Why Isn't the "Nothing Is Scarier" Trope Being Used More?

[MintSM]

As Yahtzee once pointed out, there are 3 distinct types of horror: one just has blatantly shove-in-your-face scary jumpscare imagery, another relies more on gore and sharp shock value, but then there's a type that relies on the anticipation of something frightening rather than just the payoff itself. TVtropes refers to this as the 'Nothing Is Scarier' trope, and yeah, I actually find that this can and has been extremely effective not just in games like Silent Hill 2 and Amnesia, but also in other forms of media, mostly movies such as The Shining and Alien.

...so why hasn't this been used more often?

Why is it that modern writers of anything haven't caught onto the idea that blatantly shoving a Halloween-store mask or inside-out face isn't really enough to produce great horror? Why haven't people caught onto that letting the viewer come up with his/her own horrors simply created from anticipation of what they don't see? Considering the success of the titles I've mentioned among others, you'd think that more people would adapt to it as the new standard, but nope; today the media market is still filled with Last Exorcisms, Resident Evils and the like, which is kind of a shame in my eyes.

I'm not going to pretend that this trope is always amazing, just as jump scares and disturbing gore aren't always cheap or stupid; depending on the writer, any trope can be used poorly or perfectly, but I'm feeling kind of bad at the fact that this concept isn't being used more than it was when Silent Hill 2 and Alien originally came out. If you actually agree with me, as I might be alone on this, what's your theory the case with writers?

 

[RJ 17]

The short answer is because it's hard to pull off well, while jump-scares and gruesome messes are easy to get a "frightened" reaction with.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Blair Witch Project did it. It's a pretty divisive movie but I love it. And then a whole slew of imitators came along and did it again, you know that "found footage" thing. I thought Paranormal Activity was OK.

Session 9 is a good movie that pulled some scares with very little as well. Not that it was low-budget but "nothing" technically happens in the movie, or at least not on screen. And it went on to inspire parts of Silent Hill 3, for what it's worth.

 

[Frezzato]

Blair Witch Project did it. It's a pretty divisive movie but I love it. And then a whole slew of imitators came along and did it again, you know that "found footage" thing. I thought Paranormal Activity was OK.

Session 9 is a good movie that pulled some scares with very little as well. Not that it was low-budget but "nothing" technically happens in the movie, or at least not on screen. And it went on to inspire parts of Silent Hill 3, for what it's worth.

I loved Session 9 for the simple fact that a great deal of it takes place during the daytime. It's one of the few movies where I felt a sense of dread even though most of the movie was brightly lit.

.

I personally don't have any problem with horror movie tropes or what-have-you, simply because I want to see more horror movies, and they're really getting better. I don't mind when another Paranormal Activity movie comes out because for every one of them there's three other, lesser known or independent horror movies that also appear. I thought both The Conjuring and Insidious were good. And I also liked Sinister. But not that long ago a movie called Absentia was made on a shoestring budget, mostly funded by Kickstarter, and shot almost entirely with a DSLR, which blew my mind because I thought it was fantastic.

Hell, even Grave Encounters had some good bits in it.

I think I've lost the point of this thread, but I keep finding horror movies or films with horror elements and I keep buying them. It might be one per year, but I'm glad that I bought The Descent, 30 Days of Night, and Stakeland. I even liked The Crazies enough to buy it on Blu-ray after already seeing it. Man, plenty of decent horror out there. Rec, The Thing plus The Thing From Another World, The Ring...I can't watch horror from the 70's though. They really knew how to fuck with the audience back then. Jesus, I don't think I could stand watching Sybil again. Slow camera movements, slow pans and zooms, it gives me the creeps.

 

[Zak757]

It's a lot harder to pull off an intensely unsettling atmosphere than it is to just shove loud things in the players face.

I don't really play any sort of horror games, but STALKER: Call of Pripyat did it pretty well when you got to Pripyat. The silence, the emptiness, the thick fog, the oppressively tall and decaying buildings staring down at you, the knowledge that some hideous mutant could leap at you from behind any moment, it all built toward a pretty uncomfortable experience. Unfortunately, it becomes much less scary when you actually get into combat, since you remember you have dozens of medkits, an armored exoskeleton and a PKM with 200 bullets.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Blair Witch Project did it. It's a pretty divisive movie but I love it. And then a whole slew of imitators came along and did it again, you know that "found footage" thing. I thought Paranormal Activity was OK.

Session 9 is a good movie that pulled some scares with very little as well. Not that it was low-budget but "nothing" technically happens in the movie, or at least not on screen. And it went on to inspire parts of Silent Hill 3, for what it's worth.

