What you want/don't want to see in a horror movie?

Cafe Society
21

I like smart, suspenseful horror. I hate gore, I won’t watch extended, gleeful scenes of sadism and torture and mutilation. That’s why I hate slasher movies, especially the “extreme” variety like House of 1,000 Corpses. You couldn’t pay me enough to sit through that stuff.

Don’t get me wrong, I have no problem with “action movie violence.” Some of my favorite movies of recent years have been the ultra-violent Kill Bill and Sin City. But those are all really stylized, and more often than not, they are stories of good guys doing bad things to bad guys, as most action movies are. I don’t mind rooting for violent heroes as they get their much-deserved revenge. But for me, horror movie violence is different because it’s more indiscriminate, usually villain-centric, where bad guys do bad things to innocent people who don’t deserve it. I can’t root for the “name-brand” slashers in those long-standing franchises, I can’t take sick joy in even the most obnoxious of teenagers being tortured and terrorized, and I don’t like seeing people who don’t stand a chance when zombies come a-calling. Does that make any sense at all?

22

**Baker, Push You Down, Otto, MidnightRadio **: “Oh yeah?” Thank you, guys.

Now, that being said, I have had quite enough of horror films where a monster simple grasps one limb of a person, and they do nothing but scream. Sure, I like it in hentai :smiley: , but in a horror film, seeing a tentacle wrap around a person’s leg, then having them simply scream, and make no attempt not to be killed pisses me off. Sure, so when it happens to the hero, the same thing does not happen, but it annoys me, since apparently, the co-eds on a campus have had their minds secretly replaced with Folgers’s Crystals©.

P.S. Yes, I know it is possible that a creature that hunts human may have created some sort of amazing muscle paralyzer, but if it that fast, it would surely freeze the vocal cords as well. I just can’t suspend my belief, when this happens.

23

I perefer horror flicks where the characters actually act like someone would in that real situation.
Scared people’s first instinct is self preservation or a ‘flee’ mentality. I wish they would act like it. No more “Blood oozing from upstairs? I better go check it out?”
And I hate when the helping character (i.e. policeman, father, 911 operator) just won’t listen to the distressed person because they don’t believe them.
“Come over here, there’s a killer with an axe behind this bush!”
“No, I don’t believe you, everything’s fine, I’m leaving now.”
“No, really, he’s right here, it’ll take you two seconds.”
“Nope, sorry, I’m outta here.”

A campy movie I really liked was Tremors . Mainly because the characters were smart and actually thought up some intelligent ways to escape/fight the monsters.

24

Tremors is awesome! It’s one of my dad’s favorite movies. However, we all love it because it’s fun and campy (like a 1950s monster movie)–it’s not scary at all.

25

What I want to see: Boobies. Lots of 'em.

26

Now I have to respectfully disagree. As much as I love boobies, there are other sorts of films perfectly suited for that stuff, and you know exactly what I mean! Horror movies are usually about violence, depravity, and death, and I’m not totally comfortable with mixing sex and violence in such a manner, especially when it is usually attractive naked or half-naked women who are always the victims of the violence.

I’m reminded of a horrible comic book series from the '90s, Lady Death, where the epitome of death was this impossibly-proportioned woman with basketball-sized breasts, a tiny waist, and a wardrobe of medieval-Goth-stripper-dominatrix fetish wear. The comic was full of gore and sadism and dismemberment that I couldn’t tell if readers were supposed to be tittilated or grossed out. It was obviously aimed at an audience of horny teenage boys who were into heavy metal and couldn’t buy Playboys yet, but I just found the sex/violence combo disconcerting (and I say this as a fan of both when taken separately).

27

Agreed! Sex and comedy can be good. Sex and drama can be good.
But why put sex into a horror flick? Is it supposed to keep you from getting bored with a crappy horror flick?
For that matter, what example can be given of a good horror flick that had some sex in it?

28

Don’t look at the boobies, then. More for me.

29

Nonono, I’m female, and I agree: more boobies in horror films! Hell, more boobies in everything. What’s the harm? Boobies are beautiful.

30

More nudity. But make it believable. Like, the characters discover the giant killer moth is only trying to eat clothes - not the people themselves, so they go naked to increase their chances of survival.

Totally cinema verite.

31

I certainly agree that most horror movies have only actively-stupid characters in them. “Every person who went off alone has been killed? We’d better split up!” Tremors stands out for the reason you give: the characters are reasonably intelligent. I wouldn’t describe it as ‘campy’ though. And BBVL, it is scary. At least until you’ve watched it as many times as I have.

