Horror. In general.

J

Jill_Valentine

Sacred and Profane
Joined
Aug 13, 2004
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41
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Dublin.
I'm not usually stuck for words, but I still have serious bother explaining to people why I love Horror without sounding like a closet psychopath. The best I can come up with is Rollercoaster Theory- a nice adrenaline rush from the safety of my own home - but that still makes me sound a little crazy if said adrenaline rush is coming from seeing a girl flee from an axe murderer. Anybody else willing to give me a good arguement as to why an interest in Horror is healthy, and doesn't mean I'm a lunatic?

And while we're at it, what's everybody's favourite horror book, film, game etc?
 
Hm, I 'spose so... that would only really work for slasher movies though, wouldn't it? Stuff like... Silence of the Lambs, which I'll admit can be called a Slasher, asks you to root for Clarice, rather than cackle with glee at Catherine Martin's misfortune. Uou sort of walk away from SOTL thinking about poor Clarice, but you also walk away aware that Hannibal Lecter and Buffalo Bill are just pale imitations of real figures, real figures who really did kill and torture. There are thirty five or more serial killers active in the United States at any one time... doesn't watching something like that just remind you of how scary the real world is?
 
lol hmm i really dont care what people think about me lol so i tell them the real reason i love horror. I love watching people run in terror and do the stupidest stuff like go looking for a sound when they know a killer is on the loose? Who really does that and you know the characters in the horror movie had to have seen a horror movie as well. And i mean i have a fancination with the blood and death scences on how they make them so real and so fun to watch... call me psycho but i enjoy it. me and my mom are horror freaks. some of my faveorite books are the shinning by stephen king, the A-Z serial killers, and a couple of others. my favorite movies? My good too many of them, everything from the very funny supposibley scary childs play movies, to the creepy the exorcist movie... but you most deffinatly have to love hannible, Jason, and micheal.
 
you like it because you know its not real. what your watching on screen is a mock up. its all pretend.

if a blond girl in a tight top came running through your computer room chased by a crazy man/warewolf/vampire/zombie/axe weilding maniac would you cackle with glee?
 
Very interesting.

I'll take a stab at this, in my painfully layman's way.


I think that Horror films serve a purpose. They are meant to be entertainment and a release, and some of the more extreme ones help us become introspective and analyze our own human nature.

There is a natural encoded need in all humans to see violence and depravity. It is natural. I believe those that deprive themselves of this natural need for violence will take it out in other ways.
Therefore I believe the HORROR genre is necessary for our society. And I believe a separate side genre of over the top comedy horror and fantasy horror is healthy to have because it is purely fantasy and entertainment... While more serious chilling horror may help us identify with our true dualistic nature.

Fret not about your predilection for Horror movies, young Jill Valentine.

Good Horror is GOOD FOR SOCIETY!!!


Thank you, and goodnight.

:matrix4:
 
I honestly couldn't tell you why I like horror films. I guess I just like being scared out of my mind, except for when its actually happening. Plus its kind of a learning thing, you know not to split up, go off by yourself, yadda yadda. But I do agree that it does take your mind of things, whether it be school or general drama at home or whatever. I don't really have a specific film that I like, as long as it scares me then I'll like it 😛 Like I have a hard time watching the remake of Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and High Tension, mostly for the general plot of the movie. I haven't really read any horror books, I should though. The only horror game I've played was resident evil I think, and zombies really freak me out so I couldn't play it for to long 😛
 
I don't think that there is anything wrong with liking horror movies. It's fun to watch how stupid everyone can be. How the horror movie characters always investigate everything without turning on a light, or never bring a friend. It's hilarious.
 