I loved Session 9 for the simple fact that a great deal of it takes place during the daytime. It's one of the few movies where I felt a sense of dread even though most of the movie was brightly lit.

.

I personally don't have any problem with horror movie tropes or what-have-you, simply because I want to see more horror movies, and they're really getting better. I don't mind when another Paranormal Activity movie comes out because for every one of them there's three other, lesser known or independent horror movies that also appear. I thought both The Conjuring and Insidious were good. And I also liked Sinister. But not that long ago a movie called Absentia was made on a shoestring budget, mostly funded by Kickstarter, and shot almost entirely with a DSLR, which blew my mind because I thought it was fantastic.

Hell, even Grave Encounters had some good bits in it.

I think I've lost the point of this thread, but I keep finding horror movies or films with horror elements and I keep buying them. It might be one per year, but I'm glad that I bought The Descent, 30 Days of Night, and Stakeland. I even liked The Crazies enough to buy it on Blu-ray after already seeing it. Man, plenty of decent horror out there. Rec, The Thing plus The Thing From Another World, The Ring...I can't watch horror from the 70's though. They really knew how to fuck with the audience back then. Jesus, I don't think I could stand watching Sybil again. Slow camera movements, slow pans and zooms, it gives me the creeps.

If you haven't already, you should check out The Tenant (1976) if you like your 70s horror movies. It's very perturbing. And Rosemary's Baby (1968) for that matter.

The last good horror movie I saw at the theater was The Conjuring. Haven't seen Sinister. And I saw Deliver Us from Evil the other day, which I really hated. I never do this but I actually found myself (discretely) laughing at the movie.

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

I never do this but I actually found myself (discretely) laughing at the movie.

I do that constantly, and like a total asshole when I'm at the movies.

I'm kind of hard to scare, especially when it comes to things that are supposed to be "graphic" like gore. Most of the time I just find it fake and funny (part of this has to do with the fact that I've seen my share of real life gore, which is surprisingly difficult to imitate). My friends love horror movies so we go watch them all the time, but any time I find the movie funny I refuse to refrain myself from laughing just for the effect of a bad movie. I usually end up getting some annoyed or "what the fuck is wrong that that guy" looks thrown my way.

I tend to really appreciate subtle and psychological horror movies because of that, since they're really the only kinds of movies that can actually scare me. Nothing is as scary as what the human mind can conjure in the presence of tension but the absence of action.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

I never do this but I actually found myself (discretely) laughing at the movie.

I do that constantly, and like a total asshole when I'm at the movies.

I really try not to, unless there's a tacit agreement in the air that the movie we're all watching is irredeemably bad. Might as well get a few laughs out of it while we still can.

Here's a test - do you sound anything like Robert De Niro as Max Cady?

 

[cojo965]

Actually, funny you should bring it up. Godzilla 2014 relies on nothing is scarier as the crux of the film. Your mileage may vary on weather it worked but I liked it.

 

[shootthebandit]

I personally dont find horror films scary. If I can see the threat then its either humanised (thus not scary) or supernatural (where its not scary because its not real). If I cant see it then I dismiss it as supernatural and these gore fests (im looking at you saw) are just stupid

I tend to find the concept of films like 'taken' scarier than actual horror movies simply because its something which is actually happening. If youve seen the news this week you'll be aware that this is actually happening in the north of England.

 

[Thaluikhain]

Any group of monkeys with typewriters can throw in jump scares and lots of pointless gore.

Actually making it scary, however, requires more monkeys and more typewriters, or possibly some talent.

 

[bartholen_v1legacy]

Actually, funny you should bring it up. Godzilla 2014 relies on nothing is scarier as the crux of the film. Your mileage may vary on weather it worked but I liked it.

Mind explaining me how? If you're talking about the element of anticipation, then I sorta understand as it was quite dominant in the first half an hour, but at no point did I get the feeling it was supposed to be scary. Plus IMO that movie sucked.

OT: As others have pointed out, it's because it's very hard to pull off. If the horror comes from anticipation, that means you can't have very much happening, but have to build up the atmosphere instead. That can, in turn, make the movie boring and uninteresting if it fails to capture your investment. Rosemary's Baby is one of the most unsettling films I've seen, because there's the constant feel of something going increasingly wrong in the background, but you can't really be sure why. But there's so many ways it could have gone wrong.

 

[Frezzato]

If you haven't already, you should check out The Tenant (1976) if you like your 70s horror movies. It's very perturbing. And Rosemary's Baby (1968) for that matter.

