Many see horror movies as lowbrow, low-intelligent films. And while most horror movies are terrible, there are some that are really well done and are a work-of-art. It is a genre that can be dire when done wrong yet magnificent when done right.
The problems with most horror movies is they rely heavily on those cheap tactics like pop-outs to get a quick scare out of people.That is not what makes a horror movie great. While people are jumping out of their seat scare, they aren't emotionally invested into the movie. What mainly makes a horror movie great is dread. The best horror movies make its watchers anticipate something bad to happen.
Alfred Hitchcock was amazing at doing this. His movies made people scare and feel like there's no way out, yet make the movie so suspenseful and so engaging that they don't even consider shutting it off. Many are lucky to make one good horror film. Hitchock made a handful of them. He was the master of horror movies and really paved the way for the more famous ones to come along.
I get so bored by horror movies these days. The majority of them just don't scare me, and I end up laughing more than anything. For example, I saw Anabelle in theaters recently. I figured it would be pretty good because The Conjuring actually freaked me out. Let's just say Anabelle was nothing like it. Maybe because the whole movie was focused on a doll, which is just dumb. However, Hitchcock movies are unbelievable. One of the first horror movies I ever saw was The Birds when I was probably eight, and it scared the hell out of me. I also am a huge fan of Psycho. That movie is just plain creepy and I love it.
ReplyDeleteYou ever see Rear Window? That's a very underrated movie of his.
DeleteI agree. I haven't even seen all of Psycho but it still makes me check behind my shower curtain when taking a shower. Hitchcock does horror well because, like you said, doesn't rely on the guts and gore that we see in many horror films now, He builds suspense and is creative with his movies, making a story that the audience hasn't seen before.
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