As to the OP, I like psychological horror far more than splatter. I haven’t seen any of those Freddy-the-Thirteenth sort of movies in years. Night of the Hunter works, as does the original * Manchurian Candidate* (if it counts as horror).

32

Night of the Hunter is Robert Mitchum, right? I really need to see that some time, maybe as a double-feature with the original Cape Fear. I dig Bobby the Mitch.

33

Yep. Great movie, and sadly the only one that Charles Laughton ever directed: it was critically panned on release, but it’s truly creepy, especially Mitchum as the “preacher” with “Love” and “Hate” tattooed on his knuckles. Even the kids aren’t annoying, and Shelley Winters turns in a blinder of a performance. Beautiful black and white camera work, and some fantastic imagery, like when the kids float down the river on a raft, seen from the POV of the creepy-crawlies in the trees on the bank. The shot of Shelley Winters floating dead at the bottom of a lake with her hair across her throat like a slash is fantastic.

34

I am echoing others here, but my first wish is for more intelligent characters, that act like real people.
Second, I would like more…well, not realistic but let’s say more WELL DEFINED threats. Having an invulnerable, unstoppable villain/monster gets fucking BORING because then the movie just becomes about what way will he kill next. I like horror movies where the monster/villain has a weakness (a REAL weakness, not one that turns out inexplicably not to work in the end) and can be killed.
Third, I too dislike sadistic scenes in movies. I don’t WANT to see people tortured and mutilated. It’s okay if it has happened in the movie, and if the main characters come across the body and see what is happened to it, but I don’t want to see it happening. It will make me leave/turn the channel/turn off the DVD pretty damn quick.
And finally, I’d like to see better endings. Most horror movies (well, let’s be honest, most MOVIES in general) have shitty endings.

35

Can we please stop having cats jumping out of everywhere? I mean, damn, that’s some kind of tired cliche. Maybe use a different animal, or something. What about a pelican? Nobody would expect that. Just have some buxom teenager peeking around a corner, and then WHAM! Pelican jumps on the dresser. Classic. Extra points if the pelican is actually the killer.

36

Secret Window

37

Dante, that made me laugh so hard I choked on my own saliva.

As far as the people who say that they wish the characters were smarter - if they didn’t do stupid things, then they wouldn’t be in this mess and there wouldn’t be a movie. That’s why we suspend disbelief!

38

The original Halloween.

39

I agree with more boobies in horror films.

Then again, I think Remains of the Day could have used a few more tit shots. Not to mention Citizen Kane.

40

I think aftermath is more effective than action. The girl’s face in the closet in The Ring was effective, but few things compare to the way the scene was handled in The Silence Of The Lambs when Lecter escapes. We see a glimpse of his face coming in for the kill, then cut to different scene. Guards come in and see the victim crucified in a most gory fashion, but only for maybe 2 seconds. Well done. Gives the gore junkies their fix, and the squeamish aren’t walking out from the overkill. Aftermath is where it’s at, and ideally we only get glimpses of it.

One caveat, is the well done glimpse of pain, as evidenced by Beatrix biting the lip of the coma rapist. That glimpse puts me on edge. Any longer and it wouldn’t have worked nearly as well. It could’ve even been shorter, IMO.

Freaky tangental shit that never gets explained is cool. I really liked the scene in Solaris (with George Clooney) where the black chick won’t let him into her room, and you can hear something (crazy) going on just beyond the door she’s holding closed. Never explained. Very cool effect.

More boobies, but no cheesy sex scenes. Either make the sex scenes cheeseless, (impossible?), or make the Big Bad rip up one of the girl’s clothes just as she gets away. Mmmmm, boobies. An alternative to outright boobies is wet t-shirts. In particular, Jessica Biehl getting thrown down the basement stairs in the Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Nice. Could’ve been a touch more transparent, if you ask me. Done right, this can appease both the boobie fans and the more puritan audiences at the same time.

Random sample of scenes I thought worked really well for whatever reason:

“What’s in the box???” - Se7en
Deniro’s maniacal laughing in the theater. - Cape Fear
Evil ghosts only appear in camera, then turn and notice you. - House on Haunted Hill
Getting hobbled. - Misery
Anything with a mirror. - 90% of all supernatural horror movies.

One of my most favorite movie moments ever was in Killing Zoe. Guy is waiting around smoking a butt next to dead body. When it’s time to go, he looks around for something to do with his cigarette, and then tosses it into a pool of blood as if it were a puddle of water. Jarring. (Pool of blood was digitally removed for cable run. Obviously, I’m not the only person to find it jarring.)