The last good horror movie I saw at the theater was The Conjuring. Haven't seen Sinister. And I saw Deliver Us from Evil the other day, which I really hated. I never do this but I actually found myself (discretely) laughing at the movie.

Thanks for the suggestion! I tend to stay away from late 60's and 70's movies simply because they unnerve me. Really, they're the embodiment of horror for me in a way as I find them very disturbing to watch. I tried watching Don't Look Now (1973) with Donald Sutherland and I simply couldn't get through it. It's a beautiful movie, but just so damn weird. It kind of reminded me of Possession (1981) meaning sometimes I just sat there thinking WTF is going on.

 

[the December King]

Blair Witch Project did it. It's a pretty divisive movie but I love it. And then a whole slew of imitators came along and did it again, you know that "found footage" thing. I thought Paranormal Activity was OK.

Session 9 is a good movie that pulled some scares with very little as well. Not that it was low-budget but "nothing" technically happens in the movie, or at least not on screen. And it went on to inspire parts of Silent Hill 3, for what it's worth.

All three of those movies I thought were gold. I am a sucker for the found-footage genre- if it's on Netflix(Canada), I've seen it... and most of them are balls awful. Making a compelling horror movie where there is no visible threat takes a lot of skill to pull off, but all some people see is a cheap way to make a movie. But I watch them anyways, hoping for lightning to strike again I guess. I also liked The Chernobyl Diaries, but it's not quite the same idea.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Blair Witch Project did it. It's a pretty divisive movie but I love it. And then a whole slew of imitators came along and did it again, you know that "found footage" thing. I thought Paranormal Activity was OK.

Session 9 is a good movie that pulled some scares with very little as well. Not that it was low-budget but "nothing" technically happens in the movie, or at least not on screen. And it went on to inspire parts of Silent Hill 3, for what it's worth.

All three of those movies I thought were gold. I am a sucker for the found-footage genre- if it's on Netflix(Canada), I've seen it... and most of them are balls awful. Making a compelling horror movie where there is no visible threat takes a lot of skill to pull off, but all some people see is a cheap way to make a movie. But I watch them anyways, hoping for lightning to strike again I guess. I also liked The Chernobyl Diaries, but it's not quite the same idea.

You've probably seen it but you should check out the REC movies, you know the Spanish ones that got later remade as "Quarantine". REC the first is incredible. REC 2 is pretty good, I think they screwed up by throwing in a supernatural element though. REC 3 is awful - the idea behind it is essentially a big middle finger to the audience. The camera is destroyed at the end of the first act and the rest of the movie looks like a standard third person horror movie. Except it's also a comedy, kinda? I'm not even kidding. None of it sticks.

There's also always the patron saint of found footage movies, Cannibal Holocaust. It's an Italian 1980 movie that isn't very scary but by god it's gory. There's some story about the director being sent to jail because people thought it was an actual snuff film, don't know if it's true or it was just a stunt.

 

[Azure23]

Blair Witch Project did it. It's a pretty divisive movie but I love it. And then a whole slew of imitators came along and did it again, you know that "found footage" thing. I thought Paranormal Activity was OK.

Session 9 is a good movie that pulled some scares with very little as well. Not that it was low-budget but "nothing" technically happens in the movie, or at least not on screen. And it went on to inspire parts of Silent Hill 3, for what it's worth.

Only scary part of session 9 was that part where the guy was in the underground hallway and sees the lights start going off at the other end, quickly enveloping him in darkness. But to be fair that part was fucking terrifying, if only because I immediately put myself in his place. (I'd run too, then I'd feel like I was running from something, then when the darkness caught up, I don't know what I'd do, which is the scary part.)

 

[The Rogue Wolf]

The problem is that it is very, very easy to do very, very wrong. And even when done well most viewers are eventually going to want to see the monster.

That's not to say it shouldn't be tried, and I'll give two examples where it worked better than might have been expected.

- Doom 3. Specifically, Delta Labs 1. Not only was it an unexpected change of pace from the jumpscare/monster-closet-heavy gameplay up to that point, but it was respectably well-done in its own right. Sadly it was entirely too short.

- The David Lynch film "Rabbits". This is as much due to the typical "WTF is going on" vibe you get from a Lynch film as anything, but despite being set in a single room with three characters wearing rabbit heads reciting dialogue out-of-order, there is a palpable feeling of "something is very wrong here" through the entire thing that doesn't let up for a moment.

