Don't they make scary movies anymore??? (1 Viewer)

[JohnRice]

Blu, sorry but I didn't read all the responses. so, if I'm repeating something someone already said, so it goes.

I think most of the reason scary movies aren't usually scary anymore is because they usually aren't scary. Like you already said and I expect a lot of others have as well. Lately, thought, there seems to have been a few very good scary movies. Session 9 and The Ring I think were both very good. I actually liked the new TCM quite a bit for several reasons, but not because I found it all that scary.

Another thing is, people rarely watch movies anymore in an environment that is helpful to being scared. The first time I watched Session 9 was alone in my HTF at night with all the lights off. After a while I was crawling out of my skin. I watched it again later during the day and it was a completely different result.

In the end, I think for years Horror was the crappiest genre in movies, but it seems to have made a real comeback.


BTW, if nobody mentioned it, if you are trying to figure out a perplexing problem, a hypotenuse won't help. Creating a hypothesis might though. :p)

 

[James T]

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre didn't create the suspense atmosphere for me, but there were a few scenes that made me jumped. What freaked me while watching the movie was the "real footage" they showed during the start and end of the movie.

The new Dawn of the Dead had a few jumps even though I expected all of them to happen, they still made me jump.

Blair Witch didn't scare me. I liked the idea of the movie, but the story itself didn't work for me.

 

[Alex Spindler]

I'm thinking the problem with the new TCM is that it is too slick (something I don't normally hold against any film). In order to capture the magic of the original, I think it would have to have that documentary feel. James kind of nailed it that the epilogue was one of the best parts. I remember looking upon it nearly like a Faces of Death-style film, so watching had that chilling feel of taboo authenticity. Even its title plays to that, as does Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer. You almost go in being apprehensive about what you're going to see.

 

[Andrew Priest]

I'm probably a bad measure of scariness as no movie has scared me since I was little. My father used to let me watch all kinds of horror and it just doesn't affect me that way anymore. However, Blair Witch really didn't even creep me at all. Actually, my sister - who was unnerved out by The Ring - felt the same way. My only guess is that it has to do with our familiarity with the kinds of woodland shown in the movie. Since I'm so used to being in woods much like that they have no mystery or fear for me. So I tended to think more about how stupid the characters were than be scared.

 

[Blu]

Yeah, it is a inside joke at work. One of the guys has a teenage stepson who told him that he had a hypotenuse about why something didn't work and then got real mad when his stepdad corrected him and said he was just trying to make him feel stupid by telling him what a hypothesis was.

 

[rick bie]

I vividly remember leaving the theater in broad daylight after seeing TCM (original)when it came out and just being in total shock as to what I had just seen, I felt like I was in a daze and it was by no means the first "horror" movie I had seen. As far as more recent movies I would say The haunting(original)and strangely enough The Francisville experiment are two movies out of a few which I find scarey to watch. I agree wholeheartedly that the atmosphere in the movie and where your watching it are very important. I feel as others have stated you have to turn the lights down and allow yourself to be immersed in the movie. As other have said the music can play a big part in the movie, another movie I find spooky which is due in somepart to the music is the H-man. The scene on the deserted ship with the weird twanging sounds in the background is really spooky.

Rick

 

[Tony Whalen]

See, with Blair Witch, I didn't see it until after it had been around for a while. I think, for me at least, it was a victim of over-hype. I went in expecting the scariest movie ever, and it just didn't pay off for me.

Ah well...

I hadn't thought about Poltergeist. That one certainly freaked me when I was younger. Still a favorite of mine. It mostly got to me with the tree, and the damn clown. *shudder*

 

[Herm C]

What is the H-man? I haven't heard of this.

 

[Gruson]

Blair Witch: BORING...hated it and was not scared one bit

28 Days Later: LOVED it!!! Felt like a late 70s/80s horror movie to me. First in a LONG time.

Jeepers Creepers: The first half was INCREDIBLE and very scary

Signs: Not a horror movie to me

Original Texas Chainsaw: AWESOME movie and VERY creepy...I will not watch a remake because nothing can top the original.

Halloween: Classic
Hellraier: Classic

I hate to say it, but the genre is pretty much dead now. The "feel" has just changed with today's movies.

 

[RobertR]

It's still difficult for me to fathom why people are scared by this movie.

 

[Julie K]

May
Ginger Snaps
Dagon
The Attic Expeditions
Session 9
Dog Soldiers

Just to name a few. People have long been lamenting the death of horror for a long time now. I haven't seen it, though. Remember, for every horror classic of the 'golden age' (choose your favorite golden age) there were tons of poor or derivative movies churned out.

 

[Julie K]

It's difficult for me as well. Are the folks who are really terrified by the movie also scared of the outdoors and camping in the wilderness?

 

[rick bie]

H-man is an 1958 japanese Sci-fi movie, it is of people being absorbed by these men who were exposed to radiation and now are blob-like creatures. The movie is currently unavailable on dvd, on vhs you can get it on amazon.com (used)for between $38.00 and $215.00 , someone on another forum said awhile ago they saw it at a store for $5.99, but I have not found a new copy anywhere. I have it on Beta and I would love to get it on dvd.

 

[Gruson]

I have not see any of these:

May
Ginger Snaps
Dagon
The Attic Expeditions
Session 9
Dog Soldiers


I will check them out...

 

[JohnRice]

For someone who isn't a horror fan, I have seen all of those except The Attic Expeditions and I own all the others except Dagon, which really didn't impress me. Session 9 is the only one I consider a true horror film, but they are all very good.

 

[Julie K]

The Attic Expeditions is strange - it'll probably be a love or hate sort of movie.

I liked Dagon a whole bunch, but then, I'm an even bigger fan of the source material.

 

[Herm C]

Thanks for your reply, rick bie.

Gruson, I am in agreement with your film comments, however you will love TCM, 2003.

 

[Mikel_Cooperman]

Blair Witch did nothing for me either. I felt really let down and the camera movement gave me a headache.

 

[rick bie]

I'll definitely have to pick up both the original TCM and the remake. It's funny how you remember films from years ago and how they are actually seen now a days. I vaguely remember when I was a kid a movie on late nite tv at the time "The Maze", a dark, gothic Lovecraft type flick scaring the heck out of me (of course I would watch them alone with all the lights out and a blanket wrapped all around me so I was looking out a para like tube)and now what I read of it in reviews it sounds as being dull,cliche, slow,etc. I guess that goes along with how people get de-sensitized with all the tons of gore flying in all directions in alot of todays movies. Don't get me wrong I do like it when its appropriate and I can't stand watching a movie which has been cleaned up for broadcast on standard channels.

Rick

 

[George See]

Yup, when I was younger it didn't get any scarier then that.
Recently i'd say 99% of the movies i've seen don't scare me at all. A few of them like the Ring are pretty creepy but not scary.

I really liked Suicide Club, again it wasn't scarry just really creepy and disturbing.

I didn't/don't consider signs signs scarry, or even very good. You take War of the worlds cross it with Close Encounters and never leave the farm and you've got Signs...nothing origional or interesting about it. I had high expectations on that one and was let down. Now if I hadn't seen close encounters and I wasn't familure with war of the worlds signs would have most likely been an amazing movie.