IMO how movie fear is done wrong.

[operative x]

I hate how fear is done now in movies and games. I'm so sick of movies flashing some kind of freaky looking thing in my face and blasting up a trumpet or drum really freaking loud to make you jump. Instead of making someone jump up out of their seat and giving them a scare for 3 seconds, I think that movie makers should really focus more on dread then release terror. For example,(this is how a modern day director would do it) say we have a killer hiding in a closet then as the main character gets close to the closet, he bursts out giving the audience a scare for 3 seconds, they should instead have the protagonist be about 10 feet away from this door and show the main character looking at the door as it slowly closes shut, by letting the main character know that there is something in that closet ahead of time, it creates tension and makes the audience experience a few moments of pure terror because they don’t know who's inside the closet, if it's even dangerous, or when the thing will even come out, or even if it's anything at all. Then as the character gets closer to the closet they hear breathing, now this will intensify the dread, because now we know there is something in the closet which will extend the audiences fear even longer and stronger, then as the character gets closer the thing pops out and uses shock to scare the audience which ends the 9-12 minutes of fear. Now, 3 seconds of shock or 10 minutes of fear, obviously the 10 minutes of fear is so much better than the 3 seconds. It's really sad that directors aren’t using methods like this and now just resort to showing you something disturbing and turning up the sound, modern day directors have really gotten lazy. Just my 2 cents on movie fear.

Btw, I know my grammar is shit, so im going to use "it's 12:00" exscuse

 

[CrazyHarij]

"The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown." - Edgar Allan Poe

 

[MarcoPollo]

I hate how fear is done now in movies and games. I'm so sick of movies flashing some kind of freaky looking thing in my face and blasting up a trumpet or drum really freaking loud to make you jump. Instead of making someone jump up out of their seat and giving them a scare for 3 seconds, I think that movie makers should really focus more on dread then release terror. For example,(this is how a modern day director would do it) say we have a killer hiding in a closet then as the main character gets close to the closet, he bursts out giving the audience a scare for 3 seconds, they should instead have the protagonist be about 10 feet away from this door and show the main character looking at the door as it slowly closes shut, by letting the main character know that there is something in that closet ahead of time, it creates tension and makes the audience experience a few moments of pure terror because they don’t know who's inside the closet, if it's even dangerous, or when the thing will even come out, or even if it's anything at all. Then as the character gets closer to the closet they hear breathing, now this will intensify the dread, because now we know there is something in the closet which will extend the audiences fear even longer and stronger, then as the character gets closer the thing pops out and uses shock to scare the audience which ends the 9-12 minutes of fear. Now, 3 seconds of shock or 10 minutes of fear, obviously the 10 minutes of fear is so much better than the 3 seconds. It's really sad that directors aren’t using methods like this and now just resort to showing you something disturbing and turning up the sound, modern day directors have really gotten lazy. Just my 2 cents on movie fear.

Btw, I know my grammar is shit, so im going to use "it's 12:00" exscuse

Have you only seen one horror movie.... ever? I've seen many-a-movie that use "your" idea. Just don't go see those POS horror films they have been mass producing like so many mass-produced chocolates.

 

[operative x]

Have you only seen one horror movie.... ever? I've seen many-a-movie that use "your" idea. Just don't go see those POS horror films they have been mass producing like so many mass-produced chocolates.

Of course I have, you must have missed the point I was trying to make about new horror movies. I know that allot of older movies use "my" idea, that’s because I was influenced them. My thread was about my opinion on why modern day horror movies are less effective than classic horror techniques.

 

[CyberPitz]

They need to follow Friday the 13th more!

I mean..a cheap pr0n...the guys get into it..then a blade threw her back! That scares the shit outta me...and kinda pisses me off. Never ruin a good pr0n...even if it's cheesy as hell. DAMN YOU JASON!

 

[operative x]

hahahaha always such a funny guy Cyberpitz LOL. I sort of had that movie Holloween in mind, the first one in the series, when that one actress stabs him in the face with a wire hanger then she sits down and puts her back to him, then the audience can see mike myers start to get up off the floor. That shot was pure genius.

 

[WhiteZero]

The Silent Hill guys need to make a movie if you want that kind of fear...

 

[RakuraiTenjin]

Reservoir Dogs.

Oh I'm.. stuck in the middle with you!

