Horror Films: The Good, the Bad & Why it Works as a Genre (or doesn't)

Nearly every one of us has a story from our youth: our first scary flick, or some irrational fear of something ghoulish under our beds, perhaps viewing a corpse in a casket for the first time. Grounded in reality, or not, childish minds trying to grasp the concept of mortality, separating fact from fiction, forming a rudimentary worldview that we carry with us into adulthood.

Enter the horror film.

Many people hate them, a lot of people love them. No matter what camp you're in, human beings are drawn to the moribund, the macabre, poking the dead animal with a stick, or driving by a roadside fatality, slowing down, gawking out the window, subconsciously wishing for the sight of blood, consciously sending thoughts and prayers the victim's way.

What is it about horror films, though, that attract or repulse us (or both at the same time)?

Most of us, even if we're not afraid of death, we still do not want it, yet that's what horror films are all about.

What even makes a good horror film? Today's threshold for violence, scary imagery, and people sewed together, butt to mouth, has been lowered to the point where almost nothing is shocking. In 1931 people nearly lost their minds having viewed Frankenstein's monster. In 1968 George Romero almost single handedly created a sub-genre. In 1974, Tobe Hooper practically did the same thing.

Is it because we know it's fake? Are the most frightening films the ones that could possibly (though not likely) happen? Do we love the horror genre for the same reason that we walk outside when an ambulance pulls up to a neighbor's house, or do we hate horror films because they're filled with the same gotcha moments that date to silent film (and before, in literature and opium dens)?

So, what is the good and bad of the genre?

 

It has become increasingly difficult to frighten modern audiences, which have been desensitized by an increasingly vulgar and shocking popular culture and is exposed to younger and younger children these days. People tend to develop their fears during childhood, but childhood grows increasingly short in society with each passing year.

There is also the great demographic shift in horror audiences over the past 20 years. Hollywood figured out "safe" horror movies could be aimed effectively at women, when the genre was almost entirely driven by males for most of its prior history. That pretty much signaled the death of the R-rated horror flick for mainstream Hollywood productions.

 

I think many of the horror films of the last couple of decades) are pretty much like the cheap Western of the 40s and 50s. They're often also cheap, formulaic to the point they're about recognition of tropes rather than scaring the bejeezus out of you and very popular with a more certain segment of the audience.

 

Faster Pussycat, Kill Kill

 

I remember being absolutely terrified as a 9 year old by the Vincent Price film House On Haunted Hill. I've not seen it since (nor the remake) but I'm pretty sure it wouldn't scare me now....

 

You're going to tell me the old lady on rails scene still doesn't scare the crap out of ya'? It gets me every time...



The '50's and '60's era (especially William Castle flicks) were really good at knowing how to scare folks by setting up premises that invite the audience to join in on the fun with a party like flair without insulting their intelligence. The setup premise of House On Haunted Hill is having a group of folks over for a slumber party in a haunted house. That provides a fun and light atmosphere that soon contrasts with the darkness of the plot that unfolds.

Note the scene above makes perfect sense for that woman to go knocking on the wall to find hidden passage ways as it leads the viewer toward right of frame away from what's going to show up on the left. Most jump scares now have the victim direct the viewer right of frame toward places that don't make sense for them to go looking in that general direction. The pacing and timing is done the same over and over to where we already see it coming. That is insulting the audience's intelligence.

 

Yes! Whenever I think of a 'jump out of your skin' moment, that's the one I go to.

The skeleton emerging from the acid bath (?) speaking with Vincent Price's voice also terrified me.

HoHH is not an 'artistic' horror film, like The Haunting or The Shining, but I think that's why I found it scary: Castle tried any cheap stunt to scare an audience, and it worked.

 

The remake would likely make you wanna cry because it's just such a bad movie (and don't get me started on the remake's sequel...). As for me, I was born in the late 90s, my first horror experiences happened with things like 13 Ghosts, 28 Days Later and the Saw movies. I only found myself return to 28 Days and figured out I could get more joy out of older horror flicks - The Exorcist, the original Dawn of the Dead, Nightmare on Elm Street, The Shining, up to, let's say, Scream and The Blair Witch Project. Older horror flicks often have this intelligent touch to them that's missing in new movies which often rely entirely on jump scares and special FX. Now take The Exorcist that works with its sound, terrifyingly strange-looking color palettes and a plot that can be seen as a metaphor on society's struggle to cope with the countercultural spirits of the 60s as well as a more general take on the difficulties of raising your child as a stressed-out single parent. Now, THAT'S what I call a good horror movie. Don't Look Now is another example of an older horror movie I return to often - it rewards attention, an awakened mind and repeated watching.

 

Oh yes, and you don't even get that feeling of pure terror out of many newer movies (okay, maybe Jeepers Creepers). The original Texas Chainsaw Massacre - what a masterpiece. I watched it probably a million times since buying the 40th anniversary edition that was released in Austria and Germany.

