What is "Horror"?

maestro1d said:
Salem's Lot was very scary... probably one of the main reasons my brother and I, and all the other kids I knew growing up in the late 70's couldn't sleep for like a year.

The scene where the boy comes back and taps at the window after he is a vampire, and is trying to get his brother to let him back in the house....

Shudder. I am gonna go watch Austin Powers about five times so I can forget it now. Thanks a lot! Thought I had successfully blocked that friggin vampire scene out during childhood. Sigh.

:-)
Click to expand...

Yeah, I also dig how Barlow was this ancient, barely coherent animal, rather than this slick, suave dracula-type. Much more Nosferatu.
 
maestro1d said:
OK... just woke up, reading e-mail and browsing site here, and a few neurons clicked together.

Here we go: My FAVE pre-"Shining" horror flick (late 70s) HAS GOT TO be "The Changeling" with George C Scott. Like what... 1978, 1979?. . .
Click to expand...

I posted a teeny clip from it a while back, asking if anyone knew what sort of lens they got for a shot. (The pan of the diningroom/library(?), into the hall leading to the "music" room.)

Yes, scary movie, without being "startling", which too many rely on these days.
 
A few random thoughts...

One might think all horror flicks have monsters and ghosts.

One of the greatest horror flicks ever made had nothing to do with the supernatural.

Coppola's Apocolypse Now.


And then you've got David Lynch. who's got a homeless guy living next to a dumpster behind a restaurant... This "monster" seems to be spinning the whole scene, like the witches in Shakespeare's, Macbeth... The horror in his Lynch's seems to partly involve turning the commonplace inside out. Mullholland Drive seems to be a cross road, where the Nancy Drew meets the occult and seemingly gets devoured.

How close to reality can you take a film and still scare the be-jesus out of the audience?


Other fabulous horrors include paying close to three dollars for a gallon of gas!
 
Last edited:
^ Exactly.

My first "brainstormed" idea is pretty nifty, however its neither a really good "screamer" nor at the same time something "Scary to the core".

Tough to find that good balance of something that really fits the horror genre :)
 
Adding to the PG-13 list.. and I can't believe I forgot about this movie--

The Gate

It's a fun horror movie, the one where the kids find the hole in their backyard? Awesome. Can't wait to see it this weekend when it gets here.

As far as Horror not including monsters and ghosts--

Of course. Then again, it's quite difficult to pull something like that off in six minutes.
 
i will throw a cronenberg selection in there "The Brood" --- it has little people in it ... AAH.

Oh, btw, "monster" doesn't mean it has to have 8 tentacles and goo dripping from it's mouth. I would call Jack's charater in the Shining a monster, monsters can be humans, whatever, as long as they are not known to exist by current science. Which ... is a lot.
 
FIlms I can't remember the names of

FIlms I can't remember the names of

About a billion years ago I got permission to stay up and watch The Trilogy of Terror. Yeah, my folks new it would be okay. I was out by nine. But if my dad's telling of the story about the little statue coming to life and hacking at the girls ankles with a kitchen knife, winding up in the oven and getting all quiet and a climax with her then on the phone to her mom saying "come on over..." all the while squating on the floor with the knife in her hand is accurate? Then this has to be just about the kreepiest movie I have heard of. I think it's even in black and white.
So..... horror movies?
Psycho
The Thing (remake)
the black and white movie with the "breathing door" and the statue garden where the statues are pinching the actors?
The Exorcist
The Ammityville Horror
Anything with Paris Hilton trying to act
Gigli
 
I think that there should be an outline such as the following to understand and categorize the genre of horror:

Top Level: Drama (many sub-levels could go under this, but I'll only focus on the "horror line" here!)
Second Level: Suspense / Thriller (movies such as SILENCE OF THE LAMBS or VERTIGO would go here)
Third Level: Horror

Beneath HORROR would be sub-categories, such as:
a) Slasher
b) Torture
c) Sci-Fi (of the Horror variety -- remember, we are under HORROR, pure sci-fi would have its own dedicated sub beneath DRAMA, possibly)
d) Fantasy
e) Hauntings / Spiritual
f) Occult
g) Monsters (Vamps, Werewolves, Zombies, etc.)
h) Nature (like Jaws)

Okay, so it needs to be FLESHED out -- but my idea is that SILENCE OF THE LAMBS (for instance) is not pure horror, but is closely related in the SUSPENSE / THRILLER genre.

Some rework is needed -- but I think an outline is in order to really nail this down! :)
 
i think it is obvious "horror" to one person and "horror" to another can be two rabidly different things.

i think it will just make the festival even more interesting.

which is good.
 
i think the feeling of horror is universal tho, which combined with some other factors, makes a horror film. ****. I just want to be scared/creeped out, and I think there's a lot of people here who could pull that off.
 
Horror?

Horror?

White Noise with Michael Keaton scared the crap out of me. I could walk next to my tv for a week.
 
white noise

white noise

the crazy part is, it didn't really start scaring me until about an hour AFTER I had watched it. And the jumpy bits, you see them coming and it still scares the crap out of you.
 
desperatecomfort said:
Yeah, I also dig how Barlow was this ancient, barely coherent animal, rather than this slick, suave dracula-type. Much more Nosferatu.
Click to expand...
Definitely. It's little details like that help make a truly great movie. Speaking of Steven King Horror... this is probably why so many movies made from his books just feel lame in comparison to the novel...

That's what ruined Steven King's "Dark Half" for me- The book rocked, and then when translated to big screen, they stuck way too much "creepy" production value in it.

For instance... the murder scene at the condo:

Now, if I recall, in the book this was supposed to be a nice, elegant type place. Velvet jacketed doormen, potted plants in the hallways and brass elevator rails comes to mind...

The director (thinking he knew better of course) turned it into a creepy looking, run down type building with odd camera angles- he lit it with "wrong side of the track", film noir style primary greens and red highlights.

All of which ruined the effect.

The scene screamed- hey this is a creepy building where a murder is supposed to take place. So when it does, are you scared? Or are you yawning and getting up to buy popcorn? This is not what King wrote.

Yup.... the devil is in the details.
 
Kholi said:
Adding to the PG-13 list.. and I can't believe I forgot about this movie--

The Gate

It's a fun horror movie, the one where the kids find the hole in their backyard? Awesome. Can't wait to see it this weekend when it gets here.

As far as Horror not including monsters and ghosts--

Of course. Then again, it's quite difficult to pull something like that off in six minutes.
Click to expand...
Yeah- I liked "The Gate"- saw it with my bro when I was 16...

Scary flick... effects were a little over the top because they were groundbreaking for the time.

Cool movie though. Gives knew meaning to "all hell's breaking loose" LOL
 
The Gate rocks!

I used to own Trilogy of Terror on VHS when I was a kid. I vaguely remember the killer lawn gnome. Also there's a boob in the movie which is way cool for an eight year old boy.

If anyone here has seen Irreversible and Man Bites Dog and enjoyed them, then I recommend The Untold Story, Baise Moi, Guinea Pig, Salo, and Nekromantik as a few more films to check out. You won't find these titles at your neighborhood Blockbuster though!

EDIT: Holy crap! I can't believe I forgot to suggest Cannibal Holocaust!!! It is THE scariest and disturbing film you're likely to ever witness. Trust me.
 
Anyone seen Tetsuo: The Iron Man? Cause you might want to put that in contention for most disturbing horror ever. I'd label it as Japanese Art Horror. Lots of cool stuff done with stop-motion.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top