Re:

I too, if not having given it any thought, would have said that I watch Horror solely for the adrenaline rush. And if that makes me a closet-case phsyco, then I guess so be it....But honestly, nowadays it takes quite a bit to really scare me....I mean, most times watching a half-naked, niave teen run from a phsyco in a mask just gets a chuckle at best.... :chainsaw: I was surfing through the Pay-per-views the other day and watched a preview for a movie called "Phsyco Scarecrow"...I mean..C'mon now! But when I do manage to find a decent horror flick I'll have to agree With OG...it's a release, something that catches my attention that I can get lost in for a couple hours...and the adreneline rush is a kick arse bonus....LOL Yes...I have issues...there is no help for me.... :ghost2: :grim:
 
Well I know I like horror movies and I know it's not 'cause I wanna be scared or anything like that, 'cause those movies usually never scare me, and I don't need them to either. I actually have no idea why I like this kind of stuff, I would never be able to explain it but... When I think about it, I also love movies that you really depressed, or feel like you wanna kill yourself at least for a day after you saw the film or something... I could never explain why I like that either but in some way, I guess I love movies that really make me feel something, at all, and movies have a better chance at making me feel really bad than really good... (Don't know if this makes any sense but, somehow it does to me..)
 
I'm with Faldor, the reason I like horrors myself is because I know it's not real. But for a short time you can get lost in someone elses nightmare without the fear of it happening to you (unless it's based on a true story, then you're screwed 😛).
 
Wha! How did I miss this thread? I LOVE horror movies. Love them. No clue why, because they usually scare the pants off of me. Although really, I think that might be why I love them. Like the Shining? Scared the pee out of me, no kidding. I LOVE it. One of my favorite movies ever, but during it, I was literally cowering in fear into my boyfriend's shoulder. I actually made him move from his armchair over to the couch with me during the super-super-scary maze in the snow sequence. I see those Adult Swim commercials on Cartoon Network (yeah, you know the ones) and I shudder. BUT I love that movie. Everytime we go to the video store, we walk in the door and Jim just goes "No. We cannot rent the Shining. No. You have nightmares."

Now, obviously the Shining is one of the best horror/suspense movies ever made, so I don't have that same reaction to all horror movies, but I even love the bad ones. But for different reasons. I think I love the Shining and other GOOD, actually SCARY horror movies because I love being scared. I love being scared in a way in which I am in NO actual danger. I love the crappy horror movies because...well, because they're funny. Like 'The Craft" I cannot stop laughing...pretty much all the way through that movie. I guess it's not really a horror movie, but hey.

Now the question for ME is, why do I love Se7en? Why? It's creepy, but not scary, the plot is freaky and strange and hello, the 'Sloth' guy?!?! UGH! I mean, yeah, Morgan Freeman is amazing in it, but Morgan Freeman is amazing in a lot of things. I have no idea why I love that movie, but I do!

In case you can't tell my favorite horror movie is the Shining, but I have many that I just love including but not limited to: The Wicker Man, Suspiria, Nosferatu, House on Haunted Hill (the original, with Vincent Price), Duel, Zombie and Carrie. Oops, forgot Don't Look Now and The Last House on the Left. (One of the creepiest movies I've EVER seen. Go see it! If...you don't mind looking over your shoulder for about a week)
 
I think it's a combination of many of the reasons stated above.

The rollercoaster-effect, the outlet-effect, and the analysing the evil in humankind.
 
I think that... erm... horrors are scary and I don't care for them much. That doesn't stop me watching them. They're educational. They give you an idea about the things that psycho killers might do and therefore show you how to avoid them. Not that I would go looking for the funny creaky noise upstairs. I'm more likely to grab my coat, go next door and call the police from their phone.

The movie that scared me the most is "The Grudge". It's one of the only horror movies where I haven't been able to say... "I would have done this instead." There's just no escaping that Grudge lady!
 
Perhaps not, but I think we can all agree that leaping under a duvet certainly won't keep her at bay. Stupid horror heroines...

So... okay. With monsters, things we know we can't actually face, it's just a fun way to burn off some adrenaline, or maybe to deal with real life fears in a neutered, and reocognisably false way. But to play Devil's Advocate for a while - it's the best example I can think of, I apologise if I sound obsessed - take Silent Hill.

Silent Hill is scary because of the bleeding walls, or the creepy fog, or the wierd, hyper-sexualised people-monsters. But... the crux of the stories are generally traumas more close to home. The most horrific sub-plot of all was about a character who'd been abused by her father, and she did not get a happy ending. Is it right to glean any sort of entertainment from such a genuinely horrific trauma that's affected so many people's lives, or is it important that we, as a society, face these things any way we can?
 
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