Horror Movies - Need Less Gore, More Mental Stuff

Post by **Lily Cantodea** » Sat May 08, 2010 2:58 am

Why is it that people seem to think that in order for something to be "horror," it absolutely must have blood, guts, gore, and torture in every single scene? Blood and gore doesn't bother me - never has - but it gets extremely boring after the first five minutes. Sure, put blood and gore in there if you want (I have yet to see what's so horrifying about it), but don't make the movie rely so heavily on that and have little to no plot.

Why are there no good psychological horror movies anymore? That's the most terrifying type, IMHO. There's only so much you can do to torture the body, but there's an infinite number of ways to screw with the mind, so why is it filmmakers don't like to take advantage of that? Or is it because audiences have trouble imagining things for themselves so they like to have everything revealed to them on screen?

And stop with the remakes already. The remake of Nightmare on Elm Street made me fall asleep, as ironic as that may sound. And House of Wax made me laugh, it was so bad; I'm sure poor Vincent Price was spinning in his grave. Next thing you know they'll be trying to do a remake of Vertigo or Blue Velvet.

Post by **Godsmack** » Sat May 08, 2010 3:07 am

I totally understand.

I love horror movies... but its been a while since I've truly been scared... :/ Some good movies that I liked are The Strangers and The Cube trilogy. Its hard to say that I liked many of the horror movies I've seen... Like you said, the majority of horror movies are gore, which really does get boring after some time.

Love and Light,

Blessed Be.

Post by **shadowx** » Sat May 08, 2010 5:07 am

What i hate about horror films is that often it is not the film itself that is scary, it is the soundtrack, because every 3 minutes i will be deafened by a scream, its just not nice, and not in an enjoyable not nice way, it is just deafening and shows that the film itself is not scary....

Post by **WitchyLady506** » Sat May 08, 2010 6:41 am

Asian horror films- more psychological than anything else, unless you watch some Takashi Miike. He messes with you mentally and shows you everything up front, never pulling away, so things can be overly graphic. Korean horror films tend to be the best, imo.

Post by **Lily Cantodea** » Sat May 08, 2010 12:44 pm

（Â´-`&#6528 wrote:Asian horror films- more psychological than anything else, unless you watch some Takashi Miike. He messes with you mentally and shows you everything up front, never pulling away, so things can be overly graphic. Korean horror films tend to be the best, imo.

Which is why Miike is one of my favorite Asian horror directors,

Yeah, Asian horror is more psychological and even though they have blood, the movie doesn't center around it - Asian horror focuses more on the psychological and is usually more character-driven with creepy atmosphere. I've heard Americans whine and complain that the Asian horror movies make no sense, when they actually do - they have a plot and usually, a lot of symbolism that anyone with half a brain cell can understand if they just pay attention (this one guy I know still says Ringu makes absolutely no sense at all...I have yet to figure out why he thinks that). But I guess if you're looking for a ton of blood and gore, which American movies seem to have, Asian horror in general is not your type of movie.

Post by **WitchyLady506** » Sat May 08, 2010 4:33 pm

Lily Cantodea wrote:
（Â´-`&#6528 wrote:Asian horror films- more psychological than anything else, unless you watch some Takashi Miike. He messes with you mentally and shows you everything up front, never pulling away, so things can be overly graphic. Korean horror films tend to be the best, imo.

Which is why Miike is one of my favorite Asian horror directors, Yeah, Asian horror is more psychological and even though they have blood, the movie doesn't center around it - Asian horror focuses more on the psychological and is usually more character-driven with creepy atmosphere. I've heard Americans whine and complain that the Asian horror movies make no sense, when they actually do - they have a plot and usually, a lot of symbolism that anyone with half a brain cell can understand if they just pay attention (this one guy I know still says Ringu makes absolutely no sense at all...I have yet to figure out why he thinks that). But I guess if you're looking for a ton of blood and gore, which American movies seem to have, Asian horror in general is not your type of movie.

There are those that you have to actually think about what happened, unlike movies such as Saw, where they do a complete recap and spell it out for you. But that's why I like them too. You have to pay attention and you have to think about them. Do you like the Pang Brothers?

Post by **Lily Cantodea** » Sat May 08, 2010 4:36 pm

I honestly think that the closest thing Americans in general have gotten to a movie with symbolism and/or that involves any thinking whatsoever (regardless of how obvious it is from the beginning) is The Sixth Sense. And I'm not talking about a case of hindsight bias either.

I'm not familiar with the Pang Bros, or at least I don't think I am...

Post by **Peregrine** » Wed Jun 16, 2010 10:58 am

Heh heh, I think the remake of House of Wax had some redeeming qualities. Most notably, it stars Jared Padalecki. =) Of course, that poor soul gets the worst of it. Also I like the twist at the end, because too often movies make the "freak" the evil one just because he is different, not so "pretty." Also there is one other House of Wax that came out before the Vincent Price one. I actually liked the plot a lot better in that one. I love Vincent Price movies, but his House of Wax had some gaping holes in the plot that did not make sense to me.

Anyways, I think The Ninth Gate was better than most new horror movies. It was subtle and to this day I find it amusing, the harshest critics in those customer reviews are the ones who totally miss what happened. They have no clue because they are too used to blood and guts. They are probably also just mad because they rented a satanic movie and did not get the expected bloody orgy with a naked virgin getting mutilated.

You have to dig through the archives but you can find some better psychological ones. The original version of The Haunting from 1963, Tormented, and Dementia 13 are a few examples. Probably to get more of the sorts of movie you seek, you have to go to the "thriller" genre.