Out of all the movie genres, the horror movie is the most frustrating. It tends to be the easiest movie to turn to complete crap in an instant.
Allow me to explain.
When watching an action movie, there is a pretty acceptable degree of nonsense that can be stomached before deeming the movie unwatchable. Other genres are similar, in that they can get away with being only partially good and still remain watchable. Now consider the horror movie.
A great horror movie does more than just provide the occasional jump or shock. It should instill a pervasive sense of despair and fear in the watcher, one that captivates and excites (since it is not real). This is how “The Ring” felt for me when I first watched it as a kid. I was absolutely terrified; my mind was blown.
When most of us watch a horror movie, we hope to be scared. Simple, yes, but therein lies the problem. Actual fear, rather than just a series of jumps from sudden noises and visuals, is difficult to provoke with media.
The creation of such fear requires a fine-tuned delivery of visuals, plot and various other subtleties that a good horror movie should have. But if one thing goes wrong or one element falls through, the whole thing crumbles to the ground. As soon as the thought “wow, this is stupid” occurs to the viewer, the experience is ruined.
Imagine the countless number of horror movies that seemed promising at first, but at the introduction of a new element, the entire movie went belly up. For instance, when the monster, who was hidden and mysterious before, is all of a sudden shown in full light, it turns out to be rather lame. Boom, ruined. The movie is no longer scary, and redemption is impossible.
It’s interesting how many times the revelation of the monster can ruin the movie. Some of the most popular scary movies are those in which you never actually see anything. Consider “The Blair Witch Project” or “Paranormal Activity.”
The fear component of the movie is implied. In “The Blair Witch Project,” you never see the witch, but you fear her. Her absence from the screen is crucial, and at one point, during a frantic sprint through the woods, both the characters and viewers believe they see her for just a moment. And it’s terrifying. Similarly, in “Paranormal Activity,” the presence of the demon is implied by the fear of the characters and the strange activity around the house.
Maybe the best horror movie is the one that is construed in such a way so that the fear component is derived from the imagination of the audience, rather than forced from the director’s idea of a scary visual. Some movies are able to get away with creating fear explicitly through visuals. For those who have watched “The Ring,” the majority probably agree that the image of Samara crawling out of the well is profoundly terrifying, as are many other moments in the film.
Children are much less picky in this way, and they will likely be frightened by the presentations of most horror movies, but for a mature audience, more is necessary. Most of us aren’t afraid of absurd monsters and exaggerated demons anymore.
The entire genre has been plagued by a massive number of bad movies, and many people are apprehensive to see new horror films because of that trend. Maybe we will see directors moving more toward the minimalistic approach, creating the idea and the setting and leaving the fear component up to the audience.