since I'm making a horror/action/comedy I want to know what other movie goers like to see in horror films, what scares them, or just anything they think makes a horror movie memorable and watchable
what do u like/dislike in horror movies?
- Thread starter nobudgetfilmmaker
- Start date
Characters engaging in stupid, unrealistic behavior that only exists to put them in danger or get them killed. Like going down into that dark basement without a flashlight even though they know the psycho/monster is loose.
Also, I hereby declare a ban on using cats for fake startle moments.
Also, I hereby declare a ban on using cats for fake startle moments.
Horror films that are more action than horror. Don't like 'em. As above, a jump scare can work EXACTLY once per film.
What I DO like. Supernatural horror, rather than a slasher film. Films that don't explain everything and make me think (but provide enough that there is something to think ABOUT). Films where the "20 minutes with jerks" at the beginning, before the action starts, isn't painful to watch (or goes too far and becomes funny).
All told, I love horror, and if I find ONE thing to like in the film, I'll watch it all.
Addendum: you don't (and I think shouldn't) need to explain the rules of your zombies/demons/cosmic horrors in the film, but you DO need to figure them out for yourself, and be internally consistant in the film.
What I DO like. Supernatural horror, rather than a slasher film. Films that don't explain everything and make me think (but provide enough that there is something to think ABOUT). Films where the "20 minutes with jerks" at the beginning, before the action starts, isn't painful to watch (or goes too far and becomes funny).
All told, I love horror, and if I find ONE thing to like in the film, I'll watch it all.
Addendum: you don't (and I think shouldn't) need to explain the rules of your zombies/demons/cosmic horrors in the film, but you DO need to figure them out for yourself, and be internally consistant in the film.
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Hate: Senseless violence, gore, weak characters, playing with the stomach instead of the mind, no credibility to the story, and stories with no or bad endings.
Like: Shock stories that play with your mind and not your stomach, such as Oliver Stones's THE HAND, starring Michael Cain, foundations in the real world, a good build up with tension, unexpected twists like THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS, stories about the unexplained such as curses like CARNAVAL OF SOULS.
Watch the aboved mentioned classics and you will be a better horror filmmaker.
Like: Shock stories that play with your mind and not your stomach, such as Oliver Stones's THE HAND, starring Michael Cain, foundations in the real world, a good build up with tension, unexpected twists like THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS, stories about the unexplained such as curses like CARNAVAL OF SOULS.
Watch the aboved mentioned classics and you will be a better horror filmmaker.
depends what im interested at the time...example: sillyness and messy low budget ...Dead Alive, Bad Taste, Tokyo Gore Police,evil dead +pt2, Street Trash, Toxic Avenger just fun and messy sillyness...yes yes senseless gore...lol bring it on!
scary, creepy with thought put int to it Dead and Buried, Alien (classic example of the jump and scare tatics throughout the film), Carpenters The Thing, Orginal Friday the 13th These movies scared the hell out of me as a kid.
some international flavor.. Susperia, Inferno, Demons, Deep Red, City of the Living dead, The Beyond
recently seen hatchet 2 ...it was sooo bad...it talked and explained for over an hour before the plot actually started moving...i hate thoes kind of horror movies that are so pretentious to think that style and over examed plot are more improtant than the gore or scare factor.
Current teenage boper movies like twlight and even Fright Night.....just awfull pg rated horror these days in the theaters.
My fav classics
The orginal Haunting
Legend of hell house
It terror from beyond space (alien was based on this movie)
The orginal verision of The Thing
i agree carnaval of souls is creepy but slow..also which verision? i say the orginal is better! (im in da mood to review it again! havent seen it in ages)
scary, creepy with thought put int to it Dead and Buried, Alien (classic example of the jump and scare tatics throughout the film), Carpenters The Thing, Orginal Friday the 13th These movies scared the hell out of me as a kid.
some international flavor.. Susperia, Inferno, Demons, Deep Red, City of the Living dead, The Beyond
recently seen hatchet 2 ...it was sooo bad...it talked and explained for over an hour before the plot actually started moving...i hate thoes kind of horror movies that are so pretentious to think that style and over examed plot are more improtant than the gore or scare factor.
Current teenage boper movies like twlight and even Fright Night.....just awfull pg rated horror these days in the theaters.
My fav classics
The orginal Haunting
Legend of hell house
It terror from beyond space (alien was based on this movie)
The orginal verision of The Thing
i agree carnaval of souls is creepy but slow..also which verision? i say the orginal is better! (im in da mood to review it again! havent seen it in ages)
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There are 2 kind of horormovies that I like.
Japenese and al Sam Raimi Horor
The thing about Holywood horor is that its al (almost) the same story. The fist and second act are discovering a mistery and caracters dying. The second act is in holywood horor action movie crap. This is difrent in Japenese Horor. The 3d act can be as terrifying as the 1 and 2 act. This is also the reason I like movies like: Alien, Sphere and Event Horizon .
An exception for me is Pandorum. At the end it turned in action slug....but sound design, character design and the Idea of being lost in lonly dark space with no stars, no hope....was compesating that for me. Good twists, good suprises.....
