HORROR WITHOUT GHOSTS

R

red amoeba

Hii
I am in search of Good films which I can refer for the story I am writing for a film . I need good horror/thriller references , which has the element of supernatural / ghost suspense , but the reason should be a rational one.
Most of the J horror or K horror slip in to pure ghost stories once an neat spine chilling moments are established in first 30-40 mins.. I wish to continue such a treatment but, with NO GHOSTS ( I cant make a film about elements I cannot believe in :( )
Or there will be Paranormal activity . blairwitch projects which has ambiguous endings..
Any suggestions for the kind of films I am seeking for ?
 
If you want plausible supernatural occurrences (to you) then you have to ask yourself what supernatural occurrences you believe in. If you are saying none, than there's your answer. Don't write it. Movies are fiction, so that won't help you.
 
I am not entirely positive as to what your asking also. You want a story that plays like a ghost story but in the end the explanation is not a ghost story, but a rational answer.

That sounds like a tall order. In order for horror to be effective, it has to be believed, otherwise its just lame. And if you believe, then the answer of it being explainable as something else, kind of calls you dumb for believing in the first place. I don't think that would result in a very effective film.

If you are looking to make a horror film, that implies that there is a supernatural element to it(ghosts, monsters, aliens etc.)

It sounds more like you want to make a thriller, (tense, creepy, reality based).

These tend to be serial killer stories, slasher films, torture-porn. I would suggest Alfred Hitchcock films as reference. The plots in those are extremely tense, creepy and absolutely no ghosts. Others I would check out would be, the original Halloween, Carrie, the original The Hills Have Eyes.

If you can't buy into the supernatural aspect to most horror, look into the psychological side. The criminally insane, spree killers, serial killers, stalkers, sick(infectious dissease), biological attacks... etc. Look for stories about things that have happened in the past, like during the tuberculosis days, thousands of people were locked into sanitoriums and kept away from the general public. These people were either insane when they entered, or made insane by the place.

Get creative and think about what you don't like and why. Then what you do like will be more clear. Then research the hell out of what you do like and you will come upon something great eventually.

Casey
 
red amoeba said:
Hii
I am in search of Good films which I can refer for the story I am writing for a film . I need good horror/thriller references , which has the element of supernatural / ghost suspense , but the reason should be a rational one.
Click to expand...
I don't know of such a film. I'm a big fan of supernatural/ghost
films but all the ones I know are about the supernatural and
ghosts.
I wish to continue such a treatment but, with NO GHOSTS ( I cant make a film about elements I cannot believe in)
Click to expand...
Then, as others have said, you need to make a film about elements
you DO believe in. There are many horror/thriller films with no
ghosts so you have a lot to choose from. It seems to me the
supernatural/ghost element in your story needs to be only in the
mind of the characters. For example if at the end of "Blair Witch"
they found a group of kids who were pulling an elaborate prank.
 
For horror I'm not sure, but maybe Jaws as thriller.

I know what you mean about J and K horror building up tension, then lightening flashes and a silly looking pale blue/grey woman or child (drowning victim) is revealed in the shadows, and the cat and mouse of ghost revenge is on.

-Thanks-
 
thanks for the answers guys, but at the same time, I must say you took me as some novice who does not the basic genres of films like thriller or supernatural or horror...\
with all due respects for the time and efforts you took to reply me , I would like to let you guys know that, I have seen all those socalled Thrillers and supernatural ones you are mentioning.
"not possible " cannot to be in the dictionary of a film maker , i believe in , so if thts what your suggestiions are about , then thanks very much about.
I meant , the first plot point and 2nd act should go , with characters and audience should be in dilemma , "si this done by a ghost or supernatural force " ? but in the end i would like to give a rational explanation.
Say , like those K and J horrors , the plot elements of someone who answers a phone gets killed , someone who watched a video will die in 7 days etc etc...but i need the end to be rational..... for, those films go like typical thrillers for 30mins and end up showing white painted faces, insulting audience' intelligence
 
The idea is good, the only film that i can think of that emmulates what i feel your saying is "Hide and Seek" (2005), which flopped critically. You have to be careful in the way you deliver your story. The conclusion of Hide and Seek bitch slaps the audience in the face. Although after Fight Club, Hide and Seek e.t.c you cant really feature any skitsos, i would question how you can bring about these creepy events whilst staying true to the rational conclusion you want at the end.

I cant suggest anything, good luck with your continued search.
 
red amoeba, I think I know where you are going with this. I am not a fan of horror movies precisely because of "the guy in a rubber suit" technique that simply insults my intelligence (some horror makers think that substituting the guy in a rubber suit with a CGI thingy doth a good horror make). So because of that I may not be one of the best to recommend a horror movie save for one - Pulse. It was the last horror flick to genuinely scare me and it seems to have the elements that you were talking about.

