Thoughts on Horror Movies

[Scalenex]

On a whim (and because I had a free movie ticket and the short story contest put horror on my brain) I went to see Crimson Peak. I liked it.

I thought about horror movies I like, horror movies that were okay, which ones I didn't like and which ones I detested. I realized something. All my favorite horror movies are set in a creepy Victorian style house with ghosts that the protagonist(s) have to discover the origins of before they can defeat. The Others, Coraline, and Crimson Peak.

In any event I believe that there are three, maybe four basic horror movie archetypes.


The first is the classic slasher movies. There is a HUGE gap between good and bad slasher flicks. In fact they are not all gruesome with slasher. Despites being kid-friendly, I would call Small Soldiers a Slasher Movie. Basically the formula is you have a monster or psychopath attack victims. Usually they draw up a body count but in softer rated movies you can have narrow escapes and minor injuries. The gist is you have lots of chase scenes and running and hiding. At the end of the movie, the victim-hero fights off the attacker or leads his/her friends against the attacker. The victim-hero here is usually an adult woman and adolescent boy. They usually win. Terminator 1, the Leprechaun series, Scream series, Small Soldiers and a gazillion others follow this formula.


The second type is what I call an Escape movie. A Slasher movie puts a monster in the protagonists homes. In an escape movie the protagonists are the luckless invaders in the monster's home. While there may be a main villain or monster, the entire setting is out to get the characters. The protagonists are stuck on a mad scientist's island, a broken space ship infested with an alien virus, a portal to a dimensions, a country estate run by a well-organized cult, The protagonists could even be in their own home if the monsters quickly (and relatively quietly) take over. Usually best for small rural communities. If it's a major attack on a major metropolitan area, it's not an Escape movie. Jurassic Park is a good example. Not only did the protagonists have to deal with things trying to eat them and stampedes they also had to face severe weather and technology turning off and on at the worst possible times. Other good examples (by good I mean pure to the forumula, not necessarily good) include Event Horizon, Planet of the Apes (the first good one and the subpar Tim Burton remake), The Island of Dr. Moreau, The Stepford Wives (a good example of why horror and comedy doesn't mix), and The Purge. My beloved Victorian haunted house movies tend to


The third type is what I call a Torture movie (actually I call them something else, and it would bend the forum's decorum to type the term down).

On the surface they can follow the basic plot structure of an Escape or Slasher movie. The protagonists are often either trying to escape somewhere or evade a pursuer. Here's the catch. In a Torture movie, the victim heroes rarely escape or triumph. If the protagonists win, it's often a phyrric victory where the monsters and protagonists alike die together. While it's common for the villain in any horror movie to come back somehow, it's near universal here. I can't tell you where a Slasher or Escape movie ends and a Torture movie begins but I know it when I see it. The focus of the movie is not on the fear and struggle, it's on the pain and violation. The sad part is I have never liked one of these movies but if I start watching one I feel compelled to finish watching it. Now if I decide to sit down to watch a horror movie I have to read reviews of it to check to see I'm not watching a Torture movie. The Saw series, Hills Have Eyes series, Wrong Turn series. Centipede is probably the worst offender. I didn't watch more than a one minute clip but I read the synopsis which makes my stomach churn.


The fourth type of horror movie is arguably not a horror movie, the Invasion Movie. Basically you are dealing with a large monster like Godzilla or King Kong or one of the B-Movies from the 50s, 60s, and 70s (I like Attack of the Giant Ants). Modern movies of this ilk don't always turn out great. I thought Pacific Rim was good if you approach it with you inner nine-year old. If you don't have giant monsters, you might have an alien invasion or zombie horde. I think they are action movies first and horror movies second. While not an invasion per se, Pirates of the Caribbean has scary undead in it but it's outweighed by choreographed action, a romantic subplot, and comic interludes.


Any event, what do you guys like or dislike in horror movies?

 

[spawning of Bob]

Horror ain't my genre, and I would go a long way to avoid something in the torture genre like Saw. That said, graphic violence is totally fine. Robocop (the original) and Starship troopers spring to mind as examples where the tomato sauce was just gravy (?) to a good scifi plot.

Horror categories include: teen slasher (which I wouldn't watch), torture (which I wouldn't watch) and everything else (which I generally wouldn't watch). John Carpenter's the THING is what Scalenex would call an escape movie, but I call that a haunted house (it is in here with us / we can't get out)

I do watch things like the Underworld franchise, Resident Evil and Priest where it is the original setting and story that are the point, not the supernatural or gore.

