The Art Of The Scare.

Lately, most horror movies have sucked hard. They rely too much on gore, poor character development, and no logic. What is it that makes these movies suck so hard? And how do you make them good?

Here's what horror movies need to be good:

1. Atmosphere

When I got my hands on the demo to Condemned 2, and when I saw YouTube user Cloud8745's walkthrough of Fatal Frame 2, the thing that creeped me out the most was the atmosphere. It felt like you were always stalked, and you never knew where the stalker was, or better yet, WHAT the stalker was. Atmosphere helps you feel scared, since you have a very unsettled feeling if done right.

2. Character development

Tell me, what would scare you more: The death of a friend or a stranger? Both are bad, but you would feel more awful if it was a friend. To get people scared, they need to feel like that's a friend on the screen with his/her life at stake. Otherwise, you wouldn't care.

3. Lack of knowledge

As said in number 1, it helps when you don't know what's after you. Even though it wasn't scary, the game Second Sight started this concept perfectly, because you had no idea where you are, what's going on, or who you even are. Fatal Frame 2 was a master at this, because you know something's up with the village, but you don't know what, all you know to begin with is (possible spoiler) it's a village at the site of a dam construction project.

4. Terror on a mental level

It really saddens me that the Dark Knight, a comic book movie, is a master at this, and not a horror movie. To feel really scared, you need to see stuff like, a body that is really gory, a terrifying note by the stalker, or seeing your stalker acting insane...and he sees you down the hall. You need to feel like you're being stalked by something that will do unspeakable horrors if he has his way.

5. Add to the cl assicial "pop-up" tactic

Really, horror movies tend to go "boo" at you, throwing stuff that you don't see coming. What I think could add is that what pops up has a horrifying appearance.

And there you go. Please send comments on this.

the biggest horror ive seen in a while in TDK where the joker had his knife inside the guys mouth while telling his story. other than that, i havent seen a good horror film in forever

the biggest horror ive seen in a while in TDK where the joker had his knife inside the guys mouth while telling his story. other than that, i havent seen a good horror film in forever

tripplebrow

[QUOTE="tripplebrow"]

the biggest horror ive seen in a while in TDK where the joker had his knife inside the guys mouth while telling his story. other than that, i havent seen a good horror film in forever

ChrisSpartan117

tell me about it :cry:

i like anything atmospheric. i wish film makers would take more risks and making something of the horror genre thats really atmospheric and cool looking, not just gore but actually GOOD looking.H8sMikeMoore

[QUOTE="tripplebrow"]

the biggest horror ive seen in a while in TDK where the joker had his knife inside the guys mouth while telling his story. other than that, i havent seen a good horror film in forever

ChrisSpartan117

thats becasue they're catering to the gore-aholics

[QUOTE="ChrisSpartan117"][QUOTE="tripplebrow"]

the biggest horror ive seen in a while in TDK where the joker had his knife inside the guys mouth while telling his story. other than that, i havent seen a good horror film in forever

ArmoredAshes

thats becasue they're catering to the gore-aholics

It's true, and I think it's because it doesn't take much brain cells to come up with some gore scenes, on the contrary to making something actually scary.

the biggest horror ive seen in a while in TDK where the joker had his knife inside the guys mouth while telling his story. other than that, i havent seen a good horror film in forever

tripplebrow

Lately, most horror movies have sucked hard. They rely too much on gore, poor character development, and no logic. What is it that makes these movies suck so hard? And how do you make them good?

Here's what horror movies need to be good:

1. Atmosphere

When I got my hands on the demo to Condemned 2, and when I saw YouTube user Cloud8745's walkthrough of Fatal Frame 2, the thing that creeped me out the most was the atmosphere. It felt like you were always stalked, and you never knew where the stalker was, or better yet, WHAT the stalker was. Atmosphere helps you feel scared, since you have a very unsettled feeling if done right.

2. Character development

Tell me, what would scare you more: The death of a friend or a stranger? Both are bad, but you would feel more awful if it was a friend. To get people scared, they need to feel like that's a friend on the screen with his/her life at stake. Otherwise, you wouldn't care.

3. Lack of knowledge

As said in number 1, it helps when you don't know what's after you. Even though it wasn't scary, the game Second Sight started this concept perfectly, because you had no idea where you are, what's going on, or who you even are. Fatal Frame 2 was a master at this, because you know something's up with the village, but you don't know what, all you know to begin with is (possible spoiler) it's a village at the site of a dam construction project.

4. Terror on a mental level

It really saddens me that the Dark Knight, a comic book movie, is a master at this, and not a horror movie. To feel really scared, you need to see stuff like, a body that is really gory, a terrifying note by the stalker, or seeing your stalker acting insane...and he sees you down the hall. You need to feel like you're being stalked by something that will do unspeakable horrors if he has his way.

5. Add to the cl assicial "pop-up" tactic

Really, horror movies tend to go "boo" at you, throwing stuff that you don't see coming. What I think could add is that what pops up has a horrifying appearance.

And there you go. Please send comments on this.

ChrisSpartan117

Right now the horror market just exploits the high-school/teenager crowd with torture porn type movies. That's where the money is. The last good horror movie I saw was 1408, and I only liked it because I thought, "Thank God, a horror movie with actual character development and a focus on psychological horror!"jazznate

Oh yeah that was an excellent movie

Spoiler

whats even scarier is that at the end it seems that what ever it was it somehow got into the tape he recorded and didn't die in the fire. Also, I love how the phone calls him and says its only been one hour and it would keep continuing unless he kills himself. But then does that mean that the room could'nt actually kill people though?

Foreign horror films are actually quite scary. Only in America, it seems, is the horror genre taking such a dive.

Still, I believe filmmakers should take a good look at games like condemned 2, F.E.A.R., and many other horror games, because game developers are starting to have a better grasp of what fear is than most movie directors. Especially Monolith.

The last scary movie I saw was F.E.A.R. which is kinda sad because its not a movie........

But it was still scary as hell! I actually had to turn it off one night becuase I started seeing shadows but then I had to turn it back on and change the games because it was too dark. I havent been afraid of the dark since I was 5!!!

But before that it was 1408, def. a good horror film

The last scary movie I saw was F.E.A.R. which is kinda sad because its not a movie........

But it was still scary as hell! I actually had to turn it off one night becuase I started seeing shadows but then I had to turn it back on and change the games because it was too dark. I havent been afraid of the dark since I was 5!!!

But before that it was 1408, def. a good horror film

Raok

Looking at the list, Jeepers Creepers seems to be a perfect example of a good horror movie:

Great character development.
We don't want either of them to die.
Excellent atmosphere.
We don't know what it is.

And also, you should note that when the thing is revealed, the movie starts to get progressively less scary... Also, horror movies are always better if they're psychological, rather than serial killer horror movies... Ju-On: The Grudge and The Ring were both delightfully scary...

Start watching some Japanese, Korean and Thai horror films.foxhound_fox

This.

American horror films rely too much on said "pop up" and characters you don't even care for, atleast the recent ones.

The Japanese make some of the best horror movies. I watched Ringu, and I was a lot more apprehensive watching that than I was The Ring.