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Do you find modern horror films are very boring?

Lemon Zing

Well-Known Member
Many I do. Some I don't.

I generally prefer older eerie movies as they are more atmospheric and only occasionally gory. New movies are ridiculously gruesome, with too much CG. The acting isn't terribly great, either.

Some really good old actors are Vincent Prince, Christopher Lee, Klaus Kinski, Lon Chaney, and Boris Karloff. Anthony Perkins is another. I would also count Sigourney Weaver.
 
This is one of the reasons I stopped watching movies & TV and just jumped over to Youtube.

I'm a big horror fan, but Hollywood seems to think that "scary" = "shock value". They seem to also think that the very same shock value can take the place of anything resembling storytelling, which does not help.

Granted, I dont like *any* modern TV/movie stuff, but still.
 
I watched too many horror movies and it quickly became apparent it was formulaic tripe for the most part.

The only horror film I think is genius is the original Blair Witch Project. Subtlety, slow build, terrifying use of sound effects. A true masterpiece in my opinion.

Ed
 
The modern trend in horror exposes a clear lack of creativity on the part of writers. You cannot wring any new changes out of blood splatter and gore for shock value. You can't help finding someone slashed, hacked, sawn, or blown too pieces a bit of a cliché in horror any more . True horror gets you involved in the characters and then puts them through a wringer. Todays films give everything away long before a supposed shock is coming. Bleh!!!!

The number one scariest film for me, and I preface this with the statement that I am and always have been a fan of well executed horror and have seen great, good, bad, and indifferent in equal measure, is "The Changeling". There is no gore, no big scares, just a relentless build in tension that if it does not send chills along your spine at some point then you are one cold person and most likely an unregistered zombie. It is a classic ghost story/mystery with an outstanding cast and director. If you found Poltergeist and effective ghost story, I think The Changeling beats it hands down.

Personal opinion aside, if you have not seen this film, you should give it a try. Even if you do not find it to your taste, you have to admire the craftmanship that went into making it. Great cinematography, editing, and direction.

I'll shut my armchair critic off now and return you to your regular programming. ;)
 
I don't watch much horror anymore, when I was younger I did but I think as I got older horror movies became less interesting. And it's just a movie so it's never scary no matter what happens. I have seen a few new ones and because special effects has gotten better they are ridiculously bloody and gruesome. The original Chainsaw Massacre movie from 1974 used to be banned here, it was illegal because it was too gruesome. When I was a kid it was a mythical movie everyone wanted to see because it was illegal and there was a lot of crazy rumours about it. Now that movie is nothing compared to the new ones and nothing is banned. But if I want to see something truly scary and horrific, I just watch the news. :fearscream:
 
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I kinda feel like horror and comedy have the same problem. I can see whats coming a mile away and by the time it shows up its not scary or funny.
 
The big problem is sequels. These dilute whatever revolutionary idea of the original film was and then it gets repetitive as this idea is jumped on by others. All we seem to get now are rehashed mixups of ideas from different films. Most of the time they follow the same basic pattern of the 'lone survivor winning' which is utterly worn out by now.
 
I have a thing for low-budget paranormal horror (especially when there's nothing gross about them), but even those seem to be pretty rare these days. Even most of the newer documentary-style ones I've tried to watch just sucked, but there have been a few that stuck with me.

Admittedly, I haven't looked hard enough lately for new ones, but I probably should.

I should also mention that Youtube has really beaten out mostly everything else that films could ever offer for me. I can just watch people urbexing at a genuinely creepy location and feel scared for them, or watch an amateur paranormal team convince themselves that there's a ghost in a graveyard when I don't see anything at all, and this is still somehow way more engaging than fake, scripted movies and shows with really bad actors. It's even cooler to me when there's really no climax at all, and they're just out of time so they have to leave.

Plus, watching anyone retelling true crime or seeing real interrogation videos have become my new version(s) of horror within the past few years and now nothing scripted can ever compete with that.

Yeah, I'm weird I guess. lol
 
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Supernatural horror fails to move me. What I find exciting is existential struggle, like the emergency docking sequence in Interstellar, or when Amy Adams moves through non-linear time to avert a war in Arrival.
 
When I think of some of the best horror films, two of them in particular were made in the early 60s.

