Quoted from rendevous Oh dear. I've just written one of them.

Hey, for four bucks, I'll produce anything.  

just give me ample tits and ass... cartoonish violence, and an over-the top killer and i'm good to go with Horror.

that being said... Alien, The Thing are the kinds of Horror movies I love... when done correctly....

a horrible beast.... and a isolated group of people trying to survive... the best is when all of the characters have been developed so well... that you have no fucking clue who is going to survive...

that is what I like

Pen, in the last two years what horror films have been released matching that sensible criteria?

^ Some thoughts (quality may vary…):

Nurse 3D (so good, hahah)
Stitches
Hatchet III
Curse of Chucky
Silent Night
Piranha 3DD

And some looser fits to those criteria (that are good, at least, anyway):

Evil Dead
American Mary
Maniac
You're Next

Haha, I like how this thread finds a way to survive-- even though my project fell through the cracks.  


--Steve

I hate horror movies because they just are not scary. Gore does not equal scary. Most films today are low grade snuff films pretending to pass off as horror it seems to me. Most are mindless predictable clichés of each other. My wife however loves them and will watch every B grade horror movie on Netflix if it has a creepy enough name. So I've seen more than I would like. My drives me nuts is that Hollywood keeps pumping out the same awful movies again and again. Sure they scary creepy commercials but then at the end you see its rated PG-13. Sorry. No good horror movie could ever be rated PG-13. Fail.

It seems like people want to watch horror films to be scared. What makes something scary? is something jumping out of the window scary? A person being torn to pieces? A attacker lurking in the shadows unseen? Does having lost "video footage" ramp up the reality and make films scary? Atmosphere? There are a lot of ways to approach horror. My complaint is that so many films these days are content to reach for the low hanging fruit to make a quick buck.

The scariest movie I remember seeing might seem corny now, but Event Horizon on the big screen was something else. I actually worked at a movie theater when these came out and every show you could count on a handful of people walking out hallway through requesting their money back. I had never seen any other movie at the theater turn people away as much as it did. Even our manager who built and screened the movies Thursday nights before opening day couldn't finish it. It had a dreadful atmosphere, it had gore, it had jump scares, it had that horror unseen. I still think it's a great movie.

That said, I got to thinking about what would make a truly scary horror movie since they are few and far between. And I think I came up with a good idea. So much so that I want to make it my next spec even though I despise the genre.  (There seems to be an insatiable market for these) I guess I just want to show my wife what a good horror movie actually is.

CD, I think most everyone over the age of 25 is experienced enough to not be actually horrified or scared by a film.
Sure, we may be disgusted or made to feel uncomfortable, but to leave the theater or to pop out the DVD and remain truly scared afterwards is a tall order.
Only kids and silly adults watch 'Evil Dead' or 'Carrie' remakes and get scared.
Pfft.

The best it gets is a good story well told and we can say that was a good story.

In which case there are a few good recent horror films, as Heretic above has identified.

You can forget scaring anybody any more, except for dopes.


Oh, and the reason HWood keeps pumping out more schlock is because A) there's always a new crop of young adults to pander to = $$$, and B) remakes to aggravate the mature audiences interested in seeing how an "old" classic gets f#cked up = $$$.

"Suuuu-kahhhhz!"

Quoted from CameronD I guess I just want to show my wife what a good horror movie actually is.

You will write what you think is a good horror movie. Everyone's idea of what a good horror movie is will vary from individual to individual.

The genre some of you look down on is treasured by a lot of people. Everyone doesn't want to see Oscar winning dramas or gag inducing rom-coms.

Good points Ray. But I still think its possible to make a movie that will still scare. I want to feel like that little kid again.

And if nothing else, it gives me a chance to put my index fingers where my mouth is by trying.

Yeah... that ain't happening.

Adults can scare kids.
Adults can be scared by the stupid things kids do.
But I don't think any adults are gonna get scared by a movie.

And the reason there are so many horror films is because there are so many new filmmakers looking to make a name (and a buck) for themselves with a marketable film..
Of the main genre's Adventure films are too expensive to make, Action films are also expensive because people get hurt and blowing up stuff is expensive, there's no market for drama or comedy, so a new lo/no budget filmmaker is left with horror films to strike the best balance between affordability and market interest.

See "Top-Grossing Genres 1995 to 2014" and note the "Average Gross" column:
http://www.the-numbers.com/market

As I stated above - there's always a new market of nubes = $$$.
(Psst! They don't know any better! They're just got allowed to watch rated R movies last year! )



Wow.
I just noticed the difference the per film averages are since OCT 2013.



That's quite an industry drop, across the board.
Hope it's seasonal.
Can't wait to see what the YoY changes are.

The film I'm writing currently is a western. Guess it's time to ditch it and start writing black comedies!

It'll lose LESS money, it appears.

Just be mindful of the production costs, and be funny as Hades.


Goodness! That's a lotta R rated films!
http://www.the-numbers.com/market/genre/Black-Comedy

And have everyone talk dirty, too.  


'You Kill Me' and '50/50' are great, BTW.

I think there many facets of what can be considered scary in horror movies. It doesn’t always have to be a jump scare or a gory scene with an arm being chewed off. Just the tone of a movie, an ominous feeling.  A well placed score or sound at a particular moment during a scene could easily heightened the level on tension. Even with holding sound to pique curiosity.

Of course people aren’t really frightened for their lives  when they watch a horror movie. But the idea of seeing a movie is to vicariously experience the emotion and story form the characters that we’re watching.  And as I am well aware that the movie I’m watching is fiction. I go into it wanting to be scared. If your wearing your skeptical glasses and your "Nothing scares me" t-shirt, then chances are your probably watching the wrong movie.

And that’s the appeal of horror. The audience deep down, probably innately needs a good scare. Could be a reason why people remember their nightmares more vividly then their dreams. It's the images that stay with us. That’s why a good horror movie can resonate for years.

--Reel-truth

Quoted from Grandma Bear Everyone doesn't want to see Oscar winning dramas or gag inducing rom-coms.

I don't like horror much either.. but between Oscar-winning drama, gag-inducing rom-coms and cheap horror... I'd go for the cheap horror.

Is it too much to ask for some good Oscar winning gag-inducing horror?