples of Horror movies - Howling, Dawn of the Dead, Hellraiser, Nightmare on Elm Street ect. Now in saying this I understand that Michael Myers seemed human originally but over the course of the series he was unstoppable and contained the devil.

Examples of Thrillers - Silence of the Lambs, Scream, I know what you did last summer, Saw series, Cabin Fever ect. Now Scream and I know what you did series did have sequels but they antagonist was different with every sequel.

Now with the whole sub genre this is where the lines between Horror and Thriller movies can be crossed. Silence of the Lambs and Saw now become psychological horror movies instead of Thrillers but this is I guess the essence of evolving cinema films.

__________________
Consumers will eat everything except the sequel

The problem with horror is that to some extent it has been dumb downed completely. At least it feels that way. I think that many of the newer films do fall into that infinite loop that gives people the idea of being in the same story line. I agree with most of these people and I do enjoy Psychological/Horror the most, but I appreciate it all.

No one has really tried to do anything different lately and sequels/remakes are ruining horror that once was.

Lets look at Paranormal Activity, not a great film but when it was first released I have to admit I was terrified. I had not seen anything like it since Blair Witch. Then it's sequels came about making the film over saturated while at the same time losing it's appeal.

One thing I am waiting to see is "smart" horror film. It's been done, but none recently.