What Makes an Effective Horror Film?

[MasterDisaster]

Bonjourno.

I am studying my first year in a film and television course at college. My current assignment is to create a five minute film, and the idea that my group has come up with is that of a psychological horror. As part of research, I am discovering what makes an effective horror film, and decided to ask you lot.

What techniques and/or effects do you think builds the horror aspect of films best and why? Feel free to be as detailed, or less detailed as you want.

Cheers! :Vickie:

 

[The Cork]

IMO leaving some things open to suggestion is better than everything being clear cut, ie; the difference between a girl getting dragged away from something you can't see, and showing a monster dragging a girl away.

The mind is powerful and what you think is often a better story than any director can come up with.

Good luck.

 

[AZUCAR!]

Doesn't belong in Media

*moved*

 

[Pete]

I personally prefer to be kept uncomfortable through suggestion rather than have buckets of blood or horrible graphic deaths. Think El Orfanato, old X-Files (the really spooky ones) or Battoru Royaru (although there was a lot of blood on that one) rather than Scream, Friday the 13th, and so forth.

 

[Kahuna]

Its subjective really. In that genre, everything imaginable has been done - over done, at times. I think if you were to delve into the inner psyche of the general audience and touch upon such a subconscious fear or paranoia that we all have, you could get somewhere. To me, slashers are ok for time fillers and just something to watch but real horror stories are not always that of a menacing monster or maniac slashing and hacking away, or a bunch of zombies eating a city of people or some long lost legend coming back to life to reap havoc upon the people.

My opinion.. dig into something that isn't your typical horror franchise, indulge in your audiences fears and psyche. Maybe something along the lines of a more gripping, intellectual and perhaps even forbidden subject.

What that is is up to you, though.

 

[Keith]

I agree with Cork on this one. The only things I will add is that it should be moody, atmospheric and have an intresting visually style. Keep it low budget as a lot of the best horrors are, and since you only have five minutes maybe stick to a fairly simplistic plot, but like Cork said it might be an idea to leave things open ended at the end.

Good luck.

 

[MasterDisaster]

Thanks allot fellas. We are going for something allot different which I don't believe has been done before. Begun filming earlier today, but I'll still take your opinions for future reference if anyone wants in

 

[Defiant]

I don't know if this applies to what you're doing, but if your characters are going to have any kind of physical threat against in your film then try to expose that person or thing as little as possible. Horror is designed to play with the fears of the audience, so let them use their imagination.

Another important part is suspense. There isn't a more classic scenario in horror where the scared and apprehensive main character creeps towards a door to open it, their hand reaching towards the knob more and more slowly, terrified of what may lay behind. The reason this grips the audience right by the balls when executed properly is because they too don't know what's coming next, and how potentially gruesome the consequences could be.

Again, its about allowing the audience to use their imagination. There's nothing more scary than what you don't know.

 

[NotReallyaGoodUN]

IMO leaving some things open to suggestion is better than everything being clear cut, ie; the difference between a girl getting dragged away from something you can't see, and showing a monster dragging a girl away.

The mind is powerful and what you think is often a better story than any director can come up with.

Good luck.

This. 100%. Nothing else. What you CANNOT see is infinitely more frightening than what you can see. Human beings are way more paranoid than they'd like to admit. Loud special effects and noises can only go so far into frightening an audience, loud noises don't work so well once the viewer has crossed his/her mid-teens, even the most banal of things can be frightening to an adult imagination, the climax of Blair Witch Project comes to mind. I'm guessing everybody has here has watched it, most of the people I know didn't like the movie when I suggested it to them, but the ambiguity in the movie was by far the most frightening element. "Horror" is an extremely subjective term, if you think of it, it's completely about what the movie makers can make you believe and less about what is actually happening. Jacob's Ladder still gives me the creeps to this day.

Speaking of Blair Witch Project, it pisses me off that Paranormal Activity is quickly becoming the next SAW, maybe I'm in the minority, but I wasn't a big fan of the sequel at all. Wondering whether I should even bother with the third, seeing as to how I have vastly superior material to go through.

 

[Keith]

This. 100%. Nothing else. What you CANNOT see is infinitely more frightening than what you can see. Human beings are way more paranoid than they'd like to admit. Loud special effects and noises can only go so far into frightening an audience, loud noises don't work so well once the viewer has crossed his/her mid-teens, even the most banal of things can be frightening to an adult imagination, the climax of Blair Witch Project comes to mind. I'm guessing everybody has here has watched it, most of the people I know didn't like the movie when I suggested it to them, but the ambiguity in the movie was by far the most frightening element. "Horror" is an extremely subjective term, if you think of it, it's completely about what the movie makers can make you believe and less about what is actually happening. Jacob's Ladder still gives me the creeps to this day.

Speaking of Blair Witch Project, it pisses me off that Paranormal Activity is quickly becoming the next SAW, maybe I'm in the minority, but I wasn't a big fan of the sequel at all. Wondering whether I should even bother with the third, seeing as to how I have vastly superior material to go through.

Am not sure it is the next Saw they are completely different kind of films. The only connection is that both had very little scope beyond the first film. Saw is a more desponsble slasher series so the add ons make more sense with those films.

 

[NotReallyaGoodUN]

Exactly my point. I just didn't know how to phrase it properly. I got the feeling that they were doing it for all the wrong reasons, hey, 15,000$ got us millions back, lets roll the dice again and make a few more...*repeat*

Hey, they have the right to create what they want. I just don't know if I'll be having anything to do with any more sequels. It just doesn't have that kind of sustained appeal.

 

[Keith]

Well the first PA movie was better than any of the Saw series, but the appeal of that movie was mysitqe and that it was all about the story and not knowing what was going to happen, it felt like a one series film and there really arn't any suprises now.

 

[NotReallyaGoodUN]

Oh...I understand. I wasn't equating those two movies in quality, Paranormal Activity was vastly superior, agreed. It's just that it should have been left with the one movie. [Not making any comments on the SAW series' length, not that big a fan of the series.] By juicing it for all it's worth, they stand the very real chance of losing the niche respect the original had, and if the series goes downhill, the first will forever be associated with the tainted sequels...that was/is my main concern.

 

[ThatGuyFromNukemHigh]

The right ambient music is the way to go, Einsterzende Neubauten(used in the remake of Island of Dr. Moreau), Psychic TV, & Coil(did the original soundtrack to Hellraiser, but was replaced) all have some very industrial sounds, as most of these bands use power tools as instruments. If you are looking for some awesome sound effects try Black Lung: The Sound of Meat, the entire album is made up of sounds from a slaughter house. But for the best effects, music is the way to add suspense to an otherwise boring segment(look at Dawn of the Dead, in the original cut a comedic song was playing while the zombies were falling on the ice, it actually relieved alot of the stress of the movie for a few moments, in the directors cut the song is not there, and does not have the same effect)

Kind of shocked nobody mentioned audio, when I think of Friday the 13th, the first thing that comes to mind is that little Ja, Ja, Ja, Kil, Kil, Kil(a play on Pamela telling Jason to Kill), or Nightmare and the One, Two, Freddys coming for you, always freaked me out.

 

[We Are Legion]

Horror films are a dead genre. The only good ones in recent time are the really gory ones like Hostel. The Saw movies were fine, but they were closer to the psychological thriller genre.

The only way you can have a good horror movie is to assume your audience has never seen a horror movie before. The "scare" tactics in those types of movies have been done to death and practically none of them work. The only way you can really scare people these days is with disgusting shit, people getting their ankles cut off and things like that. Zombies, ghosts, murderers.... none of that is scary anymore. And sure enough, that's what most classic horror movies revolve around.