Do Horror Movies Scare You Anymore?

I watched Session 9 a couple of weeks ago and that was the first time in ages that a horror film had creeped me out properly. The majority of horror's these days don't scare me at all. It just seems to be a competition to throw as much gore at the screen as possible and hope that that works.
 
Yeah thats exactly like me. Nightmare on Elm street was the first one I saw at a frienRAB house when I was still at junior school age. I just remember us laughing through the whole thing! Ever since I've been the same at all horror films - some of the things the main characters do are so stupid! :D
 
I'm not quite sure that's true, I remember watching the exorcist at a midnight screening in edinburgh, with I'd suspect an audience that was mainly drunk, because there were people laughing at every 'scary' bit.
 
Them was close enough to scary than most horror that comes out now. Good film.

Session 9 is definitely a close one too. Good call with that one.
 
I do have to admit I get quite caught up in films, I mean I get really into them. However, films that are ment to be scary or whatever don't frighten me at all.

I guess it's because I ggrew up watching a lot of gory, horror and action films with my dad. Got kinda de-sensitised or something along the way.

The Descent freaked me out a bit. And the Saw movies well... the Saw movies just made me feel a bit ill.
 
Sorry, I worded it wrong. I was supposed to say "most people believe" horror is about gore and blood. Personally, I have never really gone with that theory. My bad for wording it wrongly :o

Just for the record, what movies DID you find fit that category? :)

Blair Witch, I have to admit, never really scared me much. Most people came out of the cinema claiming it was really terrifying, and I was intrigued. It piqued my interest, so to speak, and when I saw it I was a little saddened that the one film that SHOULD have scared me didn't. I guess I have started to spot those "formulas" as well. :(
 
Well they say that a good horror film taps into the insecurities of the times so directors just need to think what modern day people are anxious about and make a film symbolic of that, the fear factor will increase ten-fold compared to a formulaic copycat film.
 
I haven't seen The Changeling or The Woman in Black... I may have to do a little search for them.

I watched Alien the other day, might have been Sunday evening, and I still love that film. I like Aliens, but not for the same reason I like Alien. The original film will ALWAYS be my favourite, because it was the first ever horror movie I ever saw with my father. I can remember feeling very nervous during the ventilation duct scene with Captain Dallas... wondering where the thing was going to show up next. :o



Haha, to be honest this is so true. There are some characters, especially in modern movies, that you just hate to the bone and wish would hurry up and get splattered by the monster/murderer. :)
 
I've noticed a few of you mentioned The Descent, and credit where credit is due that film put the wind up me a little bit as well.

There are a few films I have seen that would certainly scare others in my family, but maybe my biggest problem is that I expect way too much in a horror now. I remember being scared of ALIEN, but then my dad sat me down to watch that when I was eleven years old, the same with Aliens.

Even Predator made me uneasy when I was a kid. Now, I find them more fun than scary. :)

A few Korean and Japanese horror movies have made me feel nervous, and Exorcist (the recently released full version of the original) too. I just want that feeling of feeling very scared when I turn off a movie, enough so that I wouldn't want to go outside my room to use the loo, let alone go downstairs for a drink.
 
Out of the recent horror films I have seen The Descent (as many people have said) had definately been the scariest. As with a lot of horror films though when you see the 'monster' its not as scary anymore!

I liked Saw 1 & 2 and Hostel but they're not scary just pretty disgusting to watch. Saw 3 was so bad I had to turn it off after about 10 mins as it just wasn't enjoyable viewing.
 
I think nowadays people are more apprehensive about terrorism than anything else. Maybe that is what makes it so hard for them to come up with something that can truly make a grown man (or woman) cringe.
 
i think the problem with most modern horror films is that they over do the cgi or they take a formula that was successful and completely milk it to death. for example, 6/7 years ago every horror movie was a Scream rip off and now, every time i go to my local cineworld cinema they are advertising a different 'twist ending' style Sixth Sense rip off (even though that movie came out 8 years ago).

i think to be genuinly scarey, a horror film requires a good story that sets up the tension and sticks in your mind once the shocks have finished. I was recently watching Hellraiser and this proves the point as the story was chilling and unsettling and, despite the fact the acting was pretty basic and the effects have dated (well, it is over 20 years old), it still a film that sticks in your mind days after you have watched it.

another recent movie that i found quite scary was The Descent, as you feel quite unsettled from something that happens in the first 2 minutes, then the bulk of the film is set in the claustrophobic tunnels that create a air of tension, so it is fairly scary even before we are introduced to the 'monster' of the piece.
 
The main PROBLEM with modern horror MOVIES is the replacing of ACTUAL horrifying moments FOR instead getting scares BY making VERY LOUD but not ACTUALLY scary things happen UNEXPECTEDLY and for NO real REASON.
 
I love horror movies but I agree they are not really scary, just sick like the descent, saw 1 2 3 and the hill have eyes 1 2 but I would still watch movies like them even though they don't scare me :p Will watch 28 weeks later tonight, along with many movies :D as I've the house to myself and many snacks planned haa :o
 
Thanks for the heaRAB up.



Did you know there is a SAW IV coming out in October? :o

I only really watch the SAW movies for the gore factor, and the sillyness.



I saw 28 Weeks Later this weekend just gone, and I quite liked the movie. I will not ruin the movie for you though by saying too much about it. A lot of people always tell me to stay off some movies, but I prefer to make a judgment for myself.



I think with Hellraiser, that is the whole point. The movie was made at a time when companies didn't rely on CGI to make their monsters, they used special FX done by hand. I think they were just starting to use FX on computers shortly after, which is when I think they made the change from being a decent, scary movie to a little bit over the top.

A fine example is Alien, which has been mentioned many times on this thread. The first two aliens movies (as far as I know) didn't use CGI for the ALIENS themselves, just suits and very sweaty people inside them. I am sure they started to use CGI in the third movie, albeit a tiny amount, and that's when the franchise seemed to go downhill. Look at Alien: Resurrection. It bombed in my opinion. I think the same can be applied to the STAR WARS movies (not horror, I know, but it makes a point), where the first three didn't rely on CGI of today and came off strong, while the new Star Wars movies seemed weak by comparison.

I think that's why I liked Dog Soldiers.

So called "fright movies", which have big claims on the DVD packaging or tagline come across as something else because they spend too much time teasing and trying to scare us all with dark corners, and noises upstairs. I suppose no one can define a "real" scare movie, but Descent is certainly in there, because it kept you in suspense the whole time without insulting my intelligence.
 
Well the whole Y2K thing had a lot of people worrying about an impending nuclear apocalypse.

So there should totally be a movie made about it actually happening or something. Yeah.
 
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