Surprise surprise! I’m back. Sorry for the inconvenience, but… I jus’ want to voice my opinion on horror films. Sorry for the wall of text, but here we go…
I strongly believe films are only really effective if it’s more than blood and gore, and there is no one in the film to react to it. The best types of horror. Stuff that isn’t just “Someone gets their body/face extremely fucked up and a character screams” but jump scares are the absolute worst. It’s just a very cheap form of horror especially if it gets a reaction from a character. I also love creepy ominous horror. Just, extremely unsettling images and sounds, that get gradually worse and worse, like something is going to come…but it never really does. NOT just cheap scares. I love atmosphere, and horror films should also have a unique palette, not that boring contemporary looking colours. Make the plot not just paranormal activity in someone’s home or the street. Give it a unique ‘feel’.
Pennywise from both ‘It’ films have their both pros and cons about their looks. Tim Curry’s Pennywise from 1991 looks great apart from the costume which looks a bit naff. Whatshisname’s Pennywise from 2017 (I’m not gonna even bother looking up his name) has a superb costume, his hair and makeup is good, but the face ruins it. Why did you have to pick some young dude? And don’t even get me started on those goofy-ass buck teeth.
Now, don’t judge me as I haven’t really seen either of these movies, but…
Eraserhead is a great example of my type of horror, bizarre images with bizarre sounds, no cheap shit. Same with the Exorcist. While both of these movies have people in them to react to them they are still PROPER HORROR.
Slasher movies are the absolute worst type of horror. They don’t scare me or make me feel creeped out. Sure, they have you on edge, but it isn’t really unique or effective, unless you’re squeamish or something.
TL;DR True horror films should have a sense of extreme creepiness or unease, have non-gory unsettling images and sounds, and have no one to react to them, therefore the viewer feels much more creeped out and it stays on them much longer. And to hell with slasher films. No pun intended.
The LBIC ad, while not meant to be creepy, is a great example of what I’m talking about.
P.S. it would be superb if anyone could direct me to something like it, think Little Baby’s Ice Cream crossed with Dining Room or there is Nothing, with the latter’s grainy and warm-coloured palette and horrific sound effects.
That is all.
The movie Us is a type of horror movie the likes of which I had never seen before. Watching the movie from start to finish there’s no jump scares, no unsettling images or anything like that, but once the credits started rolling and I started thinking about the movie I was left feeling deeply disturbed.
But there’s still people to react to it. And by the way, this 6 minute short animated film from the 1950s is a PERFECT example of what I’m talking about. Not only is there no sound effects, just creepy orchestral music and a narrator, but it has an amazing style, is hauntingly down to earth and and the visual Indiana Jones type horror, while I know it has (very effective) gore, is extremely haunting and overall this film is TRUE feckin’ horror.
Edit: Basically a lot of shit from the NFB, especially other works from Peter Foldes. One of them, Hunger (1974) made me want to puke because of how unsettling it was.