The appeal of scary movies

What is it?

I don't get the desire to be scared in movies. I want to laugh or cry or think, but I don't get wanting to be scares. Sometimes I even want to see shit blown up. But never scared.

Explain this phenomenon to me.

 

You're a pussy?

 

Yup. You nailed me. Zinger!!!

 

As for the answer...I love horror movies, though it takes a lot to spook or scare me. I don't mind a good gross-out scene, but I don't watch movies for that aspect (but if you like that stuff, the recent and mostly terrible remake of The Hitcher has one of the sickest scenes I've ever, uhh, seen). That's why I hated Saw III.

My guess is horror movies appeal to our most basic fears...they make us worry and wonder about the worst that can happen.

To me, nothing's ever topped the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre, which scared the ever holy hell out of me when I saw it at 13 or 14 on New Years Eve at my best buddy's house. I walked half a mile home and was fucking jumping out of my skin the entire time.

Some more modern favorites, off the top of my head: Scream (it mocked every horror movie convention and still delivered the goods), Red Eye (as good as a PG-13 horror/suspense movie can be--even though it was basically a homage to Scream by Wes Craven, who of course made Scream), Wolf Creek (some sick, truly frightening shit there) and Wes Craven's New Nightmare (the guy is so good I don't care that he makes a meta movie every other flick).

 

See, now I guess I don't really compare a suspenseful movie to a horror movie.

I'm watching I am Legend, and these damn monsters are freaking the crap out of me. I don't even know why I rented it.

Jaws, that's an excellent movie. It had a ton of suspense, and it was definitely a thriller - but I wouldn't call it a "scary movie"

 

Slasher flicks are funny to me.

It's imagery, not necessarily gore, that freaks me out. When I get to fill in the blanks . . .bbrrrr . ..

The little girl (and various faces) from Exorcist.

Blair Witch Project's staircase; a scene I remembered every time I did late-night laundry from my third-floor apartment at the time.

The girl crawling out of the well on the TV in The Ring.

Freaky.

 

OK, so why would you watch them? I've never seen any of the three...but I have seen Revenge of the Nerds 296 times

 

I guess I'm talking more about "horror" flicks. Maybe Jaws is a horror flick.
I'm talking more about movies like The Ring and 28 Days Later and Nightmare on Elm Street.

 

I can understand why Jaws isn't listed as a horror flick, though it is/was scary.

I think of horror movies and I think of buckets of blood and monsters and bad guys who never die and the "hard R."

but Jaws is quite a scary damn movie, PG rating or not.

 

The fact you note you've seen Revenge of the Nerds and not Dazed and Confused or American Pie 200 times gives me hope for your generation.

I think a horror movie, done well, can be a very good moviegoing experience. I don't go thinking, "I hope I get freaked out" (though some people do). I wanmt a well-done movie, which often means it will scare the hell out of me.

As someone who is interested in screenwriting, you shouldn't dismiss any genre.

Except Adam sandler. That tripe won't help you.

 

Don't get me wrong...I've seen Dazed and Confused and American Pie 300 times each, too. and both are brilliant scripts .

I don't necessarily dismiss the horror genre - but I certainly can't understand the appeal of it.

 

Oh.

You lower my expectations for your movie.

Anyway, horror appeals to many people. I don't get the point of most of Adam Sandler's work, but to each their own.