I've been watching all sorts of horror flicks from the popular and original Nightmare on Elm Street to movies that were supposed to be "scary" like The Others that is supposed to be based on the old type of horror that was supposed to scare people. Do you all think that the new type of horror like hacking off limbs with scary suspenseful music is a lot more scary or would you rather watch an old type of horror that really doesn't revolve around around limb hacking?

Seriously though, there was only one scene in The Others that was freaky to me...

"But Ma, I am your daughter..." Ehh, scary old grandma [img]graemlins/uhoh1.gif[/img]

I am admittedly not a big fan of horror films, old or new, as they almost always seem far too predictable. But I will say that one of the most scariest films that I have seen recently is, "The Mothman Prophecies". It is kind of a new age science fiction film with a realistic horror feel to it. In fact I was so frickin scared after watching it, that the next morning when I took a shower and was forced to close my eyes (due to shampooing), I started getting goosebumps all over and had grab my towell to wipe my eyes before I was even finished. And I am not scared very easily.
I guess the only scary movies that I do like are the ones that provoke some new or different thought, with a pinch of reality.

Dont like the gore stuff at all. Its not scary just sick [img]graemlins/gore.gif[/img]

but some of the scariest movies are not horror films at all. Check this link to the Ironworks movie forum.
http://www.ironworksforum.com/ubb/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=11;t=000913;p =3

[img]graemlins/starwars.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/matrix.gif[/img]

[ 03-11-2003, 03:17 AM: Message edited by: wellard ]

I like a good thriller, i don't mind the gore either, but most horror movies are just plain dumb. There's not even a good storyline, and if there is one, it always kinda looks familiar. Movies like Hellraiser, Halloween, Friday the 13th, i've seen em all, but i really don't like them very much at all. They're boring.

I will have to say though that the scariest movie I've ever seen is the Prince of Darkness. It may have been may way back when, but it was very realistic with a good storyline in behind it. Scariest part was when they played the message and showed a dark figure descending from the distance, if you've seen it you'll know what I mean.

Dude the Mothman isn't science fiction, he's real... He's been seen all over the world, the Pleasent Hill place was only part of his many incounters, and the "spooky" voice over the phone wasn't the mothman, remember that, that spooky voice was Ingred Cold... [img]tongue.gif[/img] a completley DIFFERINT freakish thing that happened at the time. They also didnt show the UFOs that had been spotted but belive me, the way it works out, Ingred was able to predict the future, he could come through sinks and bathroom mirrors, he liked to steal pens from people and generally looked like a short asian man, with clothing that belonged 2 decades ago, sort of like a "man in black" only this guy was nuts... Oh and on top of all this, the bridge collapsed killing people, yes that happened too, and since then the mothman dissapeared, but he has recently been seen in Nairobe, Quebeck, Chile, France, Moscow, New York City, and Tokyo, not that Freaky stuff in those places isn't frequent to happen anyway... [img]tongue.gif[/img] I guess it was scarier to have a "faceless" ingred cold, it made it look like the mothman was ingred tho, the mothman was differint, he chased people around and stared at them with his big glowing red eyes, these not only caused eye damage but instilled absolute fear.

http://www.prairieghosts.com/mothman3.jpg

if you want more Mothman info then check this site out

I am not into gory slasher films at all - but I like a nice suspenseful supernatural tale.

And if we're talking *old* horror pics, I particularly like 'Nosferatu, eine Symphony des Grauens' (1922); 'Das Kabinett des Doktor Caligari' (1920); Häxan (1922); and films by Tod Browning, who was making horror films between 1914 and 1939 - probably his most famous was the 1932 film, 'Freaks'

The thing that I like about silent horror movies is that because obviously there's no dialogue, the imagery used to build suspense is amazing. Who cannot love the shadow of Nosferatu's clawed hands moving across the wall? The weird out-of-perspective scenery in Doktor Caligari? Pure class.

Hey Deathkiller, it has honestly been close to a year since I saw that film and I must confess, it forced me to start thinking a little bit differently. However it has been many months since I have given the whole, "Mothman thing" any thought, and in that time I have been goosebump-free! So without any offense, I will simply call it a, DARN SCARY STORY!
But hey, that is a pretty cool web site.

I thought The Others was excellent. The buildup, the tension. This is true horror. [img]graemlins/gore.gif[/img] is not horror - it's simply gore. Now, some gore-based films also have horror: the first Nightmare on Elm Street is a good example.

