Why do Current horror movies suck

It also depends on what will you describe as a horror film. A horror film can be a pejorative, E. J. Wood films are all horror films, as much as new teen comedies. Horror is a wide term in my dictionary, I can describe "Jackobs ladder" as a horror film easily, as well as "The virgin spring" for eg. Maybe the real problem is in the lack of ideas, all are mostly used, serial killers with sick criteria, zombies, demons, exorcists, mutants, viruses, aliens, and all other stuff. Small budget is not a problem, we saw great horror films which are done basicly by straw and a stick, and plaster, it`s the screenplay and the directors sense for "scare". Personally I don`t like gore films with 20 liters of blood going around a body with the interior organs on the outside, I find it sick, and also the "jumping form the chare" type of scary, it makes me sick. I like more of an "urban domestic legend" or a true, true story type of horror films, which can be done greatly, "Hour of the wolf" and the great "Exorcist" are excellent example for that. Maybe I can find some clips from "The holy place" a grat horror film made on a poem by Gogol in the morning at post them here.

Nothing wrong with Devils Rejects, Sixth Sense, House Of A Thousand Corpes, Rob Zombies Halloween, Disturbia, Gothika, Saw, Ring, 28 days and Legend. These all either creeped me out or gave me a little scare. They might not all be A plus films. Although I think they were pretty good for what they were. So with that said I don't think modern horror is that bad. I can remember some pretty bad horror films from back in the day.Horror movies have always pretty much been hit and miss. That film with Paris Hilton (can't remember the name. Wax something or other) now that was awful.

Every decade has ****** horror films. The problem is most of the good ones aren't backed by major studios. Check out Pontypool.

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Okay, the original Saw movie was a really good flick. I will admit that it has gone down hill, however, the original idea was amazing. The movies are still standing high with me in the tourcher porn sense, but the idea has evolved to the point of being ridiculous. One of the major problems was that by the second movie the original director and writers weren't really a part of it. But the first one was good.

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I definately would say there are great horror movies being made, but I think at the same time they are far and few between that no one even notices them or cares enough for it to be a huge hit amongst everyone.

True. Plus it doesn't help that they aren't as advertised as Hannah Montana or Micheal Jackson:/

Funny you mentioned 'Paranormal Activity'...I just viewed that earlier this morning...

I was not expecting to be frightened, like I haven't, since watching the 'Excorcist'....although the although comparing any movie now, with the 'fright factor' of the excorcist, is not really fair, seeing as I viewed the excorcist as a kid, for the first time...
I remember I was so frightned by that movie, I couldn't even walk past the screen, as it played on showtime, long ago....
So when I compare being scared as a kid, to being scared as an adult by a movie, I adjust for 'maturity level' the way they do money...when comparing prices of now to say 50 years ago...they adjust for inflation...

So no doubt, had I viewd 'Paranormal Activity' as a kid....the scare factor would of been right up there, pound for pound, with what I felt while viewing the excorcist...

The scariness of this movie really does kinda sneak up on you...
It builds, until your in the film right with that couple...

And then, bam, it has you....and that's what a good horror movie does.

But I think even within the Horror genre, you have different classifications...

1. Horror (umbrella term)
a. scary (The Shining) example
b. creepy (Silence of the lambs)
c. gross (Halloween 2, Rob Zombie)
d. eerie (Amytiville Horror)
e. spooky (The Haunting)

And so on...some movies can claim more than one sub description...

But I would describe 'Paranormal Activity' as
1. Realistic
2. scary
3. mind chilling
4. Horrifying
5. troubling
6. eerie
7. nightmarish

And more...I'll give a complete review of the movie later...but ye, it was definatly effective...if scarying yourself is the objective...than view this movie...alone and in the dark, as I did...

Most of the good ones I discover are totally by accident...since many in the video store don't really watch horror, so their always clueless when you ask for their advice...so it's often a hit and miss...until I chanced upon 'Paranormal Activity' on Friday night...totally by chance...I almost didn't get it...cause on the cover of the DvD case, it kinda had a borderline 'B' movie look to it...

Paranormal Activity goes into my top 10 scariest movies of all time list...
And that's not easy to do...expecially as an adult....
I mean as an adult, you should know better than to get scared...so if a movie can still make you turn away from the screen as an adult, than it's done it's job.

I think, sometimes with the really mainstream horror movies, they concentrate on the action of scaring rather than the art of manipulating the viewer's fear to their own advantage.

