I like cheesy horror that is funny to watch. If it involves kids like Monster Squad, or parody like Evil Dead and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, it is fun popcorn watching and MST3K cracking light entertainment. Cheesy SF-horror also falls into this category, such as critters or gremlins.
On the whole, ghosts don’t come anywhere close to scaring me, nor do exorcisms, creepies, crawlies nor long leggedy beasties that go bump in the night.
The only time I was ever really creeped out, it was situational. Back in the early 80s, RIT showed movies in the student union, and there was a small lake effect blizzard hitting. They showed The Shining to the bunch of us, then I managed to schlep home. I had just moved in to a brand new apartment with a roomie that was spending the weekend somewhere with her BF of the time, so here I was all alone in a cold, dark and empty apartment in a brand new building. The way the building was laid out was a classic Rochester style. Each floor had 4 flats, 2 on each side of a stairlanding so that each pair of flats shared a long wall along a hallway. Plan E, if you must peek =)
So here I am in this dark, cold, echoingly empty apartment. Which by right of shared floorplan any time someone moves in the place above or next to us sounds just like someone is sneaking around in our apartment. sigh That was one of the longest and loneliest nights in my then short life. As soon as it was light, the scary went away but that first lonely night was chilling.
I love getting scared, unfortunately it’s hard to scare me. The only movies that I can remember ever scaring me are Blair Witch 1, Paranormal Activity 1-3*, and some movie decades ago that gave me my fear of dark rooms containing mirrors. No clue what movie it might be though.
*The jump scenes meant to startle people don’t bother me at all. It’s the buildup to the finale of these movies that I get to me. In fact, I think PA 3 would’ve been better off if the movie had ended when they left the house. Everything from when they got to grandma’s house to the end should’ve been left off.
Books generally don’t scare me either, unless they’re about supposedly true paranormal events.
To be honest the very vaguely creepy thread on here scared me more than any book or movie ever has.
I eat horror books for breakfast, but prefer my visual scares more like the recent * woman in black*, which had me screaming like a little girl in places - then laughing out loud.
Perfect.
Back when the earth was still cooling, i actually got to see the original night of the living dead in the theater. I would’ve been around twelve or so, so i’m not really sure how my friends and managed to sneak that kind of movie past the parental units - but we did. I remember being scared in places - but overall there were no lasting effects from it.
Now fast forward to 1978’s dawn of the dead. Totally different story. :eek:
THAT one induced nightmares, complete with waking the then-boyfriend out of a dead sleep every night for a week because of me screaming my fool head off! It’s the only time that’s ever happened. I don’t go out of my way to avoid torture/gore/slasher flicks - seen all the *saw *movies for example - but that isn’t my preferred kind of movie.
Like Mr. Accident, I love to be spooked by horror movies/novels, but I’m hard to scare. That doesn’t stop me from hoping the next movie/book will be the one that scares my pants off, though.
I love anything horror related, but I’m also difficult to scare. If something actually does, it’s more in a horrified, cerebral sort of way. I’ll clinically look at it and appreciate what it’s accomplished, then go on with my life.
The last movie that gave me chills and made the hair on the back of my neck stand up was the first Paranormal Activity. (not the end, either, the last 15 seconds could have been left out).
Typical me, the chill happened (during one of the early bedroom scenes), I got totally creeped out, then I giggled and said, “do it again!”
So, yeah, hard to truly scare, and started reading Stephen King novels when I was around 10. Saw Jaws when I was 8 and giggled when the shark ate the guy from the back end of the boat.
I don’t like watching scary movies in theaters because there’s always at least one moron who actually gets terrified and has to be calmed down. So annoying.
The grosser and scarier, the better. But only when it’s fake. I can’t bear to watch real beheading videos (for example) because I know they’re real people and HOLY SHIT THAT GUY JUST DIED! Often, after a really bad horror movie, I will look up the actors/actresses on IMDB just to reassure myself they’re ok. And they are! So no harm is done. Other than freaky dreams, I don’t take any of it seriously.
I used to be unnerved by things that go bump in the night, but then I figured out that not believing in an afterlife should take care of all of that. There is a certain thrill I get in watching a good haunted house movie or reading a well-crafted ghost story.
I guess I adhere to Edith Wharton’s notion: “I don’t believe in ghosts, but I’m afraid of them.”
I love horror movies, and I want them to scare me as much as is possible. I watch them in the dark to increase the effect, which generally lasts until I go to bed. My emotions about the movie thereafter are just about the quality of the scare it gave me, not the scare itself.
Unfortunately it’s rare to find one that can genuinely spook me*. Maybe five or six movies in my life have achieved it, starting with Psycho when I were a lad. Paranormal Activity didn’t do it. The ones that do these days are usually Japanese - Ringu and Ju On scared me shitless, and the latter is the only one to do it on two different viewings.
Unlike Anaamika I prefer ambiguity: having a resolution dilutes the spookiness for me. Like what the little boy says at the end of Ringu, which made the back of my neck prickle.
I do not, however, like gratuitous gore or torture porn.
I’m assuming you’ve seen the American versions of Ringu and Ju On – while not as successful in creating chills as the originals, I do think they have some effective scenes.
Additionally, I have to recommend the original version of *The Haunting *(1963), based on the story The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson (which itself is well worth reading). Stay away from the 90’s remake. There is but one special effect in the original movie, and it’s a minor one at that – it’s all atmosphere and dread.
Also, Insidious, released last year, had some great unsettling scenes in it (until it suddenly but inevitably ran off the rails in the last 30 minutes). I’ll spoiler this next part for persons who haven’t seen it, but might:
I saw *Insidious *twice in the theater, the second time just to confirm what I thought I saw: the scene with the ghost boy in the newsie cap, dancing to “Tiptoe Through The Tulips,” was made especially unnerving because Rose Byrne’s character didn’t realize that she had walked right by the ghost boy before exiting the house. This YouTuber saw the same thing I did: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7UUtLZ1Sgw
That kind of creepiness, in which you’re not entirely sure what you saw, sticks with me. Unfortunately, in my opinion, the movie just lost control in its final half hour.
Finally, I’ll second previous recommendations for the recent adaptation of Susan Hill’s story “The Woman in Black.” Again, the original story is very effective; the 2012 movie adaptation makes some changes that aren’t entirely clear in their reasoning, but it’s a good chilling movie nonetheless. I would LOVE to see the theater production – I’ve read that it’s simply marvelous.
I like to be a little bit spooked, although there aren’t many movies that hit the right spot. A good ghost story or haunted house can do it. If I’m watching with the lights turned off and start to become uncomfortably aware of the yawning, dark gulf of the stairwell behind the living room armchairs, or when I go up to bed afterwards, I’m aware of the space under the bed or the open closet door, then the movie’s done its job. I don’t want something so disturbing that it keeps me up, though.
No. Hate, hate, hate!
Any of that sort of thing seems to lodge in my mind and screw things up in there for a long, long time. My brain just does not cope well with any horror type stuff
I’ve tried several times, since I have friends that love it, but it’s just no good for me, so I steer well clear.
