A Suggestion for Writers of Horror Movies

[Hyena Dandy]

In my opinion... a horror movie that relies on blood and gore for its horror is doing it the cheap way.
Yeah, yeah... girl/guy falls into woodchipper... horrifying...

That's not horror. That's just torture porn. :P

[Mytical]

ugh don't get me started on 'torture porn'. Not a fan of the Saw/Hostel type movies. Maybe because Saw I was so predictable to me. It's just not scary.

[Hyena Dandy]

ugh don't get me started on 'torture porn'. Not a fan of the Saw/Hostel type movies. Maybe because Saw I was so predictable to me. It's just not scary.

It wasn't SCARY. I liked the story, but... There aren't many movies that really SCARE me these days.

[Lace Neil Singer]

What they need is a good horror movie that really screws with the mind...
Like... a paranormal based setting where there is NO paranormal activity. Its all in the person's head... its all the audience can see.. but they don't know that.

They did something like that in "The Others". I know, not a horror movie, but it was really creepy and made me jump on a few occasions the first time I watched it.

[blas87]

I loved the Paranormal Activity movies. Those movies actually make it hard for me to sleep in the dark, because that is more realistic than a dead child molestor slasher or a guy with a machete or some crazy fool in a mask after his little sister coming after me.

I also loved the Saw films, but it was mostly because every film had some sort of twist or "flashback" that filled in a blank or two from the previous film.

[jackfaire]

I prefer True Evil to fake Evil in horror movies.

Fake evil is where a character is evil just to be evil and the character knows they are evil.

True evil is where the character is evil due to real motivations that anyone of us could relate to on some level and the evil character doesn't think they are evil.

For example a movie where the killer isn't revealed right away and you get to know the character and his motivations and even like the character and then find out his motivations led him to murder would be scarier than "I am evil I kill you now."

Because your looking at the things that have happened to him and your thinking, "I can relate to that" and then it's like being shown, "Oh you can relate well he became a killer!"

It's like holding up a scary mirror to ourselves and going boo. It's more terrifying thinking "oh god that could be me" than it is watching some guy kill a bunch of teens.

[Gravekeeper]

For example a movie where the killer isn't revealed right away and you get to know the character and his motivations and even like the character and then find out his motivations led him to murder would be scarier than "I am evil I kill you now."

Any character without motivations is shitty writing. Which is kind of the entire problem lately. ;p

[Andara Bledin]

Any character without motivations is shitty writing. Which is kind of the entire problem lately. ;p

Yup. Totally this.

If you don't have an awesome plot to drive your story, you need awesome characters. Too many movies, books, tv shows, etc don't have either.

^-.-^

[RecoveringKinkoid]

One of my favorite movies is The Unforgiven. The reason is because the way the characters are written, nobody's good and nobody's bad. Everyone's just human. The villian's motivations are he's just trying to build his freakin' house. The good guy's motivations are that they are just trying to make a few bucks and get home at the end of it. In other words, it's just a story about a bunch of very human, very believable people.

In Last of the Mohicans (which may be my favorite movie), all it would take to turn the villian (Magua) into the hero would be to shoot the movie from his point of view instead of the point of view of Cora and Hawkeye's team. His motives are understandable, reasonable motives and a great number of people here (myself included) would most likely feel as he does in his shoes.

One of my most flattering comments someone made on the web fiction I'm posting now was said about one of my villians. The comment was "I never thought I'd say this, but I could actually have a beer with that guy. He's got principles and fair amount of courage." I loved that that reader felt that way.

[Andara Bledin]

Those aren't villains; they're antagonists. Neither side is necessarily more right or more good than the other, it's just that the storyteller chose the point of view of the protagonist instead of the other side.

Then again, there are those antagonists who are people who have chosen to do very bad things but with the best of intentions. They truly believe that what they are doing is for the greater good and that they were the only ones strong enough to do what had to be done. They have willingly become villains because they think it is the only way to save their world.

^-.-^

[RecoveringKinkoid]

Exactly. "Bad guys" never see themselves as bad guys.

Even if they are supporting a cause you can't support, there's a reason they're supporting it. And to them, it seems like a good reason.

Magua was on a vendetta to avenge his family. Little Bill saw gunmen ride into town with clear plans of murder and mayhem and just wanted to keep the peace.

[guywithashovel]

I actually enjoyed the first few Saw movies. I stopped watching them after about four or five, but it wasn't because I didn't like the other movies. Some of the things done actually were pretty disturbing to me, just the fact that someone somewhere might be willing/able to pull some of that off.

[KabeRinnaul]

Yes, yes, and yes, to that. Try out the After Dark Horrorfest films. That's where you'll find The Grudge 6 (or whatever one they are on now) and other stupid low budget horror films that are just....beyond weird.

My store has a "value bin" with $5 movies in it. Some of these are 10-for-1 combo packs, making them about 50 cents per film. I've always been so tempted to buy the 10-movie horror pack that includes such illustrious titles as "The Evil Bong".

[RecoveringKinkoid]

Are you serious?

There is a movie called "The Evil Bong"?

I must have that for my next party!

[guywithashovel]

Some of the movies in the After Dark Horror Fest have been pretty good, despite being low budget. One that I thought was quite scary was "The Final." In that movie, a group of high school misfits capture the popular kids who have picked on them and spend the evening torturing them and disfiguring them. It was pretty disturbing, and what made it particularly disturbing for me was the thought that someone might actually try to do that to someone they didn't like.

To me, that's usually what makes movies scary, the thought that the events in them could likely happen in real life.