How about having it be scary with out having to use the jump tactic also to keep you glued to the screen and have characters you care aout that are not one dimensonal. I think to be good a horror movie has to be orignal easy as that. Something that hasn't been done before and done good.
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Its disturbing, without using many jumpout scares, without an excessively high gore level... scenes build up to an unholy cacophony of noise... some of the imagery, such as the clock with the nail through it, truely conveys the atmosphere of 'what the hell is going on just here'
I think a good horror film is an almagamation of many different elements, technical, cliched, original and psychological.
I think a "jump scare" or 2 is always good as long as the film does not rely on this tactic explicitly to scare the audience.
Keeping the audience guessing what is going on and what the main protagonist is and the reasons etc, is also a very effective tool, creating a sense of impending dread, fear, and confusion but this must be followed up with a strong and credible reveal, the character or concept must be right , ( unlike Jeepers Creepers which I enjoyed until I found out the killer was some ridiculous beast with wings).
Characters in strange locations unfamiliar to them , and a sense of hoplessness and inability to escape heightens the fear and empathy the audience feels with them , also some characters should be likeable so you want them to live and some you should hate so you want them to die. But the audience must feel and believe in the characters , for a movie to be effective
Gore is not essential but a little can help. Mainly I think the story , setting and characters must be credible and believable. The cinematography should reflect the subject matter , ie should not be too slick if the subject matter does not reflect this, disorietating and grainy camera work can be effective but it can also be cliched if just used as a device with no real resonance or affiliation with the themes and ideas contained in the film, and this can cause a cynical audience to instantly dislike a film.
Ideas, storylines and kills etc should try to be original but not too over the top, avoid rehashing tired old conceits. The film should be well structured as not be overlong if not necessary. Also a film shoud have no plot holes and everything in a film should happen for a reason and be believable as the actions of a real human being( JEEPERS CREEPERS, when he goes back to look in the pipe, after they have been chased and knocked off the road and seen the beast and his reasons are that if it was you down the pipe you would want someone to go back, fu#ck that get the police or the army to check it out, no one is going back to check that out, and anyway, what the fu#ck are you going to do anyway Warren Cheswick)
Special effects more often than not ruin a film, too much CGI as well as crap animatronics should be avoided, and if used should be cloaked in darkness not revealed clearly in their entirety. ALso ridiculous monsters should be avoided.
use something that usually most people fear, but dont just set it up without any sense. give every movement of this said fear a creepy appeal and never try to be quick with things, is what would make a good horror movie. i write horror stories. i use the same advice, but i use my imagination. also, i hate when the killer is human, because i like fictional creatures, because it gives more of a feel that someone is watching you...
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Certain films would do better not to reveal the 'Baddy', like in Jeepers Creepers I found it was quite scary until they I saw the bad guy..then it became lame.
Also not in your face horror..just the insinuation of it makes it scray.
It needs a certain atmosphere. The feeling that something is terrible wrong. I like zombies because they are human and still absolutely not. The little thing in Evil Dead that makes this feeling (and not just a comedy) is that it's scary when someone you know (and love) changes and get really different. (I don't like my parents drunk either, they get terrible stupid, and thats really scary). It's also a good horror-movie when you know somethings not right, but you don't know what. And yeah....it sucks if it turns out to be a ridiculous figure.
You guys pin pointed everything that makes a good horror movie; I wish the horror movie makers could be so intelligent. I hate all the boring, cliched, been-done-a-thousand-times movies. I wish they came up with original ideas, or new ways of making gory scenes. Nowadays, before something happens we know esp. my little sister knows what's going to happen next and stuff. I wish they didn't make horror movies so predictable.
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I agree with the people who said that the atmosphere has to appear wrong somehow.
One of the scariest movies I ever saw was not a horror movie but was still scary - "Reqiuem for a Dream." Also "Henry - Portrait of a Serial Killer." There was enough reality and madness there to make it seem that this stuff really does happen, and that gives me the chills.
god, will you piss off, you never say anything even mildly intelligent, people like you should be put into a rocket and fired into the sun
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i really like what papabeard said and totaly agree he knows what hes talking about , but i do not agree on one of is statement .. i really hate jeepers creepers and i totaly agree on the fact that is a creature whit wings that scare poeple to know wath he wanna eat is totaly absurd and stupid ... but the part where the kid decide to go back and look in the pipe is exacly what horror is supose to be and was actually the best part of the films .. many poeple would just go call the police .. but what kind of horror film would it be ? but that part really created an atmosphere
where you get in their heads , feel like they does , and your breathing just cease because you really aint sure of whats gonna happend and you wish the monster wont come back .. in your head you scream get out of there ... and your part of the movie .. really good bone chilling part but after that it became cheesy ...
this is the way i see it .. just like in "the shinning" , the kid knows not to go in the room 237 but he goes .... or if someone pick up a wierd looking jar .. they will open it even if they know they dont wanna see whats in it , just the human behavior .. poeple are curious .. just like in psycho .. the part where hes searching for the girl and goes to norman's home ... do you really think a normal guy would just enter a wierd spooking old home like that .. no but he does ...
just my 2 cents... you dont have to agree . but how many poeple have you heard say .. " you really want me to do this , didnt you see "INSERT A MOVIE TITLE HERE" ........ and thats what horror is for ..
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KMC Community Forums
What do you think makes a good horror movie?
Feb 11th, 2005 05:07 PM