 

[MarcoPollo]

Of course I have, you must have missed the point I was trying to make about new horror movies. I know that allot of older movies use "my" idea, that’s because I was influenced them. My thread was about my opinion on why modern day horror movies are less effective than classic horror techniques.

There are some new gems. But if you are arguing that lately they have been doing it, you are wuiet wrong, there have been crappy horror movies full of cheap thrills since the begining of slasher flicks. They are just lost in time, forgoten by the movie industry.

 

[Insano]

Reservoir Dogs.

Oh I'm.. stuck in the middle with you!

(One of best) movie ever imo, next to Pulp Fiction.

 

[RakuraiTenjin]

(One of best) movie ever imo, next to Pulp Fiction.

Both directed by Quentin Tarantino

 

[Crushenator 500]

Moved!

 

[Steve]

I hate how fear is done now in movies and games. I'm so sick of movies flashing some kind of freaky looking thing in my face and blasting up a trumpet or drum really freaking loud to make you jump. Instead of making someone jump up out of their seat and giving them a scare for 3 seconds, I think that movie makers should really focus more on dread then release terror. For example,(this is how a modern day director would do it) say we have a killer hiding in a closet then as the main character gets close to the closet, he bursts out giving the audience a scare for 3 seconds, they should instead have the protagonist be about 10 feet away from this door and show the main character looking at the door as it slowly closes shut, by letting the main character know that there is something in that closet ahead of time, it creates tension and makes the audience experience a few moments of pure terror because they don’t know who's inside the closet, if it's even dangerous, or when the thing will even come out, or even if it's anything at all. Then as the character gets closer to the closet they hear breathing, now this will intensify the dread, because now we know there is something in the closet which will extend the audiences fear even longer and stronger, then as the character gets closer the thing pops out and uses shock to scare the audience which ends the 9-12 minutes of fear. Now, 3 seconds of shock or 10 minutes of fear, obviously the 10 minutes of fear is so much better than the 3 seconds. It's really sad that directors aren’t using methods like this and now just resort to showing you something disturbing and turning up the sound, modern day directors have really gotten lazy. Just my 2 cents on movie fear.

Btw, I know my grammar is shit, so im going to use "it's 12:00" exscuse

See, you're assuming that 10 minutes of nothing but one character, a door, and some breathing will hold the attention of today's audience. Wrong.

 

[mortiz]

Slasher movies should be left by the wayside, they're boring and predictable now. What we need are more movies like Jacob's Ladder, movies that have something intelligent to say. Like Poe said, fear of the unknown is what scares us, but now we know everything about the slashers, they're all the same!

 

[mr_natural48]

There is supposed to be a new movie coming out called "Chaos". It's apparently really, really violent. Keep an eye out for it.

 

[A True Canadian]

I hate how fear is done now in movies and games. I'm so sick of movies flashing some kind of freaky looking thing in my face and blasting up a trumpet or drum really freaking loud to make you jump. Instead of making someone jump up out of their seat and giving them a scare for 3 seconds, I think that movie makers should really focus more on dread then release terror. For example,(this is how a modern day director would do it) say we have a killer hiding in a closet then as the main character gets close to the closet, he bursts out giving the audience a scare for 3 seconds, they should instead have the protagonist be about 10 feet away from this door and show the main character looking at the door as it slowly closes shut, by letting the main character know that there is something in that closet ahead of time, it creates tension and makes the audience experience a few moments of pure terror because they don’t know who's inside the closet, if it's even dangerous, or when the thing will even come out, or even if it's anything at all. Then as the character gets closer to the closet they hear breathing, now this will intensify the dread, because now we know there is something in the closet which will extend the audiences fear even longer and stronger, then as the character gets closer the thing pops out and uses shock to scare the audience which ends the 9-12 minutes of fear. Now, 3 seconds of shock or 10 minutes of fear, obviously the 10 minutes of fear is so much better than the 3 seconds. It's really sad that directors aren’t using methods like this and now just resort to showing you something disturbing and turning up the sound, modern day directors have really gotten lazy. Just my 2 cents on movie fear.

Btw, I know my grammar is shit, so im going to use "it's 12:00" exscuse

Sounds to me like you just watched the movie Signs.


It's almost like the movie Jaws. You know there's a big Great White shark in the water, but not seeing it for the longest time toys with your imagination.

