What scares you in horror movies?

What scares you in horror movies?

Let’s talk about what tropes work, and which ones don’t.

Pharaoh721

I love horror movies. I believe that it’s one of the best genres of film. It’s also arguably one of the most maligned genres. Most people have a favorite scary movie, and just about everyone has a horror movie that they hate with every fiber of their being, that they gleefully slam dunk on whenever given the opportunity.

I’ll admit that horror is a trope-laden genre, but tropes can be good! I love me a good trope, when it’s cleverly executed or invokes strong emotions. I’m curious, are there certain tropes or tricks that a horror movie can do that scares you? What gets your heart pumping? For me, I love when there’s a person or thing out of focus in the background of a shot. The characters are oblivious, but the audience is unfortunately aware that shit is about to hit the fan very soon. The Strangers might have the best use of this trope in any movie ever. It sends a chill up my spine!

What are some things about horror that you don’t like? The stuff that makes you roll your eyes and groan every time it happens. Most people hate cheap jump scares, but let’s dig a little deeper! Personally, I hate whenever an otherwise smart character makes a decision that’s exactly the opposite of what any smart person would do.

I grew up terrified by horror movies, but now they’re some of my favorites. I think about them more than a normal person should, and I also just like knowing what makes people tick. I promise, I’m not insane! Just a tad curious :)

From The Chatty
  • reply
    May 18, 2023 3:58 PM

    What scares you in horror movies?

    Read more: What scares you in horror movies?

    • reply
      May 18, 2023 4:24 PM

      One of the only horror movie scenes that genuinely disturbed / scared me was in Midsommer. If you've seen it you probably know-- ***splat***. Like...I had to turn it off and walk away for awhile. To be fair, that movie had plenty of un-easiness throughout. Yikes.

      • reply
        May 18, 2023 5:02 PM

        For me it was the first 10 minutes of that movie

        • reply
          May 18, 2023 5:23 PM

          Yeah you and I are always banging on about the beginning of that movie. I legit felt like leaving the theater.

        • reply
          May 18, 2023 6:41 PM

          Same here. The rest was a comedy laugh riot compared to the opening, which is about as intense a sequence as I’ve ever seen.

      • reply
        May 18, 2023 7:12 PM

        I knew what that word meant as soon as they said it, so I was like, yup, I know where this is going. haha

      • reply
        May 18, 2023 8:01 PM

        imo that's like the lowest brow scare available.

        gore is cheap

        psychological horror is where it's really at. disturb someone with a circumstance / idea, not the cheap shit

        • reply
          May 18, 2023 8:33 PM

          The 10 minute lead-up to that moment is so filled with uncomfortable dread, though. And the moment itself was just...awful. It was a disturbingly well done effect. Not cheap at all.

          • reply
            May 18, 2023 9:23 PM

            i just find gore the cheap thrill in general

            but just a preference

            anyone can rip and tear but the psych terror is art

        • reply
          May 18, 2023 10:02 PM

          I felt that scene was more than the gore. The emotional dynamics of the old people was disturbing to me.

          • reply
            May 19, 2023 12:24 AM

            oh certainly

            just didn’t find it added to the scene / detracted from it. i get *why* they do it, because shit like saw / the very viscerally grotesque sells / shocks independent of its contextualization

            but for storytelling in horror eh

            big giant shrug + yawn

    • rms legacy 10 years legacy 20 years mercury super mega
      reply
      May 18, 2023 4:31 PM

      I'd probably say 'ancient evil' in some form as a trope is interesting.

    • reply
      May 18, 2023 4:59 PM

      watching them in a theatre. something about the group spooky experience really gets to me. im guessing its the communal terror farts

    • reply
      May 18, 2023 5:02 PM

      [deleted]

    • reply
      May 18, 2023 5:03 PM

      I found the intro scene in SMILE to be pretty creepy

      Also the krichen frying pan scene in Evil Dead Rise was so good

    • reply
      May 18, 2023 6:27 PM

      Fire in the Sky
      Even timid Alien abduction movies with bad effects freak me out. See: Communion

      • reply
        May 18, 2023 9:06 PM

        That said, most horror I just find fun. All subgenres. I’m not sure what brand of crazy this makes me, but whether I’m rewatching Suspiria or Funhouse or Child’s Play or Nosferatu, I’ve usually got a big goofy smile on my face while I’m watching it.

    • reply
      May 18, 2023 6:42 PM

      Lost Highway. Robert Blake. I’m in your home right now.

      • reply
        May 18, 2023 6:46 PM

        If you have to boil it down, scenes with an inexorable nightmare logic that the central character (and by extension, the audience) is being forced to participate in.

        • reply
          May 19, 2023 8:07 AM

          I really like this. Also, I've never seen Lost Highway, I need to check that one out!

