HORROR FLICKS

dassercha
Superfan
Posts: 233
Joined: 2007-01-18
User is offlineOffline
HORROR FLICKS

Posting this here to get all opinions.

What is the attraction? I can understand the primal, animalistic attraction to gore, but this is beyond that--ya know, the "scary" stuff!

Not bludgeon-with-the-kitchen-knife, etc. stuff, but I guess ghost stories would fall under this as well.

Why do so many of us yearn/crave this?

If the supernatural is bunk, then why are these movies/stories so popular?

Again, all opinions welcome.


Tarpan
Special Agent
Posts: 26
Joined: 2006-06-06
User is offlineOffline
Because we have

Because we have imaginations I would guess.  In our lives we are limited to the rules of nature, economy, and technology.  But ghost stories, and tall tales of supernatural things are interesting since they defy nature.

I think it's kind of like magic tricks.  If they didn't seem impossible, they wouldn't be interesting. 


MattShizzle
Posts: 7966
Joined: 2006-03-31
User is offlineOffline
To me, the vast majority of

To me, the vast majority of the modern ones are mindless.


Jacob Cordingley
SuperfanBronze Member
Jacob Cordingley's picture
Posts: 1484
Joined: 2007-03-18
User is offlineOffline
I don't like much horror

I don't like much horror films. I am a bit of a wimp for some of them. It really depends on the premise though. Films like 28 Days Later (I really need to see the sequel) are fantastic because it has a really really fantastic premise and story and everything I really got into it and it thrilled me rather than scared me. However films that are just horrifying scare me shitless, even ones that horror movie enthusiasts call me a wimp for being scared at. Scream scared me shitless as did the Craft (I was 14, it was late, it was on telly, and I watched it thinking it was a harmless teenage drama with the possibility of sex scenes, how wrong I was).

I dunno, I can see the point of it in some ways but not for me.

Ghost stories and supernatural stories are amazing a lot of the time. I'm very into fantasy. It's a brilliant genre. But I don't feel a need to believe them in reality.


dassercha
Superfan
Posts: 233
Joined: 2007-01-18
User is offlineOffline
Yeah, due to my "Fundy"

Yeah, due to my "Fundy" upbrining, this stuuf just plain scares the dickens out of me too.

But I've sat w/ folks before, watching crazy scary movies & they did not so much as bat an eye. BUT-- most of us do.

So, given my above premise...why????

I guess, to the biologists etc. out there--what's your take? 

EDUCATION! EDUCATION! EDUCATION!


pariahjane
pariahjane's picture
Posts: 1595
Joined: 2006-05-06
User is offlineOffline
I LOVE scary movies, horror

I LOVE scary movies, horror films, the whole 9 yards.  Zombie movies are great, cheesy 80's films are great, terrifying Japanese horror flicks are great (they are not for the faint of heart).  I don't know why I like them so much.  I think I like the way it makes me feel.  I'm usually watching through my fingers, curled up and making stupid girly squealy noises the entire time.  I guess I like the adrenaline it gives me from being scared, but its also a safe kind of scared, because its just a movie.

If god takes life he's an indian giver


dassercha
Superfan
Posts: 233
Joined: 2007-01-18
User is offlineOffline
pariahjane wrote: I LOVE

pariahjane wrote:
I LOVE scary movies, horror films, the whole 9 yards. Zombie movies are great, cheesy 80's films are great, terrifying Japanese horror flicks are great (they are not for the faint of heart). I don't know why I like them so much. I think I like the way it makes me feel. I'm usually watching through my fingers, curled up and making stupid girly squealy noises the entire time. I guess I like the adrenaline it gives me from being scared, but its also a safe kind of scared, because its just a movie.

Got'cha.  But see, people get that same reaction to gore, action filcks, etc. I can watch that stuff, but as soon as you put on "The Exorcist" and such, I'm fuct. Genetics? upbringin? prolly a combo...heh.

 

EDUCATION! EDUCATION! EDUCATION!


