Horror Done Right, Horror Done Wrong

Hott Mama already covered this topic in her recent post but I wanted to comment on it too. I'm always searching for a horror movie that will really affect me, one that will creep under my skin and have me watching the screen through my fingers, but rarely do they succeed. I tend to gravitate more towards psychological horror rather than gore as it usually seems more possible to me. There is a much better chance that I will find myself terrorized my masked intruders as in The Strangers than there is a possibility that I will have to make the kind of absurd, limb-removing choices found in the Saw franchise. And one thing that's scary no matter what are creepy masks like the one in the picture over there. Instant horror.

You just can't shut up about the masks. I just don't get it. Certainly, a masked intruder is a frightening idea but it's more the intrusion part that's the problem. A child in a mask is not inherently scary. Are you unable to leave your house on Halloween? Do you cut the lights, draw the blinds and hide under your covers?

No, I just suck it up and plunge into the darkness. Kids is Batman masks aren't the problem, it's creepy kids in badly sewn masks (that might actually be made out of human flesh) that scare me. The Orphanage is a wonderful horror movie that capitalizes on masks and other naturally terrifying topics like giant mansions, invisible children and bug eyed old ladies. It has style for miles and spooked the hell out of me. As Hott Mama said, she screamed out loud during the movie and that's always a sign of a good horror film. And not just a little scream - she belted it out.

I just didn't buy the whole spirits of dead kids plot line and was annoyed by the ending. To me it seemed implausible and far fetched and that killed my enjoyment. Plus it was in Spanish and you know how I hate to read so it gets a 4 for annoying me with its subtitles.

How cultured you are. I think when you say the subtitles annoyed you, you mean the subtleties. This movie was equally compelling as a drama and genuinely affecting with its emotional heft. You were probably hoping for more monsters and gore.

Exactly. Bring on the rivers of blood!

If you like horror movies that hit you over the head endlessly with their attempts at terror, you probably loved Paranormal Activity.

I did. I give it a 9 for its relentless scenes of unseen beasts wreaking havoc on the life of two beleaguered cutie pies.

I was actually kind of bored with the film. Horror depends on the element of surprise, or at least mystery, to be truly effective and this movie killed all sense of the unexpected. It was too bad too because I like the premise and I love movies that pretend to use found footage like The Blair Witch Project and Cloverfield but where those movies kept an element of surprise throughout, this one started out well but quickly fell into a sad routine. Every time they cut to the night vision camera you knew it was inevitable that something evil was about to happen so what was once novel became rote and lost any element of terror. When the scares are so easily telegraphed there is no possibility for screaming.

You've got it all wrong. The scares kept piling up on top of each, getting more and more menacing until I feared for their sanity as well as their lives. You have to give yourself over to the movie and imagine you're in their situation, helpless at the hands of some unseen demon.

The more you learn about the backstory, the more absurd it all seemed. And what was with the game of brinksmanship the demon was playing? Either kill or possess these people or get out. I highly doubt that any respectable demon would start by simply creaking doors open and closed or knocking on a wall. Also, the whole photograph in the attic part was superlame and not at all scary. How does an invisible entity carry around a physical picture for 15 years and why?

You can't ask those kind of questions about a horror movie. You have to just go along with the ride and suspend your disbelief.

The gaping plot holes and long stretches of nothing happening gave me plenty of time to examine all the absurdities in this movie and wonder once again how the American public was duped into pouring millions of dollars into such a lackluster film. The scariest thing about this movie was the nausea its wildly swinging handheld action caused in my date. The possibility of a lap full of vomit was scarier than anything in Paranormal Activity.