 

[the December King]

You've probably seen it but you should check out the REC movies, you know the Spanish ones that got later remade as "Quarantine". REC the first is incredible. REC 2 is pretty good, I think they screwed up by throwing in a supernatural element though. REC 3 is awful - the idea behind it is essentially a big middle finger to the audience. The camera is destroyed at the end of the first act and the rest of the movie looks like a standard third person horror movie. Except it's also a comedy, kinda? I'm not even kidding. None of it sticks.

I totally forgot the REC movies! Even Quarantine wasn't bad, really... but tell me, was the third REC one the one with the wedding in it? Cause yeah, it kinda de-evolved there, and was weaker for it. Might have been better off as a stand alone zombie flick- the 'REC' premise and namesake really being inherent in the title itself, after all.

There's also always the patron saint of found footage movies, Cannibal Holocaust. It's an Italian 1980 movie that isn't very scary but by god it's gory. There's some story about the director being sent to jail because people thought it was an actual snuff film, don't know if it's true or it was just a stunt.

I told myself I'd never watch the film, as important/controversial as it was, simply because of the fact that actual animals were harmed and killed in the making of it, and I just cannot abide that. But I do have to acknowledge it's importance to the genre, and to horror in general.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

The David Lynch film "Rabbits". This is as much due to the typical "WTF is going on" vibe you get from a Lynch film as anything, but despite being set in a single room with three characters wearing rabbit heads reciting dialogue out-of-order, there is a palpable feeling of "something is very wrong here" through the entire thing that doesn't let up for a moment.

Honestly this one of the most disturbing things I've seen on film, horror or non-horror. 40 minutes of non sequiturs and and a very unnerving laugh track. What is it about anthro rabbits? Donnie Darko pulled it off too.

You've probably seen it but you should check out the REC movies, you know the Spanish ones that got later remade as "Quarantine". REC the first is incredible. REC 2 is pretty good, I think they screwed up by throwing in a supernatural element though. REC 3 is awful - the idea behind it is essentially a big middle finger to the audience. The camera is destroyed at the end of the first act and the rest of the movie looks like a standard third person horror movie. Except it's also a comedy, kinda? I'm not even kidding. None of it sticks.

I totally forgot the REC movies! Even Quarantine wasn't bad, really... but tell me, was the third REC one the one with the wedding in it? Cause yeah, it kinda de-evolved there, and was weaker for it. Might have been better off as a stand alone zombie flick- the 'REC' premise and namesake really being inherent in the title itself, after all.

Yep the wedding one. Stand-alone would've made it marginally better. I don't know what the hell possessed the director/s to go with a comedy take on the series. I think I was mostly insulted by the way they promoted the movie as another found footage horror movie but instead 15 minutes into it they jumped genre into cheap comedy ground.

I told myself I'd never watch the film, as important/controversial as it was, simply because of the fact that actual animals were harmed and killed in the making of it, and I just cannot abide that. But I do have to acknowledge it's importance to the genre, and to horror in general.

It's true, a turtle is maimed horribly for no good reason other than exploiting the gore. There's no narrative sense to the scene, they just shoved it in for effect. I already have a hard time stomaching animal abuse in "serious movies with an actual reason for it", like the caribou being sacrificed in Apocalypse Now, so naturally Cannibal Holocaust is practically unwatchable. Not something I'd watch again anyway. Too much morbidity.

 

[briankoontz]

Blair Witch Project did it. It's a pretty divisive movie but I love it. And then a whole slew of imitators came along and did it again, you know that "found footage" thing. I thought Paranormal Activity was OK.

Session 9 is a good movie that pulled some scares with very little as well. Not that it was low-budget but "nothing" technically happens in the movie, or at least not on screen. And it went on to inspire parts of Silent Hill 3, for what it's worth.

The Last Broadcast is a better movie than The Blair Witch Project and inspired it.

Nobody has made a perfect movie of this type yet, although The Shining has come closest. Deconstructing it, what's happening is that a world is created which logically results in something terrible happening - the movie should be 99% about the details of how such a terrible world comes to be and then 1% the terrible necessary results.

These movies should be considered Suspense, not Horror, since ideally they are 99% suspense and 1% horror.

Slasher movies reverse it - most of the movie is the "horror" of killing a lot of silly people while the suspenseful setup is presenting a lot of carefree "immoral" people.

Some parody slasher movies exist, but as far as I know no movie has parodied the "young, carefree, over-sexed" aspect of the typical slasher victim by having a bunch of overweight middle-aged serious people who are researching cancer visiting the cabin targeted by Jason Vorhees. What would Mr. Vorhees do when faced with such a predicament? Maybe he would take a vacation and go to New York City for the summer.