 

[Direwolf]

I'd suggest The Mothman Prophecies. About as far out from a normal horror movie you can get, and one of the absolutely scariest things I'd ever seen when I saw it.

 

[Max_Payne]

event horizon is pretty damn scary... ****ed up. But a good movie.

If u want to get scared play silent hill 2 and three int he dark. Greatest survival horror games ever. Number 4 was a bit of a let down

PEACE

Mike

 

[Burn]

Have you only seen one horror movie.... ever? I've seen many-a-movie that use "your" idea. Just don't go see those POS horror films they have been mass producing like so many mass-produced chocolates.

That sumed up what needed to be said. Everyone elses post, including mine is meaningless.

 

[rAdIOhEaD]

I'd suggest The Mothman Prophecies. About as far out from a normal horror movie you can get, and one of the absolutely scariest things I'd ever seen when I saw it.

that was a hell of a scary movie!, way different for the clone-horrors films manufactered this days, what is even spookier is that is based on true events...

 

[kaf11]

several things:

the argument youre making is one that was made by alfred hitchcock. he proposed that suspense was much more effective than suprise. not his exact words, but:

imagine two people having a conversation at a table. you could show the audience the table blowing up due to the unknown presence of a bomb under the table, which would produce suprise that would last several seconds. or, you could create suspense by showing someone planting the bomb under the table and the two involved in the conversation being unaware of its presence. this scene could drag out for minutes, showing the clock in the corner ticking closer to the imminent blast. thus, suspense is a much more desireable emotion to ellicit.


the second thing related to Tarantino: I live in pittsburgh and on wednesday Romero is holding the premere of his latest film in the dead series "Land of the Dead." this is due to the fact that he lives in Pittsburgh, and the first two installments were shot in this area (ive been to the monroeville mall in which day of the dead was filmed). Quentin, as well as other celebrities including Romero, Edgar Wright/Simon Pegg (from shaun of the dead), Tom Savini (ive already met Tom, talked to him for an hour, very cool guy) will be attending. Ill get as many pictures as possible and will probably make a thread about it, ill keep you guys posted.

third thing: the bridge in "The Mothman Prophecies" is in my friends hometown and ive been on it several times.

 

[operative x]

Land of the dead looks cool, there's never enough zombie movies imo.:cheers:

 

[RakuraiTenjin]

event horizon is pretty damn scary... ****ed up. But a good movie.

If u want to get scared play silent hill 2 and three int he dark. Greatest survival horror games ever. Number 4 was a bit of a let down

PEACE

Mike

I can honestly say Event Horizon is the only scary movie I've ever watched.

This is with watching faces of death, pinhead, hellraiser, "startle you by having a jumpy scene movies", etc what have you.

 

[Direwolf]

Is the TV edited version of Event Horizon more lame or something? I didn't register it as being any scarier than a lot of other movies.

 

[Sparta]

First time i saw Event Horizon i was 12 and it scared the shit out of me. Second time i saw it was last year and it was pretty lame.

Scariest film i've ever seen is The Ring. That scared the living shit out of me. Signs was also done really well and that was pretty damn scary too.

 

[MarcoPollo]

That sumed up what needed to be said. Everyone elses post, including mine is meaningless.

I do that alot.

 

[Pesmerga]

It

I can say nothing more.

 

[dream431ca]

The Silent Hill guys need to make a movie if you want that kind of fear...

Silent hill the movie is coming out..really excited about that. People who get scared of normal movies should die of shock in this movie. I hope. I'll be aggrevated if the film becomes like any other scary movie.

 

[dream431ca]

event horizon is pretty damn scary... ****ed up. But a good movie.

If u want to get scared play silent hill 2 and three int he dark. Greatest survival horror games ever. Number 4 was a bit of a let down

PEACE

Mike

IMO silent hill 3 is way better than 2 or 4. Silent hill 1 is the scariest (for me). The first time I played it I rented it. I was looking for a resident evil type game. Boy was I surprised. I shut the game off after I got to the evil school cause I just could not take any more. I needed a brake. There was so much tention in that game. I loved it. I hope the movie is just like that.

EDIT: Silent hill 4 is still unnerving if you think about it. It should freak out people living in apartments :E

 

[xcellerate]

edited

 

[MarcoPollo]

It

I can say nothing more.

But..You just....your post made a rip in the space-time continuim!