Of movies I wouldn't have watched but got cornered into, The Descent (chicks in a cave) was excellent at driving the claustrophobia, panic and I can't-quite-see-what-just-ate-suzie. It is a very tense movie. But then, I didn't find the monsters to be scarier than Lord of the Rings Orcs.

My all time "it was perfect but heck it terrified me movie" was Dead Calm (Nicole Kidman, Sam Neill). The events were all completely plausible. That is the kind of thing that freaks me out. Give me escapism any day.

 

[Crowsfoot]

Not for me but something like Silence of the lambs is what I would call a good psychological horror and I like stuff like that.

 

[Bowser]

It's an interesting topic. Horror is a hard genre(s) to master, with so few mastering it, the majority becomes comedy, or self parody.

I think if you're going to have a killer, human or supernatural most of it should focus on victims/investigation to keep the shroud of mystery around the killer. Normally with a visual medium the go to is show don't tell. But in this case you want to let the audience's imagination to take over.

Classic Monsters are quite a bit harder, because we have quantified them over the decades, learned every aspect and come up with new lores and powers to keep them relevant. Even having them sympathetic to put a new twist. (I don't want to be a werewolf/vampire/fish monster, or I am the heroic 50 ft tall ape.) Has been done to death. Stoppable or unstoppable, these types can make for a thrilling climax, or an intriguing personal journey, but don't horrify audiences the way they once did.

Virus/horde/zombies are done quite a bit more and prey on our ideas of individuality. The audience fears becoming just another statistic. The audience identifies with the survivors because they assume that they would survive in essence their individuality would survive. Zombies have of course been done a lot in recent years, and has higher likelihood of criticism. Done right a zombie or virus story can be heartbreaking and devastating. That's when they are most effective.

Paranormal stories are harder to pull off in fantasy than any other. When your protagonist or antagonist has telekinetic abilities, it's hard to make that seem deadly when my undead frog is using his mind to control a lazy boy made of stone. That being said mixing Paranormal with psychological thriller can take a movie to the next level of brilliance . ("Jacob's Ladder" is a prime example) A protagonist with telekinetic or psychic abilities trying to use them responsibly and getting pushed to the point of using them defensively or maliciously can be a powerful piece. (See "Carrie") Ghosts/spirits/wights are a common enemy, so once again you need to establish a connection with your protagonist and have the haunting be extremely antagonistic, and have your atmosphere set. Subtlety is important. Small movement or occurrences, mixed with a frightening atmosphere will do more for the movie than a jump scare ever will, and will enhance the jump scare should you use it.

Psychological/Thriller this when done effectively, can be applied to both protagonst(s) and antagonist(s). And the two can be one in the same "Spec Ops: the line" is a good example . The protagonist can be terrorized by something or someone to the breaking point, the antagonist could be a traumatized timid person, who changes suddenly to a traumatic nightmare of a person. Like "Psycho" Norman Bates. Or when pushed to the breaking point the protagonist seeks to terrorize the antagonist, becoming an antagonist in his own right.

Gore/Torture (think "saw" or "hostel") this genre of movies is tough to keep an audience, and with good reason. It is at it's base an exploitation film, that doesn't mean it can't be entertaining or deep, but usually just relies on the shock value to induce a cringe from the audience. The reaction of the audience gets people talking. Negative reactions are usually the only selling point of this type of horror, and often contain no substance or likeable characters. The prime purpose of this movie/story is to get reactions, which in turn entices more people to watch it, which gets more reactions. Kind of like the maze game or two girls one cup. The thing itself wasn't entertainment, but the facial expressions of the audience was.

 

[NIGHTBRINGER]

Not for me but something like Silence of the lambs is what I would call a good psychological horror and I like stuff like that.

+1

 

[Hyperborean]

I heard someone say Horror Movies.

Horror is very much a favorite of mine, my mom had me watch Alien and Se7en when I was 11 because she thought it was funny annnnd it went down hill from there.

I usually separate horror into: Slasher, Paranormal, Monster, and Thriller

I put Torture Porn under Slasher primarily, its just of on the extreme end of things. Obviously horror movies are such a large mix between all sorts of the genre that its hard to really peg them down. Slasher out of all of them seems to be the one that really sticks into the consciousness of people as a whole. Like when someone refers to a horror movie formula they usually are referring to some form of slasher.

And then everything gets muddled past that point it seems. I have people argue Alien is not horror but pure scifi, some people classify all monster movies as sci-fi, its just a huge mess.

