What frightens you in Horror films?

toadking07

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I think too many horror films try to make their monsters cool scary AND cool, and you really can't do that. Monsters/demons/aliens have to be seriously messed up if you want people to fear them. If they look cool, then it gets in the way of the scariness and people want to be the creature, or see it mess someone else up.
 

ninjajoeman

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Spineyguy said:
In a good horror movie, silence is the most powerful tool of all.

I'm not scared by the monsters themselves, or the dark, or anything gory. But silence and suspense are intolerable.
its funny you can have a movie scare the shit out of you with no gore or violence in the whole thing and do it really well. It's like the possibility they still could die is still there, the fact that monsters are ACTUALLY visable makes no difference.
 

Random Argument Man

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I loved Session 9 for many reason. The atmosphere, the setting, the sensation of "What The Fuck is going on?".

The two things that horror needs is "Suspense" and "creepy" mixed together for one great experience.
 

Ocelano

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Icecoldcynic said:
Anything psychological, or horror without form. The second the 'monster' becomes real/tangible, it just ceases to scare me. I get more freaked out by the ghostly/supernatural aspects.
Dang straight the moment it gets form you lop is head off job done in the case of 9/10 monsters the other 1/10 generally dont have heads but then you just burn down a building with them in it.

Personally what freaks me out most from horror movies can be summed up in one word SEQUEL. The moment you start remaking monster movies you move closer and closer to just making stupidities just look at the later child play's, Jason X and freddy V Jason here is no way you can take those seriously
 

Frybird

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Anything that scares me about Horror can be summed up into my two most Favorite Horror Movies of all times, The Fly (Remake) and Alien 1

Darkness and what lurks in it:
It's something primal: In the Darkness, you can't see what is around you, and where the monster is that want's to kill you. In most Horror Movies, they don't nail that effect, but when they do, they are all the more effective.

Body Horror:
Prominent Theme in the Fly, and cranked to maximum shock value in Alien: Something bad happened to you, and it will totally fuck you up from within your body.
Yet very different in the Movies themselves: In Alien, relatively straightforward. Guy gets raped by an Alien and is killed by having a parasite bursting out of its body.
In the Fly, there is more foreboding: When Jeff Goldblum gets accidentially transformed, he slowly learns that something is not right with him, until the realisation what happened, when he suddenly knows EXACTLY what WILL happen to him, and that isn't pretty.
And thats even scarier from the perspective of Goldblums Girlfriend/Fiancee, who is even more aware of the changes, and never knows what waits for her the next time she comes home.

Hopelessness:
Once again, very different in both movies. In the Fly, it has something to do with the foreboding. Goldblum will eventually turn into a monster and the protagonists know that there is nothing they can do about it, and just have to see what happens in the end.
In Alien, it's not the characters but the setting that conveys hopelessness: A monster is stuck in there claustrophobic living space. They can't run away, they can't call for help, and they know that they cannot evade death forever and will eventually have to face it.


These are the three scariest things in me in Horror, however, there is another thing not featured in the above films, but in other favorites of mine like [REC] and Ju-On.

Familiarity:
Or, better said, that something horrific lurks in a place that is very very real and wich we see in our daily lives.
When it comes to Space Monsters or weird science, there is still a sort of abstraction involved. Because we are not on a space ship, the movie is completely fictional and so is the threat in them.
It is of course the same with [REC] and Ju-On, but since it is put in a setting that is, even if it may be a bit different or exotic, very real in the way that the horrific events in this movie happen in the basements, floors and living rooms of normal people. And that inevitably gets in your head, and while you rationalize that there are no ghosts under your bed and no zombies in your attic, you may very well doubt that logic for seconds or minutes, and suddenly you don't feel safe anymore where you should be.
And that is the greatest scary magic a horror movie can pull of: Stick in your head after it is over, even if you don't want it to be.
 

