Ty Webb wrote:So something has to be real to be scary?

If the movie is going to keep me fearful for longer than 10 seconds after an event on the screen occurs, yes, I have to believe that what's happening is plausible.

I'm not declaring that I didn't jump during some scene in Hellraiser or Suspiria or whatever. That's not scary to me, that's startling. Sometimes I'll be working at my desk and someone will come up and ask me a question and I jump out of my skin, too. I don't fear for my existence for a week when that happens.

Certainly we could get into the semantics about what scary means and I jumped and so I was scared and blah blah blah. But at the end of the day I just don't give a shit about some freaky rubic's cube and a dude with tacks in his face with chains and hooks all over the place.

Has anyone mentioned The Omen?

Real horror, in that you knew bad things were coming up and no-one could stop it happening. When the photographer's head is chopped off by a sheet of glass is still visually shocking.

Scared the shit out of me when all my high school friends said I looked like Damien. Mind you, they were probably more scared of me in case I got the devil powers out of my satchel.

vockins wrote:

Ty Webb wrote:So something has to be real to be scary?

If the movie is going to keep me fearful for longer than 10 seconds after an event on the screen occurs, yes, I have to believe that what's happening is plausible.

I'm not declaring that I didn't jump during some scene in Hellraiser or Suspiria or whatever. That's not scary to me, that's startling. Sometimes I'll be working at my desk and someone will come up and ask me a question and I jump out of my skin, too. I don't fear for my existence for a week when that happens.

Certainly we could get into the semantics about what scary means and I jumped and so I was scared and blah blah blah. But at the end of the day I just don't give a shit about some freaky rubic's cube and a dude with tacks in his face with chains and hooks all over the place.

I see what your saying
Its a very personal thing.

Things that are shown in let's say Last House on the Left
aren't scary to me because they happen every day
disturbing and depressing? Yes.

I have a very vivid imagination
so I guess certain things "scare" me.

SPOILERS for Suspiria

The scene where the piano player is walking home alone
that scared the shit out of me.

Here's something that scared me, and you can maybe play it on someone who doesn't know it.
The Ring
I was impressed with the movie
I was working on a top 10 Scary movies for a magazine a couple of years ago and I watched the Ring on recommendation.
I read something online about the DVD and something you could do.
I watched the whole movie...and really liked it.
Anyway.
This thing online said if you watch the menu and wait for the cursor to
disappear, press up on your DVD remote and then press play

This will show you just the cursed video from the movie
(which alone is cool)
but the part that really gets you is that after its over, it goes back to the menu and after maybe ten seconds
hits you with the sound effect of a phone ringing.

If your not expecting it, It will make you jump
and the phone ring was just like the one I happened to have at the time in my apartment.

I re-watched the Shining after that at like 3 in the morning
to see where I wanted to place it in my article

vockins wrote:

Ty Webb wrote:So something has to be real to be scary?

If the movie is going to keep me fearful for longer than 10 seconds after an event on the screen occurs, yes, I have to believe that what's happening is plausible.

I'm not declaring that I didn't jump during some scene in Hellraiser or Suspiria or whatever. That's not scary to me, that's startling. Sometimes I'll be working at my desk and someone will come up and ask me a question and I jump out of my skin, too. I don't fear for my existence for a week when that happens.

Certainly we could get into the semantics about what scary means and I jumped and so I was scared and blah blah blah. But at the end of the day I just don't give a shit about some freaky rubic's cube and a dude with tacks in his face with chains and hooks all over the place.

Nah, I get ya. A startle is definitely not the same thing as scary.

It's such a subjective thing. For me, it seems that a willing suspension of disbelief, which is absolutely necessary to watching just about any movie regardless of the subject matter, would allow you to be scared by fantastic scenarios if the mood is set just so.

Do you have a hard time suspending your disbelief during a movie? I seem to remember someone here saying they didn't dig genre fiction, but I think that was BER. I wondered at the time if the obstacle was difficulty suspending disbelief. Some people just can't do it unless the movie/book is exceptionally good at setting mood and scene.

I'll second Rosemary's Baby as the soundtrack alone gets me. I also live the first Alien, the Thing, Devils Backbone, and Hellraiser 2. I haven't seen it since I was a kid, but I thought Prince of Darkness was weird.

for the adverse (scary movies that are not scary but funny)

Slither, Dawn of the Dead (new 2006 version), Nightmare on Elm Street (all)

Slither was a hoot. Big, dumb fun that had no pretensions and tongue firmly in cheek.

Anyone seen either of the Hostel movies?

I just had no desire to see them.
Seemed just a shock value type horror film

Ty Webb wrote:Do you have a hard time suspending your disbelief during a movie? I seem to remember someone here saying they didn't dig genre fiction, but I think that was BER. I wondered at the time if the obstacle was difficulty suspending disbelief. Some people just can't do it unless the movie/book is exceptionally good at setting mood and scene.

I can get into plenty of horror movies without requiring plausible scenarios, but a plausible scenario takes the movie from good to great.

For example, I'd say "Full Metal Jacket" is far, far scarier than "The Shining." That movie is terrifying to me.

vockins wrote:

Ty Webb wrote:Do you have a hard time suspending your disbelief during a movie? I seem to remember someone here saying they didn't dig genre fiction, but I think that was BER. I wondered at the time if the obstacle was difficulty suspending disbelief. Some people just can't do it unless the movie/book is exceptionally good at setting mood and scene.

I can get into plenty of horror movies without requiring plausible scenarios, but a plausible scenario takes the movie from good to great.

For example, I'd say "Full Metal Jacket" is far, far scarier than "The Shining." That movie is terrifying to me.

You should check out "The Descent"

It does have that horror movie aspect that may not be plausible (which is very scary) but also has elements that are realistic as well.

I remember feeling very anxious watching this in the theatre
and parts i almost didn't want to look at the screen
and those were the non-traditional horror parts

I find Full Metal Jacket more disturbing than scary and I think The Shining is scary as hell in certain parts. Funny how the same word can mean such different things depending on who you're asking.

fedaykin, I didn't see the Hostel movies. Torture-gore doesn't really appeal to me, though I did find the first Saw movie effective. Even I need a bit of a hook on which to hang the gore and frights.

I did like Roth's first movie, Cabin Fever. Not exactly scary, but certainly unsettling and entertaining at the same time.