 

[spawning of Bob]

As messed up as this ?

 

[Hyperborean]

Thank you @spawning of Bob for such a timely artistic response.

But so glad you liked Crimson Peak! It got a lot of flack since a lot of people did not feel it warranted be advertised as a horror movie but IMHO it was a perfect ghost story. With fabulous visuals to boot!

 

[spawning of Bob]

The Archive of Bob grows dusty.

 

[Crowsfoot]

I heard someone say Horror Movies.

I put Torture Porn under Slasher primarily,

I'm worried, seriously worried

 

[spawning of Bob]

Hyperborean scary?

'

Do not scream yourself hoarse.

 

[Hyperborean]

I so rarely just see the word torture on its own in regards to horror movies that I usually just go ahead and and call it torture porn without even thinking. The first SAW though was legitimately a good movie that I know some people who aren't into horror have watched and enjoyed. But that is possibly due to the fact that the first was not too big on over the top kills like other movies of the type are and some people have even classified it more like a thriller.

 

[Bowser]

I so rarely just see the word torture on its own in regards to horror movies that I usually just go ahead and and call it torture porn without even thinking. The first SAW though was legitimately a good movie that I know some people who aren't into horror have watched and enjoyed. But that is possibly due to the fact that the first was not too big on over the top kills like other movies of the type are and some people have even classified it more like a thriller.

I agree, the first saw was definitely more of a psychological thriller and not a "torture porn" the rest of the series started going over the top, but the first one was a well done thriller!

 

[Bowser]

Hyperborean scary?

'

Do not scream yourself hoarse.

I debated long and hard about liking this one. The comic is of course brilliant, but that hoarse pun, that's the true horror!

 

[Hyperborean]

I agree, the first saw was definitely more of a psychological thriller and not a "torture porn" the rest of the series started going over the top, but the first one was a well done thriller!

A lot of horror movies really benefit from having some thriller elements placed in them. Its like with some Japanese and Asian horror movies, as well as the few fabulous spanish ones I have seen, a lil suspense and leaving certain scenes up to the imagination can really pack a good punch. Like in [REC] (known as Quarantine here in the US, Quarantine was the remake) we have a scene when a man's brain is being cut into, in [REC] we only hear the saw, and only see part of the man and some bleh but not a full on shot like the Quarantine remake which really loses the power of the scare with all the gore, at that point its a gross out.

Not to say gore is a bad thing but there are a myriad of other ways to make your audience uncomfortable and freaked out. I like to point to Hellraiser for that. Its not over the top gory in the first but I know many people who are made uncomfortable by its themes alone. (and also a fabulous representative of a Supernatural movie)

 

[borkbork]

I dont watch horror movies....saw one when i was way to young, and basically never did again. My parents had friends living down the street, who had sons roughly 10 years older than me. The sons were one day watching a horror movie (friday 13th) with the ligths out and curtains closed, when i just walked in like i always did. They never noticed me until their mom came home from grocery shopping. Was like 7-ish at that time, and although claiming not to have been scared, it gave me trouble sleeping for a while.

Since then I only watch maybe one or two of them and I could totally not appreciate them at all. One even made me nauseous and made me give up and leave the theater after 15 minutes....actually before any of the scary stuff happened.

The funny thing is that in real life i am not easily scared at all.

 

[spawning of Bob]

True story. Black Sheep (comedy horror zombie sheep movie set in NZ, yes, sheep shagging was a feature. Make up effects by Weta Workshop so the horror looked horrifying enough. I thought it was even funnier than "Shaun of the Dead")

I was watching it at Brother of Wife of Bob's place, and he had to keep walking out of the room and halfway down the stairs whenever it even smelled like there was a set up for a jump scare. It being a comedy horror, there were so many false alarms that I swear he would have doubled his quads strength.

Watch it.

Except for you, Bork Bork. It would scare the flock out of you.

 

[borkbork]

dont worry....i wont

 

[Hyperborean]

Black Sheep is a treasure of a movie that I am proud to own and I recommend it to any one. but hyenas those jumpscare set ups are guaranteed to make me slightly stressed so when one happens at a time I don't expect I utterly lose it.

The movie As Above So Below was like that stress galore and I jumped for my seat more than once. But no glorious were sheep. Dang now I gotta rematch Black Sheep


Also added the face of unrelenting terror

 

[spawning of Bob]

Your rein of evil is the stuff of night mare.

I think I loaned my Black Sheep to someone and they fleeced me

The pickup truck / chainsaw scene is one of my all time favourites.