I also don't get scared by horror movies, I notice the camera moves and audio that set up the scares. The original Texas Chainsaw Massacre avoided the typical patterns and is probably one of the scarier movies because of it.

I don't particularly like gross out stuff. It doesn't bother me but doesn't scare me. I would suggest maiming is scarier as it leaves the victim alive and thus builds on the terror. The hobbling in Misery is far more memorable than all the violent deaths in most horror movies because we can all imagine it easier. The mutilation in Reservoir Dogs, which happens off screen, is one of the most memorable scenes in any movie and provides another great example. Horror movies tend to go for the kill and the high body count and I think that's a mistake.

RJSchwarz
San Diego, CA

The story is called the Harvest. Because well. Long story short, we went on a school camp and stayed in cabins 10minutes through bush to reach any help. And the next door neighbour was apparently insane. as for the name. The farms around the area were harvesting some sort of food.

So in the end we came up with an idea. 5 people go camping. On somebodies property. And never return. Thats the jist at least. Its not that violent because well. We don't have any money for the props.

The idea is meant to scare campers who think they are alone. Like we were on camp. And torchs don't help when its pitch black. FREAKY!!!!

I don't lie. I just act out an alternate truth.

Films are definately scarier when they don't tell the audience everything. This way, the audience doesn't know as much about whats going to happen and so the imagination wanders...

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There's daggers in men's smiles

It doesn't look like you would be able to fit it into your storyline, but clowns just creep me the Hell out.

Three can keep a secret if two are dead.

I think that a lot of the time, sound is much scarier than visuals. But I think it would also be scarier if you do not show your antagonist most of the time. Just build up suspense with the sound and then go for the kill, or whatever.

Another thing that can be scary is to have the audience know something the characters do not. Think of the bomb under the bed ticking away. The tension comes because we worry if the character will discover it in time.

Another scary fright is the PITCH BLACK deal where the enemy is everywhere but you don't see them until a burst of light. This was done well in Descent when she turned on an infrared thing on her camera and suddenly saw monsters. Very creepy. Much better than the standard killer POV horror movies often use.

RJSchwarz
San Diego, CA

As RJ says, the killer POV is a bit lame.

Not sure how I feel about the end sequence of Silence of the Lambs. The killer is wearing night vision, and the camera is from their POV, but this is intersected with cuts of what the FBI woman can see, which is nothing, pitch black. Was effective i think, but I still hate the killer POV shot 😛

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There's daggers in men's smiles

I hadn't considerd that scene in Silence of the Lambs because it didn't bother me (except for the fact that night vision goggles would not work in pitch black.

I was talking more of the slasher habit of having the killer POV watching the victim. It worked in the original Halloween and has been somewhat of a cheat ever sense, a way to show generic shots of the victim and attempt to give it some kind of tension that otherwise wouldn't be there. It is also occasionally used as a red hering or is simply a cheat since from the victims point of view the killer is often not there. Specifically I mean Friday 13th Part 2 ( movie I liked but...) where the POV was used for Crazy Ralph and then the double spook as he's killed and the Killer POV as Jason sneaks up behind the guy in the wheelchair and then on the reverses clearly Jason is not there, until the attack. Cheating. Cheating! I hate cheating! So if the move was old in 1983...

RJSchwarz
San Diego, CA

RJ is right, sloppy stabbing and slicing in half is just overdone. About the only place I see disgusting ripping apart of bodies and eating of flesh having effect is in zombie movies, but that's just because it's what zombies do. But even then, not all zombies ripped apart everything and ate it.

28 Days/Weeks Later, people. The rage virus-infected "zombies" maimed their vics, not ate them on the spot. They beat the living funk out of them first. It's scarier because you know they can do it, they've got ungodly speed and agility and, for some reason, always know where you are and are always after you. They never tire. They never stop. They're never satisfied. That's what horror is about. An antagonist that doesn't just kill, go away, then come back and kill again...a scary opponent that never lets up, something to fight that makes the protagonist work for his/her survival.

But what do I know...?

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Three can keep a secret if two are dead.

The whole deal to make something scary is to put the viewer into the mind/situation of the victim. If you kill the victim the situation ends. You want to keep that going.

Instead of dead, have the victim injured, making them more vunerable. Make the victim intelligent. If they do the right thing and the killer still keeps up with them it's twice as scary as when the victims act retarded (back to Silence of the Lambs, think of Lector's escape, I knew he was ontop of the elevator, when he outtricked me he really earned his escape), make the victims someone we can relate too. If we think they deserve it we're not as worried for their life as if they're someone we can relate to (this doesn't mean they have to be perfect), and lastly, have friends or family killed instead of the victim so the victim feels the fear, pain and all that without ending the situation.

Of course you could do this with numberous characters, offing each one, before going onto the next but without proper buildup it's not as scary.

RJSchwarz
San Diego, CA

All I can offer you buddy is;

Less is more.

In my opinion, things in movies that really get me are things that could actually happen in real life. Something that really isn't that far from the truth.

im scared as shit to open my blinds and see to big eyes staring at me, that's like the worst thing that could happen to me. all stuff like that is scary as hell, some wierd old man just standing still, staring and not responding to anything..
if u see the priests in "wind chill" u'll now what im talking about.
also if u see "28 days later" the scene in the church in the beginning is scary too

The scariest horror films to me are the ones were you don't see the creature/ghost/killer until the end if at all.

"Try not. Do, or do not. There is no try." - Yoda