Horror films nowadays are formulaic. You go to see a horror movie for jumps and shivers and shocks rather than anything deep.

That's why I'm showing Les Yeux Sans Visage to my French Club

Personally I think CGI has turned producers and directors lazy. There doesn't seem to be any out of the box thinking with horror movies these days. Don't get me started on the PG-13 crap. Horror movies have crapped out. We need to get back to the scared of the dark tactics to give moviegoers and horror fans that mmovie magic.

Wow, people need to look outside of the mainstream and America when it comes to Horror, there are quite a lot of excellent horror films out there.

Get some ideas here:

http://www.movieforums.com/community...ad.php?t=15679

Horror sucks these days because of a dependence on jump scares and a lack of contemporary visionaries in the genre.

That said, I mean that in a totally general sense. There are some good horror pictures coming together domestically as well as abroad.

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Well, I wouldn't say it as broadly as "horror sucks now" but the genre isn't helped by poor writing covered by CGI. Horror needs to focus more on scary ideas, and less on portraying violence.

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You're right. I should've said "a lot of horror suffers from..."

You brought up a point about how many mainstream horror films these days depend on the violence and CGI you mentioned. I think that's a very apt criticism of the genre at this point. Current horror trends seem to shy away from utilizing film language (appropriate camera, editing, sound, etc. techniques for the genre) to invoke fear. It's all about shocking people who've been shocked so much, they're unshockable, haha.

The gore, after a while, will desensitize viewers if that's really the only cool thing about your horror film. I mean that in the sense that it will no longer scare them, they'll just think it's "dope." The same goes for CGI. I mean, directors have to know by now that films that depend on CGI to communicate have a significantly shorter shelf life than films that go with practical effects or minimal computer aid.

After dramatically Changes in technology to maintaining horror movie much easier,but we can't say like that movie is not so horror and start comparing to past one.there are several hollywood movies once we watch we cant sleep alone..PING!!

Much of the past I find pure notalgia. We like to remember what films stapled the begining successes of the horror genre and often it is a result of these now cliche formulas, that everything seems tired now. CGI can't compensate for dialogue and story, we remember how crucial these two elements were for the classic pioneers.

I think some of the more original stuff of today has almost no choice outside of shocking the living hell out of its viewers or atleast offending their sensablities. This trend extends far outside of this genre, though for some reason many critics can only toot their 'conscientious' horn for horror, many dramas are becoming fascinated with morbidity.

Most original horror these days is foreign, not suprising... Martyr, Inside, Them, Dog Soldiers, Eden Lake, The Audition, The Host, The Tale of Two Sisters, Wolf Creek, Rogue, 28-Days Later, Rec, Let The Right One In.

The problem with modern movies is that CGI removes the audience from the subject at hand... the very notion of having computer imagery completely obliterates the connection to what Horror is all about... fear.

Fear is a mental thing rather than a physical thing or something that you can see right in front of you (unless you're 4 years old and frightened of shadows under the bed).

It's a bit like the olde creature features like The Mummy or Frankenstien... showing the creature at the very start of the movie completely destroys any fear that the audience should be feeling about that creature.
The only movies of late that have used bumps in the night are Paranormal Activity (albeit it is a cr*p franchise imho) and Shyamalan's Signs...

... Signs is a prime example of what I'm trying to get at too. It's one of the very few movies that made me jump and actually feel on edge during the build up as it was all in my mind and the few glimpses of the creatures were actual props and real things that the camera was showing glimpses of... as soon as the CG creature appeared, it destroyed the ending and all of the fear that had built up.
If they'd kept the camera at an angle so as the monster was only partially exposed to the viewer, and had an actual real thing instead of using CGI, it would have been a hell of a lot better.

Another movie, ok not Horror, but another movie that is a prime example of CGI destroying the film is 2012... it's a perfect example of how CGI removes the viewer from what they're seeing.

Less is more when it comes to Horror... and using the easy option of CGI will always put a dampener on the genre that the film is trying desperately to portray.
Fear all comes from within the viewer's mind, if the audience is bombarded with images of computer fakery, of any kind, they ain't gonna get scared. Simple.

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Did you ever see/do you remember Ghostwatch? Paranormal Activity 20 years before it was made. It also had the Blair Witch effect, in that a lot of people actually believed it was real.

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Yeah I remember that. With BBC presenter Sarah Green... was a load of rubbish from what I can remember.