Palachrist

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The thing that freaks me out is when the would show the strange being, wether it be a monster or ghost, whatever. When they show it, only they try to make it subtle. Like when they show a small reflection of it in the mirror, or you see it peeking its head out a tiny bit. That crap of the thing passing the screen doesnt make me scared at all, they give away that "Something" is comming. Its not subtle if it goes by the screen its saying "Hey! Look something is about to happen, Idk if someone is goin to die or it just be someone to make it a lil supsenseful" I believe if they show you little parts of it hiding it makes it freaky.
 

xHipaboo420x

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Icecoldcynic said:
Anything psychological, or horror without form. The second the 'monster' becomes real/tangible, it just ceases to scare me. I get more freaked out by the ghostly/supernatural aspects.
I sense that you're going to get quoted a lot in this thread, but this is the right idea. Few films have made the actual manifestation of the horror still scare me (Ju-On comes to mind) - the rest stick to the shadows and linger long after the film has ended.
 

SextusMaximus

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May 20, 2009
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I haven't watched many horror films and therefore I have a lack of knowledge about them. Hannibal Lector's brilliance as a character made me laugh and the brain scene was probably the first time I felt uncomfortable. That's just a thriller (But GOD Silence was a MILLION times better than Hannibal).

Other than that? Tension. But as I said, I don't watch enough horror films.
 

PedroSteckecilo

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Feb 7, 2008
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A couple of things...

Sublime-Psychological Horror rather than Shock Horror, I like to feel the terror creeping up on me in the back of my mind, hopefully it won't really sink in until an hour after the movie has ended.

Likable Characters that I can be afraid for, this is a big one, I have to want some the characters to live otherwise it isn't scary. Watching people I want to die get killed off isn't scary.

Disturbing Imagery, Hell-Raiser/Silent Hill type stuff. This is one of the only things I feel the Saw series does right, man those deathtraps are freaky looking.

Supernatural Horror or a really good, non-supernatural focus (that isn't a twist). I love "otherworldly" horror that is legitimately supernatural, but I also love "real-world" horror ala the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre, I just hate the scooby doo approach (it was never a ghost, just Old Man Barnaby!)
 

EnigmaHarper

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Jul 22, 2009
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Horror movies don't really scare me anymore, but I have been quite disturbed by some movies. Namely the movies were the bad guy is some form of hill-billy, like the Texas Chainsaw Massacre movies. I recently watch TCM: the Beginning and I had to avert my eyes at moments because I just couldn't fathom what would make a person do that. Who honestly says, "hey I like your face... I'm gonna use it as my own."? That's just not right.

Also, any injury to the eye or Achielles tendon bothers me. But I don't really know why.
 

Aesir23

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Atmosphere. Dark corridors with eerie or no background music just really freaks me out.

But I swear Aliens scared me to near death. Freaky as all hell.
 

Chris^^

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psychology/believability over blood and guts

the trailer to The Ring really scared me when I first saw it, so much so I took my tv out of my room at night for weeks haha

Signs also freaks the fuck out of me..


Also silence, really tense, as soon as the music stops its brown trousers time for me
 

Chris^^

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EnigmaHarper said:
Also, any injury to the eye or Achielles tendon bothers me. But I don't really know why.
same! not frightening, but deeply unsettling...
 

WolfThomas

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Dec 21, 2007
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I'm only frightened in horror (or more regularly zombie) films if the main group of people die without making any decisions/mistakes I feel I wouldn't make. Take for example the movie Quarantine, the 3 surviving characters at two different points and times had a safe place to hold up in (the lift and the Russian's apartment) and wait for help, but they kept trying to escape. So that film didn't frighten me.

Dead Set a zombie miniseries set in Britain scared me because...

Everyone got killed because of the stupidity of some of the housemates, a nihilistic loser who realised everyone hated him and a greedy bastard too desperate about saving himself

It's the sort of situation where if stuck in that scenario killing the latter two would seem inconceivable and unnecessary, as I don't know how much of a threat they are to our safety till it's too late.
 

SkullCap

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Atmosphere, suspense, excellent writing, and delivery are major components of a good horror film.

Example: Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho

Excessive gore, tits (used in poor way), cheap shock, unlikable protaganists, and terrible writing are major components for 98% of today's "horror" films.

Example: Eli Roth's Cabin Fever (God-awful piece of trash)
 

YouCallMeNighthawk

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To be quite honest nothing that happens in the film scares but ... however sudden loud noises during the film scare the shit out of me!!