"The Haunting" and "The Innocents". Both black and white films that depended upon a clever story without substantial special visual effects. Leaving one to scare themselves largely with their own imagination. Perpetuated throughout the films by an uncomfortable sense of ambience. Brilliant, IMO.


 
I find modern films boring. Also, most older ones, too. I'm not sure I've ever seen a real "horror" type.
 
I prefer a lot of the found footage horror lately because it seems like the only horror that always does the slow burn thing. They always take the time to build characters. They all seem to be good at making the environment a character. A lot of things I studied and like about 70's and 80's films show up almost only in the found footage ones. Not a surprise, the only other films that feel like the same are actually set back in the 70's and 80's.
 
There's no more good art or media being produced at a mainstream or corporate level. That's not my opinion, it's just true. Now that algorithms are making more choices than humans and audiences are engaging at a more superficial level with everything because they're attention is divided between multiple screens, there's just no demand or other incentive to produce good stuff anymore.
 
I loved Terrifier 2. It was a throwback to the golden days of excessive gore in slasher movies. I would easily take that low budget NC-17 slice of horror over most of what major Hollywood puts out in this genre. Too much horror that comes out today is timid and focused on maximizing profits.
 
I think the last horror flick that really caught my attention was Silence of the Lambs. Brilliant acting, brilliant screenplay. (I take that back. the last horror movie that made me sit up and take notice was the anime, "Perfect Blue.")

Off the wall crazed killers with chainsaws and machetes or who show up in your dreams do nothing for me. The scariest movies are about evil that only takes a slight stretch of the imagination to feel real. Though he's mostly associated with mystery/suspense, HItchcock was great at horror.

Older horror movies like "The Legend of Hell House" or "Thirteen Ghosts" or "Them!" do it for me, not because they are scary now but because I am nostalgic for them. They scared me at the time I first saw them as a kid watching them on Theatre of Thrills - on the weekend at midnight - and I am nostalgic. They did a good job with minuscule budgets and B&W film.
 
I feel like the longer a series goes on, the more dumb it gets. Like the Freddy films. There's one where he fights a guy who becomes a comic book hero. The Phantom Prowler, or something. It's really very silly. Then they got lazy and said in part 6 he already killed all the Elm Street brats (off screen), so he had to basically find another Elm Street, because "every town has an Elm Street." LOL.

The Leprechaun movies are okay up to four, when they take him into space. The remaining two have a story about rappers in the hood, and are just stupid. Even Jennifer Aniston hated starring in the first film. But it's still the good kind of cheesy.

Then you have franchises like the Dracula movies where some don't even follow the same continuity. I think the A.D. 1972 one is separate in the canon. I really think the previous one was the end of the original run. The Satanic Rites... or whatever it's called.
 
My favorite horror "franchise" is the Final Destination films. They have yet to let me down besides trying to be 3D those couple of times, but thankfully, I never have to watch them that way again. 3D is incredibly distracting to me.
 
personally ive grown really tired by a lot of horror because they all just feel the same! when i watch horror now its because they have a charm to the atmosphere that i find amusing rather than the point that i started watching them when i was younger (to get scared!)
not really 'horror' but ive become a big david lynch fan recently, thought i should mention here because for example some scenes from twin peaks (e.g end of s2's black lodge scene) and mulholland drive's diner scene are some of the most well executed 'scares' that perfectly fit my taste! finding a creative like that who appeals 2 ur tastes is so lovely & why i feel im so bored by the usual formula!!
 
I watched too many horror movies and it quickly became apparent it was formulaic tripe for the most part.

The only horror film I think is genius is the original Blair Witch Project. Subtlety, slow build, terrifying use of sound effects. A true masterpiece in my opinion.

Ed
I've become a huge horror movie fan in the past decade. Films like the Alien Quadrilogy, The Thing, Nightmare on Elm Street, The Void, Lake Mungo, and The Ritual are huge excitements. Granted, I'm more a fan of Carpenter due to the practical effects and the realistic people versus everyone being conventionally attractive these days.
 
I've seen Alien 1, 2 and 3, also the original The Thing. I didn't mind them. But horror is a genre that really makes me feel quite depressed and helpless.

The original Jacob's Ladder is one of the few horror films I'd recommend.

Ed
 

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