 

[Darkside55]

It

I can say nothing more.

Oh no, it's a GIANT SPACE TARANTULA! That movie wasn't scary at all. Funny...and then cheesy in the end, but not scary. The end killed it so bad...

You know what was great is that, like Operative was saying, old movies would pull the "you don't know what's out there/in there" trick. I was watching some old Twilight Zone episodes a few weeks back early in the morning on Sci-Fi, and they played an episode called "The Fear," where it kept alluding that aliens were outside of this cabin in the woods, but they never showed them. There were some lights that flashed through the window, a couple broken tree branches where the ship had supposedly crashed through, footsteps on the roof...but they never showed the aliens until the very end (who were tiny and were afraid of us). By using the suspense of viewers wanting to see the aliens, that made every sound, every weird occurrence that much scarier.

Also sometimes when discussing about horror movies, I like to make the point that old horror movies might have a character opening a door, and they'll build up that tension of the person getting to the door, twisting the handle and throwing the door open, only to cut to a shot of the character screaming. They don't even show you what's in there, which can be scarier than actually seeing something leap at out you because your mind fills in the blank. You fill that empty space with whatever you find frightening. That's good horror, right there.

 

[resiurC]

exactly. movies that rely on cheap scares and surprise are too boring and predictable.

 

[Pesmerga]

Pennywise gave me nightmares for 5 years, ****ers, so shut the hell up. The end didn't scare me, the BALDING CLOWN WITH CLAWS SAYING HI TO A KIDDIE FROM A SEWER GUTTER IS SCARY

 

[Adabiviak]

I'm with ya - I don't enjoy "punctuated" horror, but really enjoy long, drawn out creepy horror. I would have absolutely loved the Silent Hill series (only played the first chapter of II), but the control system was too awful. (Should have been FPS style IMHO). It's a lot harder to do, and if you are selling movies, harder to sell because the larger moviegoing audience has the shorter attention span. I love when a story says, "Here is something so creepy that you can't stand it. It's right over here - no surprises - just walk on by and have a look" and it is so creepy that you can't stand it. The first time I sae the Blair Witch Project, I got a little of that. I know legions of people hated that movie and didn't find it scary, but it worked for me. Some Stephen King does the same, but like I said, it's very hard to do well, and also hard to sell, which is probably why we don't see more.

 

[Adabiviak]

Signs - didn't scare me, but it did have one aspect that I found genius - the baby mike. It's not "boo" scary, but it is so subtly creepy. My poor girlfriend thought that movie was absolutely terrifying and we'll probably never be able to use those baby mikes. Hell, we'd probably get a divorce because I'd be gurgling into it to creep her out and I don't think she'd take that well. LOL

The Ring - kind of creepy, kind of "boo". What I hated about it was the fact that after they "rescued" the girl from the well, she came after them! I was actually empathizing anger (not fear) with the protagonist - I wanted her to grab that thing and choke it! "DO YOU REALIZE WHAT KIND OF HELL I JUST WENT THROUGH TO GET YOUR A$$ OUT OF THAT WELL?! I ALMOST FRICKIN' DIED!!"

It - never saw the movie/miniseries, but read the book and honestly, that's the only book that I ever had to put down and turn the lights on because I read something so creepy that I couldn't stand it.

 

[Direwolf]

If you're into reading that kind of horror, and are a decent reader, then you have to check out H.P. Lovecraft's stuff. Its required.

 

[operative x]

The Ring is one of those movies im talking about, all they ever do is jam some freaking looking girl and blast up the sound to scare you, other than that, they have nothing. I'm tired of cheap tricks.

 

[Unfocused]

Also sometimes when discussing about horror movies, I like to make the point that old horror movies might have a character opening a door, and they'll build up that tension of the person getting to the door, twisting the handle and throwing the door open, only to cut to a shot of the character screaming. They don't even show you what's in there, which can be scarier than actually seeing something leap at out you because your mind fills in the blank. You fill that empty space with whatever you find frightening. That's good horror, right there.

The Ring, one of the first scenes is made like this.

Have you seen Gothika with Halle Berry? It was based on cheap, flash scares, but there were so many of them, that I was sitting in the cinema with hands covering my ears (cause it was the sound that came with the flash that was making me jump)

 

[chu]

Little Kids Aren't Scary Anymore!