Best horor ever........ El Orfanato
Japenese and al Sam Raimi Horor
The thing about Holywood horor is that its al (almost) the same story. The fist and second act are discovering a mistery and caracters dying. The second act is in holywood horor action movie crap. This is difrent in Japenese Horor. The 3d act can be as terrifying as the 1 and 2 act. This is also the reason I like movies like: Alien, Sphere and Event Horizon .
An exception for me is Pandorum. At the end it turned in action slug....but sound design, character design and the Idea of being lost in lonly dark space with no stars, no hope....was compesating that for me. Good twists, good suprises.....
Best horor ever........ El Orfanato
I'm weird about horror and sci fi films. I generally like films that I believe can happen in the real world (What can I say, I like reading biographies, learning about other people's lives. I'm boring). If a sci-fi or horror flick happens in a situation where the main characters can see what's going on around them but can't believe it's aliens or the supernatural as it is so improbable, and are looking for more reasonable explanations, then I tend to believe that situation and I tend to like it more.
So I like Omen (the original one), and The Exorcist, and Predator and Moon. In these movies, I'm immersed in the world as I understand it today, but something strange and unbelievable is happening in the world that I understand. The protagonists are trying to understand it with me as they too find the situation unbelievable.
That's my kind of movie. But like I said, I'm boring, and not the typical scifi or horror fan.
So I like Omen (the original one), and The Exorcist, and Predator and Moon. In these movies, I'm immersed in the world as I understand it today, but something strange and unbelievable is happening in the world that I understand. The protagonists are trying to understand it with me as they too find the situation unbelievable.
That's my kind of movie. But like I said, I'm boring, and not the typical scifi or horror fan.
Whats so boring or not typical about 2001 and 2010?? or War of the Worlds ( the orginal!)
Day of the Triffids.....even both verisions of The Thing..all these movies have a basis of fact...War of the worlds is an example of invasion tatics that could really happen..2001 has tech that is here an now..look at hal and now look at Ibm's chess computer ( i think its called deep blue). the Thing gives us an example of what alien life could be like...Day of the Triffids is an example of how a cosmic event could affect life on this planet.... anyway there is no typical scifi fan, either you like it or you dont..LOL and it sounds to me you like scifi but are verry picky....
anyway there is no typical scifi fan, either you like it or you dont..LOL and it sounds to me you like scifi but are verry picky....
No... I don't like sci fi. I don't get it unfortunately, even when I like it.
In another thread, people were talking about narration in Bladerunner. I said "oh, i wasn't aware of narration in bladerunner." It's kind of like that. I can't get excited about it. I thought it was a cool movie, but I don't remember the details. I know filmmakers here in Toronto who would sacrifice their left ear to make a movie like that. And to me it was just another sci fi movie with some cool concepts. The only character I really liked was the first clone guy that was being interviewed and who kills the interviewer after saying "let me tell you about my mother" or something like that. (I know I'm about to earn some lifelong enemies for butchering a Bladerunner scene in this fashion).
I need to watch 2001 again, but I can't understand this idea of computers with emotion, like Hal, or Haley Joel Osment in AI. I can't get emotionally attached to that idea. To me, it's a damn computer. Program it in a way so that it doesn't get emotional. The programming determines behavior. So if you don't want it to feel sad, program it so that it doesn't feel sad. So I can't get into this emotional tug of war. IBM's machine can play chess. It won't feel sad when I die, or when a kid starves in a remote part of the world. That's how I look at computers.
I should watch this day of Triffids and original war of the worlds then I suppose.
I saw TerraNova, and all I saw was hyper emotional humans. I couldn't relate to them. And then I thought I was watching a bad remake of Avatar. And the fact that the Carnosaurus things weren't dying even when shot bothered me. I thought the producers of the movie were insulting what little intelligence I have. And the carnosaurus things were too smart for a dumb lizard
. I just couldn't suspend disbelief. It was too unbelievable.No, my brain cannot grasp sci fi. If the concept jumps out of the earth, my brain tends to slow down. (Although I loved Alien, but mainly because of the human characters in the movie and their acting. Ripley was just fantastic. Unbelievable.)
Moon on the other hand was awesome on many different levels. One actor movie, an idea interesting in itself to me. Also I can imagine corporations pulling that kind of stunt.
Yeah... I'm a biography kind of guy. But I wanted to let my thinking be known. Just so some sci fi / horror filmmakers consider my kind of audience also when they plan their movie.
aveek
I'm not a fan of slasher films, which somehow seem to get lumped into the "horror" category. I guess that I like more cerebral supernatural-mystery-suspense-thriller types of films. "The Changeling" (1980, George C Scott) is one of those. I also enjoyed "The Shining" (1980, Jack Nicholson). I just get bored with the gratuitous T&A, blood and violence films; all flash and no substance (I feel the same about gross out comedies as well).
I still love the horror flicks of the 1930's - "Frankenstein", "The Mummy", "The Invisible Man", etc.
