Horror Films - What Scares YOU?

The Power Of Imagination...

'Demons to some. Angels to others.' - Pinhead, Hellraiser

Pinhead, from Hellraiser.

Above is my favourite quote from one of my two favourite horror films, Hellraiser. My other favourite is another classic, Halloween, made in 1978. Halloween is John Carpenter's best masterpiece, in my opinion. So, if you haven't gathered yet, in this post I'm going to discuss horror films. Some people like them, some people love them, some people hate them. Most people who hate them will have one or both of the following reasons as to why they dislike them: they either think they're not scary, and they're overdone and ridiculous; or they don't like being terrified by the few horrors that are truly scary. I can understand both of these reasons - if you don't like being scared, fair enough. I agree that most of the horror films out there aren't scary. But I disagree with you if you say none of them are scary. And this is what I want to talk about.

Everyone is scared by different things - I'm personally scared by the unknown, and the things that intrude our imagination when our brains imagine something petrifying. No amount of gore or death scares me; I've desensitised myself from gore by growing up secretly watching plenty of horror films! I always wanted to be a surgeon when I was younger because I loved blood so much - it wasn't until recently that I realised you need to be good at science for that *laughs at self, then looks down with disappointment*. Even though I'm not scared by gore, I do enjoy a good gory film such as Nightmare on Elm Street or Friday The 13th. Countless random people being butchered can actually act as a good stress ball, for people with lots of built up anger like me (I'm kind of joking). But, when a film uses the power of imagination to scare you, I think that's movie magic. It's what made Halloween and the first Paranormal Activity so fantastic.

Michael Myers, the killer from the Halloween Series.

The mask from Halloween is just f***ing horrifying. It's so vague and blank, yet it still manages to scare the s**t out of you. We can't help but imagine what's behind that mask - what goes through the mind of the person wearing it. That's what terrifies us, our thoughts of all the things that could be behind that mask. It's not the same with films like Scream and Friday The 13th, maybe it's the detail in the mask, but it's mainly because we know about the person behind the masks. Rob Zombie recently made two remakes of the first two Halloween films. I can say two good things about them: I'd say they act as good stand alone films, but not as a part of the Halloween series; and he actually emphasised just how amazing the originals are. He made good films - they explored Michael's (the serial killer) past, and had a lot more detail in the plot. He created good death scenes and he actually gave a great sense of realism. However, to me, his films weren't horror - I wasn't scared by Michael, and this just made the film feel more like a thriller. He showed Michael's identity, and even as an adult he showed his face (not in great detail, but still). This ruined the mystery and the unknown factor, and it wasn't like the originals. Still, Rob Zombie did us a favour by emphasising just how creepy the originals are.

Paranormal Activity.

Something that REALLY annoys me is when people criticise Paranormal Activity for the fact that 'it's just a door swinging open and bedsheets moving.' Ok, the second and third (and fourth, by the looks of the trailer) are complete and utter crap, but you can't criticise the first one. It was made with just $15,000 and it's sparked almost a whole new genre of films. If the film didn't scare you, you have no imagination and/or no respect for film making. It's exactly the same as The Blair Witch Project, it's the thing we don't know that terrifies us. The ending scene for both of these films are horrible - I remember watching Paranormal Activity for the first time and begging my mum to turn off the TV as I heard the stomping noises. I literally wanted to kill myself, I couldn't deal with what was about to happen. It's in those ten seconds that you're thinking, 'what the f***ing f*** is going to appear on my f***ing screen?!' Another one of my favourite horror films is Rec, a relatively modern Spanish film. In the last scene it's almost pitch black but you see this skinny-raggy-demon-thing walking around trying to find this helpless woman. I was on my own that time and I actually turned my TV off. I re-watched it, of course.

The super sexy demon from Rec.

I guess what I'm trying to say is, the power of imagination is something that should be used more regularly in today's horror films. If you can master it and create a good film out of it, you're a genius. You're also awesome for not making another generic horror film that just isn't scary. 

Thanks to Nathan for inspiring today's blog post!