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Old 12th May 2011, 10:33 AM
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Default Are Horror Films Actually Scary?

Here we are in the year 2011, most video nasties are available uncut in the UK, grisly torture images are on view in practically every new horror release, all manner of creatures and demons can be created using computer effects.

BUT are horror films actually scary?

Have they ever been scary?

You can have your stomach turned, but are you actually frightened ?

Have we been desensitized to horror as the years have rolled by?

Have your say, which films scared you? if any, and give reasons, it may make others want to watch them.
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Old 12th May 2011, 10:45 AM
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One film which scared me the first time i saw it is The Haunting.

A 1963 film about an investigation to see if ghosts really do exist at Hill House.

You don't see anything at all, everything which gave me the creeps was done by suggestion - a window banging shut, a door handle turning, simple sound effects in otherwise quiet scenes, complemented with extremely convincing performances by the actors concerned.

The film still makes my flesh tingle when watched on a cold, stormy, Autumnal night.
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Old 12th May 2011, 10:53 AM
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I watched Insidious last night, scared me!
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Old 12th May 2011, 11:03 AM
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Seeing The Changeling as a nipper spooked me out!
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Old 12th May 2011, 11:21 AM
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"Salem's Lot" did it for me as a kid but as an adult I can't think of anything that has frightened me.
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Old 12th May 2011, 11:44 AM
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it all depends on your ability to suspend belief surely.....i still find things that scare me whilst im watching them but, and this is purely me, the last film that creeped me out i.e. restless sleep etc. was (drum roll.....) The Blair Witch Project. ok its a rollicking mix of CH and Nuts in May, and may make people dismiss this missive out of hand, but cant help the way i feel. though St Johns Wort had same effect at the time, rewatching sadly diminished its impact...c'est la vie!!
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Old 12th May 2011, 12:29 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by robertzombie View Post
I watched Insidious last night, scared me!
I must admit I've become highly desensitized to horrors over the years and I don't get scared much at all. The last films to genuinely scare me were REC, Paranormal Activity, Insidious and The Changeling. Each scared me in their own way.
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Old 12th May 2011, 12:54 PM
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As a kid occasionally I would watch a film that would leave me a bit frightened - usually the more realistic stuff when I thought a serial killer or stalker would be waiting for me in my bedroom and kill me when I was asleep

Nowadays I wouldn't say I am frightened by anything in films...although some things perhaps manage to make me feel a bit unsettled or disturbed (usually films more of a psychological nature) or make me feel a bit creeped out (a well made supernatural horror - Suspiria still manages to make my hairs stand on end). I suppose I've become incredibly desensitized to horror and gore over the years.

I remember the first time I watched Mermaid In A Manhole, that kind of grossed me out but can't remember the last time anything really made me feel a reaction like that. As far as the more extreme stuff goes I'm constantly in search for new things that will shock me or make me think 'whoa, that's REALLY sick!' Probably a bit childish, but it's become a bit of a personal obsession/challenge
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Old 12th May 2011, 01:37 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by thehamish View Post
it all depends on your ability to suspend belief surely.....i still find things that scare me whilst im watching them but, and this is purely me, the last film that creeped me out i.e. restless sleep etc. was (drum roll.....) The Blair Witch Project. ok its a rollicking mix of CH and Nuts in May, and may make people dismiss this missive out of hand, but cant help the way i feel. though St Johns Wort had same effect at the time, rewatching sadly diminished its impact...c'est la vie!!
I'm with you on the Blair Witch project.

Its quite like the Haunting in the fact that it doesn't show the viewer anything, just noises, and small wooden artifacts hanging from trees.

I first watched it on dvd with a mate, we watched the excellent Curse of the Blair Witch documentary first which really is a prelude to the film, that must have put us in the right frame of mind, as the film shit both of us up .

It probably helps that as kids we used to camp out in nearby woods and fields, so became quite adept at listening for the slightest sound ,three miles away.
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Old 12th May 2011, 01:55 PM
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I found the Japanese film Ring scared me but the Friday the 13th films, slashers, zombie films don't scare me. Paranormal Activity and Blair Witch just bored me to death.

I get creeped out at psychological horror but nothing has ever made me not sleep for nights on end, it's normally the music that makes me jump more or a quick music stab as someone walks past a door behind someone etc. When I was younger I watched Cat's Eye with the troll under the girl's bed and that scared me, it was just the look of the thing
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