Now, before I start, I'll tell you that I'm not the type of person that is easily scared shitless from movies, usually the slight feeling of dread is what follows for a short time after watching a horror flick.
Why do we do this? Why on earth would be watch or experience something that makes us scared, like when I played Amnesia: The Dark Descent, I've never been so scared in my life. Yet I look back to it as one hell of a game and one of the best games I've ever played through.
And with movies, The Grudge 2, so far my favorite horror movie and so far the only one that has actually had the "no sleep for a week" -effect on me, yet I enjoyed it when I watched it. But why? Are we living in such a safe society nowadays that we absolutely need the fear to experience something, the excitement which our brain desires but cannot get, since everything is more of less secure? The main reason I'm thinking about it is because when I just moments ago finished Paranormal Activity 3, I thought it was scarier than the two previous ones, with the first one close to being a comedy, and the second one just your average drama/thriller.
And now I do not regret watching it, even though the old-but-not-so-good feeling is there again, I'm fairly sure that it will go away in time. I know that I watch horror movies because I enjoy them, they are pretty much the only type of movies that I even bother watching now, among some comedies.
However, this is just my thinking, and I'm going to study psychology because I enjoy thinking about stuff like this.
I fancy myself a fan of films, off the top of my head let me think of some horror movies~
I might agree with you on paranormal activity 3 had I not seen all 3 when they came out in theatres by the time I watched 3 it was the same tricks repackaged. Felt more like a typical fail horror movie. First one was much scarier to me, probably because it felt more original. The ending was sort of silly, imho
Can't possibly see how you thought grudge 2 outshined grudge 3 though. Grudge 3 was quite good even outside the bounds of a horror movie, it was just a good movie. Scary to boot~ For me it goes 3, 1, then 2 in dead last.
I watched a Nightmare on Elm Street at age 4 and the ring at age ~8 so those were pretty scary to me, at the time, but in recent memory only Insidious has had any profound effect on me, and if you only check out one movie in this post that would be the one.
The first saw was radically different from Saw III onward, and it had a much more tense "thriller" atmosphere. Not horror in the typical sense I'd say but if you are a fan of horror movies it is still good. As you go from Saw to Saw: The Final Chapter it gets progressively less scary and more gory. Quite sad, really
If you can stand the dated cinematography and camera quality of the 80s, 2 horror movies I thought were pretty decent were Dolls, and Prince of Darkness. Both left me with the feeling you describe in your blog.
Cabin In The Woods was an excellent, excellent movie (Hate all you want people) but again, not exactly scary. It also turns into a bit of "shock value" later in the film but the early segments can be pretty tense. I liked it a lot.
Case 39 was a pretty good one, again not high on intense fear but definitely kept my attention.
I enjoyed Cube series as well- all 3 of them. More thriller than horror though.
Orphan was okay, worth watching if you didn't have to pay I suppose
The strangers was quite good and scary, I'd advise you to watch that one OP, seems like you would like it.
Quarantine was good although the ending is revealed right on the cover and in the trailer which is extremely irritating
That's all I can think of atm. I've seen probably 50 more horror movies that were simply too bad to remember, lol.
I'm the same as you AxUU except the grudge didnt scare me and I giggled all the way through the entire paranormal series. If you want a decent horror movie check out Insidious (2010 - I think). the 1st half of that movie is amazing, the 2nd half is eh, but over-all a good scary movie, and doesn't base too much on shock value either.
I can't go to horror films because I laugh hysterically at them. I've actually had people complain to management about me and I've been asked to keep it down before. I find them hilarious.
But it's simple really. Your whole life you've been spoon fed fear through your television. So it is an easy emotion to play on.
I don't feel scared during horror movies. I don't feel in any danger.
Most horror movies are just cheesy and the kind of thing that is 'so dumb it's great,' but the ones that are really well done and don't just seem silly are really interesting intellectually and I find fascinating. I can empathise with the characters without feeling horrified myself. I can analyse the psychologies of the the characters.
Then there are films which are just jump scares, like quiet music and then a sudden loud noise or flash of an image, and those are just really annoying and obnoxious.
I enjoyed The Shining and Alien. Not sure if Alien can be called horror exactly, but it has some elements of it.
On July 30 2012 10:30 Chef wrote: I don't feel scared during horror movies. I don't feel in any danger.
Most horror movies are just cheesy and the kind of thing that is 'so dumb it's great,' but the ones that are really well done and don't just seem silly are really interesting intellectually and I find fascinating. I can empathise with the characters without feeling horrified myself. I can analyse the psychologies of the the characters.
Then there are films which are just jump scares, like quiet music and then a sudden loud noise or flash of an image, and those are just really annoying and obnoxious.
I enjoyed The Shining and Alien. Not sure if Alien can be called horror exactly, but it has some elements of it.
I hate that kind of movies, because it's not really horror, I mean the noise and flashing stuff, it's kinda like giving the viewer electric shocks actually.
And for some reason I thought The Shining was one of the most boring movies I've ever seen :S
On July 30 2012 10:08 Mattson wrote: I can't go to horror films because I laugh hysterically at them. I've actually had people complain to management about me and I've been asked to keep it down before. I find them hilarious.
But it's simple really. Your whole life you've been spoon fed fear through your television. So it is an easy emotion to play on.
That's why I never go to the theatre, it's not the same in the theatre than for example alone at night in your own house, I usually rent and whatnot.
EPT