      • reply
        May 18, 2023 7:15 PM

        Hell yes

      • reply
        May 18, 2023 7:26 PM

        The Criterion 4k remaster with Dolby HDR from last October is seriously amazing. Damn that's a good movie.

        • reply
          May 18, 2023 9:53 PM

          I saw it projected in a theater. 😁

          They did a particularly great job on the sound remix. So much better than when it originally came out (which I also saw in a theater at the time). I’m not going to say it’s his “best” film, but it is absolutely the peak for the horror side of his work.

      • reply
        May 19, 2023 4:28 AM

        I loved the first half of that movie so much

      • reply
        May 19, 2023 7:19 AM

        Give me back my phone

    • reply
      May 18, 2023 7:45 PM

      A claw on my shoulder.

      Seriously though, body horror gets to me most. Not gore, change.

      • reply
        May 18, 2023 8:47 PM

        Yeah I might add this to my list. Body horror done right is very unsettling.

      • reply
        May 18, 2023 9:58 PM

        It’s so hard to put a good rationale for the “changing” into the narrative, beyond “the basics.

        One reason why I loved Crimes of the Future. It managed to justify it within the story, comment on the spectacle of it on the meta level and also attempt a social commentary reason for it, even if that wasn’t as strong as it could’ve been.

        • reply
          May 18, 2023 10:11 PM

          That movie had some genuine "oh man" scenes.

          • reply
            May 18, 2023 11:43 PM

            It sure did…it also had some great scenes of love/relationships/intimacy and meditations on the creative drive too. It’s time for a rewatch! Wish I could see it in a big theater again. Basically a greatest hits of every aspect of Cronenberg’s collected works. ❤️❤️❤️

            • reply
              May 19, 2023 12:18 AM

              (lol can you tell i love that movie?)

            • reply
              May 19, 2023 7:31 AM

              Love how much attention there is to sound design in Lynch movies. So much of the dread he creates is through sound

              • reply
                May 19, 2023 7:32 AM

                Meant as reply to your sound comment in Lost highway subthread, whoops

    • reply
      May 18, 2023 7:49 PM

      I cannot watch horror movies. I don't enjoy that emotional response. I watched a few in my youth and that was good enough.

    • reply
      May 18, 2023 8:04 PM

      The alien abduction movie where the guy is awake and strapped down while the alien is piercing his eye.

      And then also the space movie with hell scene? Event Horizon?

      Hereditary was a pretty slow, yet convincing, burn of disturbing terror.

      • reply
        May 18, 2023 10:12 PM

        OK yeah. Not being in control of your actions. Christopher Walken in Communion.

    • reply
      May 18, 2023 8:45 PM

      I watched The Witch after we had our now 2yo, first time a horror movie actually made me feel uneasy.

    • reply
      May 18, 2023 8:46 PM

      People seeing me screaming like a little girl.

    • reply
      May 18, 2023 8:46 PM

      I'm generally the most unsettled by things that aren't overtly "scary" but more by things just feeling off. Ambiguity and amorphous weirdness are far more disturbing to me than the good ol' jump scare or gore. I'm thinking of stuff like the slow unease of It Follows or some of the weird imagery in The Shining or the dreamlike hellscapes that show up in The Cell. Music often plays a big part in this, like the off-kilter, jarring score for Under the Skin or the assaultive strings in The Witch.

      Regarding your point about smart characters doing dumb things, I think there's a fine line to tread there. While it's true that oftentimes those things are done as tropes to force the plot a certain direction, there's no real bearing in reality that a smart person always does smart things. Panic and fear can make almost any human do dumb shit, and I appreciate when horror movies represent that honestly.

      • reply
        May 19, 2023 8:14 AM

        Weird shit gets under my skin, too. Have you seen Us? A lot of the music and smaller details are genuinely unsettling in that movie.

        And you're right! I kind of did a crap job at explaining myself there, but I agree. I love it when a movie can capture that genuine panic and terror, or when characters have to make split-second decisions that end up being the difference between life and death.

    • reply
      May 18, 2023 8:50 PM

      Stuff I don't like in horror movies: when they have very little subtext, torture porn, jump scares (when they're the primary vehicle for the "horror"; they're not universally bad), and the fact that so many of them seem to be carbon copies of each other. I feel like the last 20 years have produced dozens and dozens of ghost story/haunted place movies that are effectively indistinguishable from each other.

    • reply
      May 19, 2023 12:32 AM

      The Endless had some fucked up ideas in it, but hard to describe absent spoilers. Watch it!

    • reply
      May 19, 2023 3:49 AM

      Restaurant scene in Mulholland Drive - the tension was unbearable, and then they go round the corner and BAM.

    • reply
      May 19, 2023 5:31 AM

      It Follows had that kind of lowkey dread that sticks with you for a few days, weeks after watching it.

      i wasnt scared shitless but it was incredibly effective at making you feel unease and worry kind of

Hello, Meet Lola