If it's crap... We'll tell you

Why do so many horror movies suck?

Im a big scary movie buff...

unfortunately these days that means being suckered into watching the next "edge of your seat" thriller just to end up stuck with paying to watch "the hills have eyes", highwaymen", "turistas", "the village", and all other sorts of unmitigated crap.

Then when they do seem to get it right, "the ring", "saw", they have to go and mess it up with crappy sequels.

I guess my question is why is it so hard these days for horror movies to get it right? is it that we have been desensitized and are no longer so easy to impress? is it that directors are lazy and ever more dependant on cgi? what is your take on it? and while your at it, what are your recomendations on good recent scary movies? i dont know, year 2000+

▶ Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Nightmare on January 27, 2008 at 10:09pm: I saw one of the ones from 7 films to die for (can't remember the name) but it was quite good.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by keyser soze on January 27, 2008 at 10:13pm: what was it about?; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Nightmare on January 27, 2008 at 10:16pm: A woman goes back to Russia to discover her past, and basicly her past (in the form of supernatural forces) wants her back. It's filmed in a really cool kind of washed out way that makes everything seem surreal, and the director is really good at building tension. I think it was called the return but I'm not sure.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Nightmare on January 27, 2008 at 10:17pm: When you boil it down it's a ghost story.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Bessie on February 1, 2008 at 1:15am: I saw this, I loved the hell outta it.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by The Eyeball Kid on January 28, 2008 at 3:18am: Yeah, I would hardly say that Saw or The Ring got it right. Unless getting it right entails comit-inducing camp or shitting on a far superior foreign film.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by The Eyeball Kid on January 28, 2008 at 3:25am: For good recent horrors, I'd recommend The Descent, Three Extremes, and 28 Weeks Later.

If you're in the mood for a scare but not necessarily for gore, then I'd recommend The Orphanage (which actually does have one incredibly gory scene, just don't expect a constant bloodbath) or 1408.

Also, it's not actually that scary persay, but Oldboy is an incredibly gory and incredibly awesome revenge film and definitely one of my favorite movies.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Mike on December 30, 2008 at 1:38pm: i thought three extremes was pretty retarded. the first movie was just a gross out thing about eating abortion. the second was a saw rip off. and after those 2 i was like fuck this not watching number 3.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Domeister on January 28, 2008 at 3:27pm: Here is what I think makes for a good horror movie, and let me know if you disagree. The problem filmmakers have is that they don't look outside the box on new concepts in the horror genre. The films that have worked lately are the ones that put a fresh spin on the old genre. The remake of Dawn of the Dead is an example. It introduced us to fast moving zombies. Although 28 Days Later was first to show that idea, Dawn of the Dead put a fresh take with menacing "run fast or they'll get you" zombies.

Cloverfield, in which I do consider it as a horror movie, took the giant monster film in a totally new perspective, having it seen from a first person view from onlooker viewing the devastating destruction. The Blair Witch Project also worked in the same way but it used the mystery of those kids trying to debunk an old myth, and then getting caught in it.

Horror movies can again scare the shit out of you, but only if Hollywood would quit re-hashing some of the same ol' crap that they get from j-horror movies and start thinking of fresh takes on old genres. Just my two cents.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by EdMuzick on January 31, 2008 at 8:58pm: I agree. The best horror films always have a slightly different take. It's when we tread over the same ground again and again that the whole thing loses its punch. Also, the Hollywood need to "earn" the R rating sometimes just gets you a splatter movie which isn't really scary at all. Don't get me wrong, a little splatter can go a long way to a really scary film (Hello chest-bursting Alien!), but often it's what you don't see that's makes your imagination run away. Twenty-five years ago it was Spielberg and Jaws; this year it's JJ Abrams and Cloverfield.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Domeister on January 31, 2008 at 10:46pm: I can't agree with you more.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Jon, Chicago's Mindfreak on January 31, 2008 at 11:31pm: Personally, I believe that Hollywood has forgotten what is truly scary. Famed horror writer HP Lovecraft once stated, "The oldest and most powerful human emotion is fear, and the most powerful fear is the fear of the unknown." Horror movies are much scarier when the audience doesnt know what is after the main characters.

For example, the first predator movie was so scary because for 3/4ths of the movie you had no idea what the hell was going after Arnold and the others (and I'm sure Predator would agree with me). Same thing with Poltergiest if I'm not mistaken (been a while since I've seen it) you never "saw" what was harming the family until the end (the giant skull thing).

1408 on the other hand is scary for a completely different reason. That's scary because the "Monster" is not something tangible and therefore cannot neccesarily be hurt.

Any movie, book, video game or anything that completely screws with someones mind is always good. A perfect example is the Gamecube classic Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem where the game would constantly trick you into thinking the game had froze or the game was over or that your gamecube shut off. It made you wonder if it was the game or you that was going crazy.

Well, thats my thoughts on what is truly scary. But hey, what do I know?; ▶ Reply to This