For example, I don’t like “realistic” horror movies (think Silence of the Lambs). Too many horrible headlines out there to feel comfortable with a movie monster of that sort. But an escaped science experiment or weird critter in the basement? Sure.
As far as what I’d like to see? More werewolf movies. Vampires, as all know and agree, have gotten far too much unearned publicity and media! Vampires are the upper class, keeping down the working-man wolfman (and women, though that last seems mostly to be in Australia from what I’ve seen)!
I’m the opposite - I would like to see the “hits really close to home” horror genre. Such as absentminded parents leaving kids in hot cars (or being separated from them in a shopping mall and not being able to find them again), or school shootings from the viewpoint of the victims, or real-life atrocities in the Khmer Rouge or Ukraine.
Not because I have anything against kids or war victims, but because I think horror is frequently shown in genres where it’s insulated from people - that is, you think, “That couldn’t happen to me.” Having it shown in a way that could happen to anyone, or is in fact happening, makes the gut churn that much more. And who knows, maybe it’ll lead to real-life reform or changes that will save lives.
I like suspense. The Village and A Quiet Place are my favorites. I hate jump scares, and I have no interest in supernatural (The Exorcist) or brutality (Saw).
Same here-- I don’t like horror where the bad guys are the scariest, most evil creatures of all time…humans. Serial killer horror is too real. I began watching ‘Funny Games’, the Naomi Watts version, when it came out on DVD years ago but decided I didn’t want to see what I knew was coming-- the torture and killing of a family. So I decided to stop watching before the bad stuff happened. Similarly, I don’t like the ‘torture porn’ genre like the Hostel movies. Nothing, especially since I became a father, that involves the torture and /or killing of children.
I prefer my horror to be of the psychological variety. Mind fucks over buckets of blood. I like implacable evil that is mysterious and largely unexplained. Like Samara in ‘the Ring’ or the ‘It Follows’ shapeshifter thing. You don’t necessarily need a whole origin or backstory for your evil creature-- sometimes keeping it unknown is scarier. Stephen King’s ‘It’ has one of the greatest evil creations in Pennywise the Clown, but he should have just kept its origins unknown. King messed up when he reveals that Pennywise was actually some sort of alien spider from outer space though of course that wasn’t the worst thing about the book’s ending
I agree with that. You could have a jump scare with Bugs Bunny suddenly appearing and everybody in the audience would react.
I don’t like gratuitous gore except if it’s incidental and unavoidable to a good story (eg the beach scene in Saving Private Ryan. On the other hand if it’s just some whackjob hacking apart women in a university dorm, I am absolutely not a fan. And I do fear that movies of that nature could give real people very bad ideas, though that’s just my gut feel, not based on any actual fact.
I like suspense. I really enjoyed The Sixth Sense and The Dead Zone, as examples.
If you have HBOMax, One Two Three, All Eyes On Me is a very gripping short film you might like. I’m not a fan of horror or suspense movies, but this one really grabbed me. It’s only 15 minutes long, but I’m not sure I’d have made it through more.
None whatsoever. The world is horrible enough without adding horror movies to the mix. I make an exception for the old Universal monsters, but that’s about it. The genre just doesn’t interest me any.
I got burned out on vampires after the Anne Rice books and didn’t bother with Twilight or its knockoffs. Ditto with zombies and spores. Ghosts and hauntings are a dime a dozen.
Horror movies that focus on action and gory effects are fun, but not necessarily scary. There’s little mystery involved. I like when the monster’s motivations are more than just slaughter everybody, and are difficult to figure until the story wraps up.
Ghouls, I’d get into. They’re smarter than zombies, but not as fashion-forward as vampires. The ghouls in Brian McNaughton’s Throne of Bones are mainly a semi-bestial society that lives in a Necropolis under the fading empire of Crotalorn. The living are actually more depraved than the flesh-eating ghouls. There’s also the ghouls in Neil Gaiman’s The Graveyard Book that are more like mischievous imps who name themselves fancy titles like “The Bishop of Wellingsly,” “The 33rd President of the United States,” and the “Emperor of China.”
The gory/serial killer types don’t scare me at all. The supernatural ones really upset me. I know that the former could happen in real life (and some did) but what I truly dread is being stuck in a situation where I don’t understand what is going on, no matter how unrealistic.
Serial killers, no matter how ruthless, are just as vulnerable as I am. With some intelligence, strength and a little bit of luck, I could plausibly off them. Supernatural events, however, are beyond my influence.
Unsurprisingly, I’d love to see movies that are entirely based on atmosphere. Threatening, out-of-place, eerie events you cannot escape. No gore, no jump scare. They could even do away with monsters.
The scariest horror movie I can imagine would unfold just like a nightmare. Pure existential, inescapable dread.
I’m not a werewolf, vampire, etc aficionado. I like movies like Get Out! (2017) that have a lot of suspense. I don’t mind violence as long as it’s not shown in gory detail.
I hate jump scares (or as we call them - trick-fucks), and agree that it is the mark of lazy horror movie making.
Only two movies have scared me, or at least stand out as scary, but I’ll add a third that I think almost counts:
Hereditary - it can’t live up to its hype if you are expecting it to be scary, but I had NO idea what it was about and I was disturbed for days after seeing it.
Possession (1981) - Just so unsettling and that subway scene with the lead actress was insane.
The Wicker Man - unsettling throughout, but the ending honestly kind of shook me and I knew more or less what was coming. The people singing, swinging their arms. Ugh. Obviously, I mean the Chris Lee and Edward Woodward version. Never seen the modern one.
I like psychological and supernatural stuff. No gore, except as necessary.
Ghosts are good, and haunted houses are the best. I also like stories that are in an isolated setting, such as the hotel in The Shining.
What I’m looking for in a horror story is that sense of awe that I used to get from the best of the old Twilight Zones. A feeling that everything I understood about the world was wrong and I need to look at it all again through a new lens.
I don’t like extreme gore (tho I can tolerate some…) What I do like is weird horror where things aren’t explained and everything just feels “off.” If anyone saw this year’s Skinamarink, that was an interesting (very) slow burn of a horror movie.
Two older movies that had an effect on me, possibly because I was a teen at the time (a young adult for the later film).
The Other from the novel by Tom Tryon, and one of your few chances to see the legendary Uta Hagen on film. Uneasy suspense and momentary horror and a really creepy ending. There is a twist that was heavily advertised, but it is only a plot hinge to make the whole movie more horrifying.
Lord of the Flies (1963 version) from William Golding’s book. A society devolving into chaos and terror. Not usually thought of as a horror movie, I think, but it holds an unflinching mirror to what humans are capable of.