But, most of the group-of-teenagers-alone-in-woods-with-sex-and-gore movies just don't do it for me. Except for humor, of course, like in Friday the 13th Pt. 7 where Jason kills these kids in a sleeping bag by picking the bag up and slamming it into a tree Babe Ruth style. :D :D

True horror is about internal realization. In The Others, I only realized the "truth" at the end about 2 mins. before the character did. It all fell together so perfectly, so horribly. It was a great flick among great flicks.

I've made a note to see Mothman now that I've read this thread.

Frailty ROCKS!!!!! Great horror. See it.

So, yeah, I like the old style. True gothic. Stoker's Dracula, Shelley's Frankenstein. Frankenstein, for instance, is more about the monster's internal struggle and realizations, as juxtaposed with those of the creator, than it is anything else. It is the horrible dichotomy of human existence, made vivid symbol in the ice and snow scenes (ice looks light and warm yet is truly cold and dark), that contains the horror of Frankenstein.

"Just like Mary Shelley. Just like Frankenstein. Break your chains, make the change, and try to walk that line." Grateful Dead: Rambling Rose

<font color=skyblue>Interesting topic, as I have an experience to share.

When I was in my teens, I used to watch every movie I could. I was so used to horror movies, that they didn't phase me. I was just immune to them. Well, I have been married now for about four years I guess, and before that I lived in Mexico for two years. All this time, I have not seen any of the "newer" horror movies. Mostly because my wife will not let me rent them. Well...last night, my wife was not at home, as she went to visit her sister. She took MaryBeth with her. I had heard alot of good review about "the Ring", so I rented it. Bad mistake. After watching that movie, I was so scared at home all alone at night that I knew I was going to get killed by something! I didn't even go to bed last night! ROFL! It really freaked me out. Everytime I closed my eyes, I would see that movie!</font>

I heard that The Ring really was scary, but I hadn't seen it yet. Larry, is it suspenful horror or filled with gore?

I agree with that. I thought Coppola's Dracula was very dark and brooding (and Gary Oldman was superb) and was very close to the book - which I would recommend to anyone who hasn't read it (It is available online here ). The Bram Stoker novel of Dracula is a good comment on the morals and fears of Victorian society - an older (in this case very old LOL) foreign and desirable yet dangerous man preying on young women, who are battling with their awakening sexuality and the upright morals of their society.

It is interesting that the book starts with the passages:

Jonathan Harker's Journal

3 May. Bistritz. Left Munich at 8:35 PM, on 1st May, arriving at Vienna early next morning; should have arrived at 6:46, but train was an hour late. Buda-Pesth seems a wonderful place, from the glimpse which I got of it from the train and the little I could walk through the streets. I feared to go very far from the station, as we had arrived late and would start as near the correct time as possible.

The impression I had was that we were leaving the West and entering the East; the most western of splendid bridges over the Danube, which is here of noble width and depth, took us among the traditions of Turkish rule.

I like the use of the phrase 'leaving the West and entering the East' which can be read in many ways - leaving what you know for something unkown, possibly an analogy for entering a new era, something previously unexperienced.

Of course if you've seen the film, you know which side wins the day - but not before the innocent Mina has been 'sullied' so to speak.

Shelley's Frankenstein is also, as TL rightly pointed out, full of the contradictions of its era. Mary Shelley was something of a 'new ager' and free spirit in her day - running round Europe with her friends and lovers, experimenting with drugs, etc etc. And the novel is quite an examination of morals, especially of the new scientific age. Frankenstein is also available online, here.

I already mentioned it in the movie discussions that I liked The Shining a lot. In The shining is hardly any gore but it's more about the tention (note the close ups on Jack Nickelson's face, I live 'm) The simple gore movies are usually just plain bad, I only like Braindead for it because it's just totally nuts and I don't look at it as a horror, more like a gory comedy. So I guess I'm one of those tention lovers when it comes to horrors.

The Ring was OK...its out on DVD (which means its rentable). But that wasn't why I started to post today. A horror film should be one that 'speaks' to you...made in such a way that you can almost identify with the victim. The first of the 'new' generation of horror films did that for me.

Imagine a mentally broken teenaged Jamie Lee Curtis on the floor sobbing as Donald Pleasance (bless his soul) puts 6 rounds from a .357 magnum through the chest of 'The Shape'. Unable to speak clearly, you can barely make out J.L. Curtis' line 'He's the Booge Man..." to which Mr. Pleasance replies in perfect deadpan and reserve "As a matter of fact, it Was." Fade to Mr. Pleasance's face as he leeans over the balcony to look at the body: His eyes grow wide and you can almost See the blood drain away from his face before the camera cuts to the grass below, where there isn't a body; there's an outline of a body in the grass. To me, that was John Carpenter's finest Trick or Treat.