By “realistic,” I mean going into shock and so on. It seems like in every horror movie, even the good ones, the characters bounce back and accept far too quickly whatever supernatural things are occurring. I recently saw The Abandoned, and while it was absolutely excellent, I felt like the main character would have begun to go into shock in at least several parts of the film, but “bounced back” far too easily.
I thought Shaun of the Dead did a great job of portraying realistic characters.
Poltergeist. The characters all seem to act along plausible lines for the majority of the film. The same for The Haunted .
If we go to the guts and gore splatter genre, Texas Chainsaw, House of a Thousand Corpses, and The Devil’s Rejects all have good victim reactions.
I like to think I’d be open to a supernatural explanation early on, especially with Poltergeist-like happenings that Acid Lamp cited.
Actually, when funny noises were coming out of my old Compaq POS computer, a poltergeist was my first thought. The damn thing had been in the shop three times – that godawful screeching had to be supernatural. And it happened at the same time as other funny noises, so I was open to it.
I think most movie characters take too long in realizing that they’re dealing with something unnatural. But sometimes that helps add to the tension, so I’m okay with it.
One of the attractions of David Lynch’s TV series Twin Peaks, at least in the very first couple of episodes, was that it did precisely this. People, including the police, were shown as profoundly affected by the death of a local girl. Her body wasn’t “pretty”, either. it looked like an incredibly realistic portrayal of unexpected death of a well-known individual.
Of course, the show rapidly got weird, then very weird. But during that initial phase, it stood out by a mile from the usual run of cleaned-up and depersonalized crime dramas.
Its kind of hard to say what a realistic reaction to a very unrealistic situation would be. I have no idea how I or anyone else would act during a sudden zombie outbreak because it has never and it will never actually happen. I think most people would be very reluctant to accept a supernatural occurrance even when presented with undeniable proof. Someone mentioned Shaun of the Dead, i think thats a great example. At one point his friend calls the zombies what they are and Shauns inmediate reaction is “dont use the Z word!”, which is the kind of denial i would expect most people to assume in such a case.
Some of my WAGs. Complete and utter chaos unlike anything we’ve ever seen before. People refusing to believe that those creatures are no longer their loved ones. Mainstream churches declaring doomsday.
South Korean director Bong Jun-ho’s movies tend to have very realistic characters, who are not out to save the world but are simply trying to deal with the problem at hand. They get frustrated, disheartened and make mistakes like real people do. They seem like someone you could meet on the street. Check out “Memories of Murder” or “The Host” to see what I’m talking about.
Hmm. I’m sure there’s a great deal of individual variation regarding such reactions; there cannot be a universal norm. And the people who would react by going into shock wouldn’t be much to make movies about, would they?
Reminds me of the old Richard Pryor (I believe it was him) bit about the Amityville Horror
Something like “Yeah, those stupid white folk stay and put up with that crap, if we heard “GET OUT”, we are outta there!”
I agree with Richard, but the movie wouldn’t last long. 
I thought that was Eddie Murphy? Vague recollection though.
Barbara’s responses in the original “Night of the Living Dead” struck me as quite realistic. Her “fight or flight” response got her away from the initial zombie attack and once she was inside the house she largely shut down.
I thought 16 Blocks (Bruce Willis, David Morse) was as realistic a cop movie as I’ve seen in a while.
Until the end when David shows up in the parking garage for the universal good-guy, bad-guy finale.
The overall best reaction to an unbelievable situation in a movie is in The war Game, Peter Watkins’ 1965 made-for-BBC (but, AFAIK, still never broadcast there) film about an atomic attack on Great Britain. Far and away the best of its kind – better than The Day After or even Threads. Shot in shaky black and white in a cinema verite style, the thing that really sticks with me are the shots of ordinary people caught in this – they sit by the side of the road, their eyes totally blank, with nobody home. Some rock back and forth. They’re dirty and disheveled and covered with black patches that, in black and white, could be dirt or dried blood or third degree burns. In other films about nuclear holocausts, people are trying to figure out what to do and asking questions. These people have been overwhelmed by it all.
It was Eddie Murphy, something like this:
Black family: “What a great house. This is really beautiful. Nice neighborhood…”
Demonic whisper: “GET OUT!”
Black family: “Too bad we can’t stay.”
It was shown on TV in the 1980s as part of a fortieth anniversary of Hiroshima season. I got a copy from somewhere recently and it is a stunning piece of work. I can sort of understand why the government got a bit antsy about it being broadcast in the sixties!
Better than “When The Wind Blows”?
Thats a very good choice.
YMMV, of course, but, for my money, yes.
Also, Richard Pryor on The Exorcist:
The Devil: Hello…
Black people: Goodbye!