Quote:
Originally Posted by troutman
Poltergeist bothered me so much, I have not seen a horror movie since (except for Blair Witch).
Why do people want to be scared?
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I've never really understood the point of watching horror films to get scared either. Films that go out of the way to scare or shock people generally bore me pretty quickly. It's such a "seen one seen them all" scene for me.
That said, I like many horror films because they have unusual topics, and the horror genre is a really restriction-free genre. There's no need to put romance in there if it's not a part of the plot, you don't need to protect the star images of the actors generally because they have none, you don't need to put in jokes if you don't want to etc. Even stuff like pacing or shooting the story in unusual ways generally just serves to strengthen the audiences experience.
Horror films are also a bit unique in that they generally sell and become famous on the premise of an idea instead of the more traditional values such as cinematography and acting. (Unlike for example the action genre which is all cinematography, or comedy which is mostly writing and acting.)
Typical examples:
- The Saw. Crap film when it tries to find stuff to show beyond it's basic premise, but the image of two men chained together and a saw is powerful.
- Hostel. Crap film, but captures the ideas very well. (It's unfortunately also a really xenophobic film, but that often sells.)
- The Cube. Again, not a very good film, but a great idea for a film.
- Blair Witch Project. Pretty much the inventor of the "found footage" genre.
- The Descent. In the horror genre you can have an all-female cast, even without star power. How cool is that? It's also a pretty cool film set in a rare environment (inside a cave system).
Of course there are films which have both filmographic values and good ideas.
- Alien; redefined space travel from gleaming ships to claustrophobic loneliness. Also pretty much invented body horror.
- The Thing. Cold war paranoia taken to the extreme.
- Dawn of the Dead. "Thin veil of civility"
- The Others / Sixth Sense. (major spoiler in white)
What might it be like to be a ghost? Also, alienation and loneliness.
Etc and so forth. It's not by accident that horror and scifi are so intertwined.
EDIT: I actually forgot to put in the point
My point was, a lot of art helps us think about and deal with what ever is going on inside our heads. It's for liberating to watch romantic comedies (another often ridiculed genre), since so many of us have so much anxiety when it comes to dating, sex, love and romance. Horror films do the same from a different angle. People have lots of fears. Horror films brings those fears into the daylight. Whether this is good or bad is a matter of opinion.
Personally I think it's an important measurement of how good the film is. For example The Hostel is IMO a terrible film because it's so strongly based on the idea that those people somewhere else whose language we don't understand might be up to some indescribable evils. The Exorcist on the other hand pretty obviously deals with some pretty dark fears about kids growing up and becoming strange and possibly evil creatures (among other stuff). Of course there are many films about the same topic done in a realistic way, but the Exorcist works much better exactly because it's pure fantasy. It allows us to tap straight into the fears and anxieties without getting sidelined by questions of relative morality and individual freedom. I mean the kid is literally possessed
(Of course a lot horror is still generic schlock just like a lot of scifi.)