AModestProposal
AModestProposal's picture
Posts: 157
Joined: 2006-12-26
User is offlineOffline
If you mean brainless

If you mean brainless slasher flicks, they're modern jeremiads. It's all about scaring you towards Jesus. I encourage people to try and find a slasher film where the victims' lifestyles resemble that of the family on 7th Heaven. But don't hold your breath.


djneibarger
Superfan
djneibarger's picture
Posts: 564
Joined: 2007-04-13
User is offlineOffline
i LOOOOOOVE horror movies.

i LOOOOOOVE horror movies. zombie flicks are hands-down the best, but there's a lot of great stuff out there. a lot of people criticize the horror movies of the last couple decades, but the honest truth is that the horror genre has always been 90% stinkers, 10% gems.

my recent recommendations: the "horror fest 8 films to die for" collection, most of these movies kick the crap out of their big budget counterparts. "pan's labrynth", excellent adult fairy tale, creepy, cool, great story. and the "saw" movies, love 'em.

why do i like horror films so much? i'm 37 and happily married, so romantic-comedies are a tedious bore. again, i'm 37, so aside from adam sandler, the majority of high school party movies put me to sleep. i can't stand sports, so stand-up-and-cheer sports flicks are a yawner. i'm not into cheesey, muscle, kung-fu, macho fight, chuck norris flicks, super boring. deep artistic, character exploration flicks are too much like real life, which i'm already experiencing 24/7.

but horror movies, complete take-me-away-from-it-all escapism without morals, life lessons, heart wrenching social commentary, blah blah. just pure, scary, gruesome fun. i need that at least once a week, or six times a week. no seriously, about once a week. best part? my wife is a horror nut, too Smiling

 

www.derekneibarger.com http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=djneibarger "all postures of submission and surrender should be part of our prehistory." -christopher hitchens


rab
rab's picture
Posts: 272
Joined: 2007-02-18
User is offlineOffline
I like horror flicks for

I like horror flicks for about the same reasons djneibarger mentioned. I have a ADD, so I need constant stimuli in my entertainment.

My favorite horror film of all time is "The Dead Zone." I also like "Flatliners" and all the Chucky movies--mostly for the laughs!

Support the Separation of Church & State!
Freedom From Religion Foundation


blackmath
Posts: 20
Joined: 2007-04-14
User is offlineOffline
yeh I got to agree I can't

yeh I got to agree I can't see attraction towards all those torture/slasher movies like Saw. To me there's so much genuine suffering in the world it seems really sad that nice, comfy, comparitively wealthy people of the first world want to see this stuff for entertainment. It's an unhealthy, pointless fascination, just a self-perpetuating hollow thought loop.

To me the human body is like a highly advanced mechanism, a beautiful computational process, a wonderful thing to have and to be, and why people would want to see it butchered is beyond me. Why don't they just go to a slaughterhouse ?

It must be an addiction to whatever neurotransmitters are produced in response to the sight of horror. I just think it decreases the beauty of the human mind that we watch that stuff. I mean, we can be pretty-much anything we want. They're just meme+emotion complexes - don't spread them.

On the other hand I can understand the appeal of 'scary' films like The Village and The Shining even though I don't believe in anything supernatural because those films are using our ancestral fear of the unknown and the dark. Maybe some of our ancestors had a slight attraction toward facing fearful situations because sometimes the risks pays off.


Krehlic
Krehlic's picture
Posts: 237
Joined: 2006-12-29
User is offlineOffline
I dunno. I used to like

I dunno. I used to like horror movies, but now I find them boring.

I mean, while people around me are strangling pillows and cringing at every little jump, I'm falling asleep. 

Now, some of them are good for reasons other than the scare factor. Those I can enjoy. Like the ghost movies that are supposed to creep you out and actually have a good plot. Those I like. But the ones that are supposed to make you jump... nope... boring.

They might as well just cut all the bloody scenes into a 2 min clip. So if we're in the mood for gore, we don't have to waste two hours to get our fill.

 

Flying Spaghetti Monster -- Great Almighty God? Or GREATEST Almighty God?


Jacob Cordingley
SuperfanBronze Member
Jacob Cordingley's picture
Posts: 1484
Joined: 2007-03-18
User is offlineOffline
To be honest when I saw Saw

To be honest when I saw Saw (hehe), I wasn't all that scared. I was interested but I dunno, it was thrilling but not scary. I guess I like that. I haven't seen the two sequels but I don't feel the need to, if it's just the same premise it doesn't seem like there's much more they can do.