I still love the horror flicks of the 1930's - "Frankenstein", "The Mummy", "The Invisible Man", etc.
No... I don't like sci fi. I don't get it unfortunately, even when I like it.
In another thread, people were talking about narration in Bladerunner. I said "oh, i wasn't aware of narration in bladerunner." It's kind of like that. I can't get excited about it. I thought it was a cool movie, but I don't remember the details. I know filmmakers here in Toronto who would sacrifice their left ear to make a movie like that. And to me it was just another sci fi movie with some cool concepts. The only character I really liked was the first clone guy that was being interviewed and who kills the interviewer after saying "let me tell you about my mother" or something like that. (I know I'm about to earn some lifelong enemies for butchering a Bladerunner scene in this fashion).
I need to watch 2001 again, but I can't understand this idea of computers with emotion, like Hal, or Haley Joel Osment in AI. I can't get emotionally attached to that idea. To me, it's a damn computer. Program it in a way so that it doesn't get emotional. The programming determines behavior. So if you don't want it to feel sad, program it so that it doesn't feel sad. So I can't get into this emotional tug of war. IBM's machine can play chess. It won't feel sad when I die, or when a kid starves in a remote part of the world. That's how I look at computers.
I should watch this day of Triffids and original war of the worlds then I suppose.
I saw TerraNova, and all I saw was hyper emotional humans. I couldn't relate to them. And then I thought I was watching a bad remake of Avatar. And the fact that the Carnosaurus things weren't dying even when shot bothered me. I thought the producers of the movie were insulting what little intelligence I have. And the carnosaurus things were too smart for a dumb lizard
No, my brain cannot grasp sci fi. If the concept jumps out of the earth, my brain tends to slow down. (Although I loved Alien, but mainly because of the human characters in the movie and their acting. Ripley was just fantastic. Unbelievable.)
Moon on the other hand was awesome on many different levels. One actor movie, an idea interesting in itself to me. Also I can imagine corporations pulling that kind of stunt.
Yeah... I'm a biography kind of guy. But I wanted to let my thinking be known. Just so some sci fi / horror filmmakers consider my kind of audience also when they plan their movie.
aveek
icic
well you should at least try to watch the orginal War of the Worlds
Day of the triffids is ..well different..dont know how to explain but verry 50's british scifi.
other odd scifi is Slient Running , Demon Seed, Alterd States these are, well, not run of the mill scifi. At least they are really different, same goes for The invasion of the body snachers (both the 70's and 50's verision) both really different films bacause of the times they were made in..
not sure if orwells 1985 is considered scifi or not
As for Bladerunner there are several verisions one with the narrition and 2 without...so you prob seen the verision without.
Hal was not suppose to have emotion in 2001, but it did after contact...as i remember it i have to rewatch it again meself , so that might be the missing piece there...
You watched my first movie, didn't you?
Yep. I found "Lolcat Zombies Can Has Brainz" to be entirely derivative. I smell a lawsuit!
No... I don't like sci fi. I don't get it unfortunately, even when I like it.
In another thread, people were talking about narration in Bladerunner. I said "oh, i wasn't aware of narration in bladerunner." It's kind of like that. I can't get excited about it. I thought it was a cool movie, but I don't remember the details. I know filmmakers here in Toronto who would sacrifice their left ear to make a movie like that. And to me it was just another sci fi movie with some cool concepts. The only character I really liked was the first clone guy that was being interviewed and who kills the interviewer after saying "let me tell you about my mother" or something like that. (I know I'm about to earn some lifelong enemies for butchering a Bladerunner scene in this fashion).
I need to watch 2001 again, but I can't understand this idea of computers with emotion, like Hal, or Haley Joel Osment in AI. I can't get emotionally attached to that idea. To me, it's a damn computer. Program it in a way so that it doesn't get emotional. The programming determines behavior. So if you don't want it to feel sad, program it so that it doesn't feel sad. So I can't get into this emotional tug of war. IBM's machine can play chess. It won't feel sad when I die, or when a kid starves in a remote part of the world. That's how I look at computers.
I should watch this day of Triffids and original war of the worlds then I suppose.
I saw TerraNova, and all I saw was hyper emotional humans. I couldn't relate to them. And then I thought I was watching a bad remake of Avatar. And the fact that the Carnosaurus things weren't dying even when shot bothered me. I thought the producers of the movie were insulting what little intelligence I have. And the carnosaurus things were too smart for a dumb lizard
No, my brain cannot grasp sci fi. If the concept jumps out of the earth, my brain tends to slow down. (Although I loved Alien, but mainly because of the human characters in the movie and their acting. Ripley was just fantastic. Unbelievable.)
Moon on the other hand was awesome on many different levels. One actor movie, an idea interesting in itself to me. Also I can imagine corporations pulling that kind of stunt.
Yeah... I'm a biography kind of guy. But I wanted to let my thinking be known. Just so some sci fi / horror filmmakers consider my kind of audience also when they plan their movie.
aveek
Hey tru did you ever get to watch any of these movies yet....im sort of curious on your impressions on these or the others i mentioned