Once you said K and J horrors I got your point. Like I said I am not the authority on the horror genre (though I do have a pet project on my list I will give a shot one of these days), but it must be said (as I am sure you may know this) it could be tricky business to successfully tell an Eastern horror story to a Western audience. Some of the base rules - the primary mumbo-jumbo, the magic if you will - that the premise is based on could be very different in each culture's folklore thus proving a difficult sell for a western audience in particular (could go both ways but our audiences tend to be pickier). Fear, freight and scary are universal. It's the construct that triggers or evokes these emotions - the folklore, the myth, the legend - where the differences exist. That is if you genuinely want to trigger these emotions and not do the cop out of cheap surprise after cheap surprise which tends to be the key tool of the many horror movies that are out there these days. I am in no way suggesting that it cannot be done. I am just saying that with some study and thought it can be pulled off with great success, as in "Pulse". Check it out. Hopefully it's what you had in mind. Good hunting and good luck.
 
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Pulse is what he is not looking for. It is a remake of a Jap horror with whiteish ghost. Even the remake with Kristen Bell had those ghost.
 
Yeah, but were they infact ghosts? I mean they looked like ghosts but I gathered them to be something else. Plus the movie tries to rationalize their (its) existence in the end. But, you're right they do look like ghosts. I suggested this because I thought them to be something else and for the whole rationalization aspect. Well Pulse is all I had in my arsenal -like I said, I am not a horror buff. Good luck in your search though.
 
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Thank you guys and sorry that I am replying late , I was away from gadgets for a few days..
@greatDanton..
Yes HIDE n SEEK is a good example. I liked it , for there is a logical explanation in it ,but anyway split personality is an abused and outdated theme days
I also like THE OTHERS ... for they dint "show" creepy ghosts but played on a psyche level , still it becomes a ghost story.
@KOSH
seems u understood my point..
I dint see pulse..
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0454919/ is this what u r referring ? If so, the photos are portraying ghosts already !

I know nothing is impossible , but I am just in hunt thanks a lot for the help guys.
BTW. I am trying to break in my language of Southern India, so most of these hollywood or k or J themes wont work with semi educated and less educated audience here...I got to serve for my audience right ?
 
Idea

You want a horror story with a scientific explanation as to how ghosts could be.
Here you go!
Read below.


A soldier has a special device that allows him to phase shift or for his atoms to temporarily become virtual atoms or something similar (perhaps quantum technology) such that he is virtually a ghost. He is in Iraq killing terrorists/ enemy combatants/etc.

He is inside a enemy camp getting intel when his device malfunctions and he is killed. An enemy soldier gets the device. After changing hands a few times, OSAMA gets the device and goes to USA with it.

Once in USA, he goes into peoples homes and torments them into thinking his ghost is present. He also kills many people. He says every time they kill a terrorist/soldier/etc that that soldier will come back as a ghost and kill 1000's of their people in USA.

We see the media going crazy about it. And the military refuses to come clean/public with it. After a period of time, the president orders them to do something about it.

The military have a TR3B or what ever super secret spacecraft that uses the technology to clock the spaceship and also use the virtual particles in a toroidal loop, such that millions of tones of virtual particles can be 'temporarily' created and rotated around a toroidal structure with their virtual mass creating a warp in space such that it can be used to generate thrust and lift for the space craft.

The military sends this spacecraft above the area where Osama's 'Ghost' is around and use the craft to detect his location. (When he is moving, his virtual particles create an effect on space just like the Antigravity Engines create an effect, and this effect can be measured). The military uses quantum technology to make every atom in a 'ghost' soldiers body perform a simultaneous 'quantum jump' (teleportation, but differently to how star trek does it) to the location. The ghost soldier can not detect Osama when he is standing still (only when in motion, due to the gravity effect of the movement of the particles). Well, Osama kills the soldier and activates the return signal that 'teleports'(quantum jumps) him back to the USA spaceship. Once on the spaceship he kills the US soldiers and takes the ship back to His home country and loads it with his own troops and drops them off in USA, each with a 'ghost' device. Now we have terrorist 'ghosts' killing and torturing people all over USA!
 
If you are looking for a psycho thriller horror movie, some years back a highly under rated movie called "THE HAND" came out about a man who lost a hand in an auto accident and gets fitted with a prosthetic hand and has nightmares that his original hand is out killing people who rub him the wrong way and the bodies of these victims turn up for real in the movie.
 
red amoeba said:
I need good horror/thriller references , which has the element of supernatural / ghost suspense , but the reason should be a rational one.
Click to expand...

No such thing. Everything supernatural is, by definition, irrational. Just use your imagination, dude. Write whatever the fuck you want.
 
How about a movie about a psychologist that is head over heals into doing research on fear/nightmares of the subconscious. To the point he neglects his family/friends/health. Due to fatigue he accidentally doses himself with a chemical hallucinogen that effects the dreaming/fear part of his brain and can't tell if the horrors he sees are real or imaginary. The twist could be that everything he sees is in fact real just distorted by his unconscious for example a coworker/boss he hates is viewed as a demon etc.
 
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