 

So I think a good horror movie is one that works on multiple levels and is still somewhat connected with what I deem 'possible'. Am I likely to give a bloodsmeared stranger a ride in the middle of nowhere? No. Could it happen in theory? Yes. Films like 'The Ring' or many of those supernatural flicks like Insidious or The Unborn are borderline ridiculous to me, because are we really supposed to believe the fuzz about cursed videotapes, water flowing out of your VHS, an unborn child that dates back to WW2 etc. etc.? Much as I love 'magic' and creativity in, say, thrillers or dramas, romantic flicks and all the likes, horror is the genre I only can watch if it's somewhat likely to happen, meaning if it's realistic to me. Because, where's the scary part when everybody in the audience knows the whole movie is never going to even possibly happen anywhere, anytime?

 

You just touched upon what makes really good scary movies scary. You sense the person making the film is dangerous, mean and/or devious in how they are going about scaring the audience. We are thinking creatures. We know it's all fake but we want to see how the makers of the movie are going to suspend our disbelief. We are willingly in on it and realize anything could happen.

This is why I always thought William Friedkin was the meanest and devious director in Hollywood when he made "The Exorcist". He deliberately used the psychology of religious faith in the Catholic tradition to make the devil a real boogey man and doubled down on how he showed this with great detail the tortured and grotesque portrayal of the demonic possession of a "virginal" and innocent 13 year old girl. It scares you down to your soul. That's just mean!

The idea of the movie is so grandiose that all it took was quiet jump cuts such as the spider crawl of the girl going down the stairs. That's just freaked me out. No music. Just quiet.

 

Watch "The Witch" fellow Austrian.

And "Event Horizon"

 

Alright, will check it out

 

Yes, I highly agree. It is a masterpiece of cinema.

It's especially scary to me because it hits close to home as a native Texan. I used to live around that kind of rural Texas country side where it was filmed. Had quite a few relatives that looked and acted like the antagonists in that movie. They just didn't eat people. At least I assumed that. I didn't like hanging around them much to find out for sure.

 

The Tingler was really creepy - House On Haunted Hill (1959) was just kid popcorn fun.

 

I have to be honest in saying that there aren't many horrors that scare me. They can make me jump from time to time but not actually scare or horrify me. Thrillers get to me more. Anything that is more likely to be closer to real life scares me. They get under my skin much more.

 

I've never found vampires scary.

 

I enjoy the horror genre quite a bit, but that enjoyment is limited to those films with a 'monster' (zombies, ghosts, vampires, aliens, giant monsters like King Kong, Godzilla, etc.) and not slasher films - ie where the monster is just some insane human - of which I have zero interest.

 

I think the last 15 years have produced more brilliant horror films than any point in the past 50 years. Films like Hereditary, The Conjuring, Get Out and even Donnie Darko show what filmmakers can really do when they don't rely on the slasher/nudity cliches of the 70s/80s.

 

The last horror film that honestly scared me was Halloween (1978). I saw it in the theater when I was 16 or 17, and as I recall I slept with a butcher knife under my pillow that night!

 

I love horror films and I love them for all kinds of reasons. I don't think any of them leaves any lingering scare, but some of them can set up a creepy mood or they can get you with the occasional jump scares. I'm not opposed to gore nor do I think it's a requirement. I do love practical makeup effects both as an appreciation of the technical craft and appreciating an effect serving the story well. My favorite horror films tend to have a sense of humor, whether subtle or outright, so it is not strictly scares that draw me to them. One thing that helps elevate a horror film is characters that you enjoy watching and care about to some extent, which holds true for any type of movie. I like the kids in John Carpenter's Halloween and I did not like anyone in Rob Zombie's Halloween. Thus, I do not like Rob Zombie's Halloween. I have favorites from all film eras, silent to The Babadook. Monsters to slashers. Scary to lightweight fluff. Good times.

 

this is a important point for me. I am a horror film fan and I generally don't mind intense scenes of violence gore etc, I can appreciate the artistry involved in putting it together etc. but I have also seen some footage of real violence people being shot etc and it really upsets me and I don't care to see that (at least not in the same way that I might enjoy a horror film as part of a good documentary or similar perhaps). this is why I generally disagree with people who say it is desensitizing because reality is almost always worse than what is shown on the screen.

 

Born in 1970, I loved horror flicks as a kid. The universal classics didn't scare me but I thought they were great. Still do.

Carrie scared me. Not the telekinesis so much as the cruelty involved. And the ending of course.

Burnt Offerings scared me to this day.

I once saw a movie made in the 60s or possible early 70s where the movie would pause before a scary scene. At the beginning of the movie, the audience is informed that right before something scary happens, the picture will change color and freeze for a second to give the faint hearted a chance to look away. For the life of me, I can't remember what it was, and it's not something easily searched on google.

Halloween didn't scare me much as a kid, but it does now. Same thing with Jaws.

 

Horror is good with my wife and me. Universal Classics (including Freaks), Blair Witch, The Witch, and even Halloween. Horny teenagers being killed for having sex is a constant theme. Then there are flicks like Eastwood's The Beguiled that are essentially horror movies. The remake is good, too. The Exorcist still causes a cold sweat. Humor is also OK with films like The Evil Dead. Looking forward to watching Hereditary in a dark room.

Of course, there are films like I Spit on Your Grave (1978) and Henry, Portrait of a Serial Killer that I regret ever watching. Spit is borderline snuff and Henry is nihilism hiding behind art.