What Does it Take To Make Horror Scary Again?

Question

Seems most recent (roughly last 10-15 years) horror films aren't as scary anymore.

Plenty of *gore*, yes. Actually *scary*, suspenseful & creepy- Not as much. Gore is easy. Any writer or director can do bloody.

I think a few things need to change:

-Stop using well known faces in them. When we see someone like Halle Berry or J-Lo up there pretending to be frightened, we tend to think- "Hey. it's Halle Berry!" Not someone we might know.

-Get Hollywood out of the picture. I think truly scary horror would be better coming from indie film makers. If it's too big budget, it'll be chockful of bad CGI & larger than life special FX. All boils down to unbelievable.

These are among the reasons why I thought the Blair Witch Project was pretty damn original.

Also, enough zombie flicks. We get it. The only recent ones that had a great, original spin on the old zombie thing was '28 Days' & the sequel. (Remake of Dawn of the dead wasn't bad either)
(running outta room)

Your thoughts?

Vampire movies need to swing the other way now too. Ever since "Interview" (which was AMAZING!), we've been seeing "Vampire as sympathetic character" movies. Vampires need to go back to being the freakin bad guys & SCARY. Not romantic & "goth".

dilitosmom-

Agreed. That was another point I was gonna make. The Exorcist was very sparing w/ music. That's why I like it so much. When will they stop doing the "warning music" thing?? It Totally takes away from the scene & the surprise.

Answer 1

I think if the movies stop being so predictable that would work to. Like OK here's the music he is going to jump out at you. I saw the movie decent and it is the movie that has scared me in a long time.

Answer 2

I totally agree with using unknown actors. When you see someone that's very famous, that kinda takes you out of the whole thing. A well-known actor has to do a DAMN good job for me to believe it.

I fear (haha, pun) that horror films are dead. I haven't seen anything in a looong time that has genuinely frightened me.

You have to take into consideration though, that we are as a society becoming increasingly desensitized. What would've been disturbing 10-15 years ago is now business as usual. As a cause of this, movie makers feel that they have to keep pushing the bloody envelope to provoke a reaction, something that's obviously not working.

A movie doesn't need gore to be horrific. All it needs is some good acting, original visual style (cinematography, lighting), minimal and preferably NO cgi, and a brave director.

Having something based on a true story also helps.

Another thing to note is that if you WANT a movie to scare you, avoid watching it in theaters. If there is one thing I CANNOT STAND, is how people laugh during a scary movie. It's so pathetic that people need to laugh to make themselves feel better because a piece of fiction just scared the s+hit out of them. A piece of advice to all those people out there that laugh out loud during horror movies, keep your dissociative behaivors to yourself and don't ruin the movie for the rest of us.

Answer 3

Oh! How I agree with you! The chosen victims are so predictable and the way they die overdone and the gore(?) is so truly NOT TO BE BELIEVED because there's too much of it! The last movies I saw that truly freaked me were the "Final Destination" ones. They were original because they broke the cookie cutter so many films come from.
For the most part, I think the film makers to leave more to the viewer's imagination than rely on tired formula films.

Answer 4

I think you're right on. I liked Blair Witch, I liked the new Dawn of the Dead... that's about it. NOTHING else... Cube was good, but not scary. I think they're going a little overboard with "creepy" children, gothic makeup, and fast-shaky head movements.

Answer 5

- No CGI for the character/villain design.

- Good solid plot

- Original Idea

- Less killing and more chasing and stalking

- A smarter killer

-I think anything in dark murky waters is terrifying

- Less teenagers

-More of an aim at adult audiences instead of teenage

Answer 6

How about following a better forumla. That would make me happy. How about not making movies like hostel? It was simply just a big porno.

Answer 7

You're soooo right. But we did get 1408, which in my opinion, was a GOOD horror movie.

Answer 8

I think it must be based from a true story.