to think that people who 'enjoy' horror films are just a little bit fucked up?

[LastMinuteLouise]

Maybe I am just an oversensitive person but I find watching my fellow man being terrified, screaming and then horribly killed, with blood and guts spewing, just a bit offensive! I am aware it is not real (plenty of real stuff in the news which is just as bad) but just having these images in my head upsets me. DH says he just forgets it when it's finished - he's currently watching 'Devil', some fucked up film about a devil in a lift . Most of the dramas and films these days are about people getting murdered, getting killed or being dead. It is so mainstream.

I mean where do these film makers get these ideas? Surely they should be committed? Are we all supposed to have this 'dark' side that they make into 'art'? Where is the entertainment in having horrifying images in your head?

I remember watching 'Changeling' a few years back thinking it was about a woman who's son disappears and who is then given a 'ringer' back by the police. I was totally unprepared for the scene in which young boys (my DSs age) were shown being axed to death. Fucked me up for months weeks and I was watching it alone. I remember shouting at the screen, please tell me that did'nt happen but apparently it did.

I don't know. Am I abnormal?

I think there is far more 'darkness' in the sort of unimaginative numpties who don't like fiction. Because these are the people who actually feed off the authentic misery of others, or want to do so. The sort of people who read all that misery-lit because it's supposed to be 'true'. The people who like 'reality' TV shows because you get to see people humiliated, bullied and crying. Give me a good zombie-fest allegory any day.

Not theblinkinggruffalo - don't be so patronising

i had a hard and abusive childhood which included violence, emotional abuse and mental health problems. i enjoy dark and thought provoking literature.

in fact counselling allowed me to explore and face the darkness of my chilhood and i am a much happier and healthy adult

Absolutely solidgoldbrass

The x factor is the very essence of darkness itself

Did any of you see that derren brown programme recently? the one with the studio audience that had been convinced they had control over what happened in a guys life and were shown events on a video screen,they then had a choice of what would happen i.e something nice or horrible.
They all chose horrible things to repeatedly happen (pack mentality apparently),it was horrific! (i cant quite believe that people would do that,but thats a whole other thread).
I had to turn it off,far far more unsettling than any horror i have seen.

For example a lot of these 'safe' rom coms actually portray very sexist attitudes which damage women and girls

i would rather my daughter read proper thought provoking literature that didn't rely on stereotypes

For anyone who's interested, Hostel 3 is out. It's a straight to DVD job.

I think it's a bit bizarre to assume that everyone who likes horror films has never had any actual horrific events in their lives. You have no clue what has happened in my life thank-you very much.

I like the films I like because they have good stories, suspense, thrills, strong characters or humour...I don't "delight" in seeing people killed, it's not about that...you'll find a lot of horror (especially the zombie genre) contains quite deep political messages hidden under the ridiculous over the top stuff.

What about slapstick violence? Does that show an evil negative mind? Are kids who watch Tom & Jerry fucked up? What about The Three Stooges?

Admittedly I'm not including things like Hostel in this point, but as I've already said, I don't particularly like those sorts of films...you can't put all horror films in the same category.

Ooh yes the mist another one with an unforgettable ending.

Ive not seen anything to do with human centipede, but I know I dont want to either. Whereas all the saw films, hostel, wolf creek, hills have eyes (though there was a scene in the first film I didnt like) Ive seen and will possibly see again maybe. I didnt like the devils rejects though.

Id rather watch saw than Jackass. I think the difference is in Jackass its all real (or so I believe? no doubt if it is staged someone will soon tell me) and saw isnt.

Tom & Jerry, Roadrunner and similar are worse than horror films. They show the characters falling from heights, being shot, mangled, having heavy boxes land on them, then they get up and walk away.

I have no interest in The Human Centipede either, though I have watched the trailer...just to see what the fuss was about.

Not my sort of thing at all...I need a bit of humour in my horror. I liked Devil's Rejects, and House of a Thousand Corpses...but then I've been a big Rob Zombie fan for years.

Tom & Jerry is hardcore violence! Funny as hell though, I still have videos from when I was young. I've yet to turn into a violent psycopath...I've never been in a fight...nor have I ever squashed someone with a frying pan so they turn into a concertina.

Ooh, I haven't seen The Mist. It looks good from the IMDB entry.

The Mist is really good...less about the monsters more about the humans...I like films like that.

The Human Centipede isn't really scarey. It's almost like a B movie.

I didn't think it would be particularly scary. Gore and stuff doesn't really scare me. It just didn't look particularly pleasant...and not funny...I prefer something a bit more tongue in cheek (no pun intended...sorry that sounds awful).

God that really does sound awful guffaws

LOL @ tongue in cheek.

I know...it wasn't intentional...but rather amusing all the same.

Final destination 5 was brilliant.
But I know loads of people who don't watch horror films.
So YANBU :)

YANBU, but it is fairly mainstream it seems.
Find it a bit weird that someone mentioned the Kite Runner earlier in the thread. Beautiful if sad book (and film). Not quite in the same category despite having upsetting scenes - hardly gratuitous gore is it.

Too much empathy my arse.

People who don't watch sad or scary films because they have "too much empathy", obviously have a hard time empathising with fear or anger (which last I checked were part of the emotional spectrum), hence the opposite of "too much empathy". I mean if you can't even handle a piece of fiction that is strange and frightening, what kind of fucked up emotional bubble do you have to live in to avoid those feelings in real life? Indicates a really unhealthy relationship with one's own emotions IMO.

In my opinion it's basically 'yes and 'no' ie. i wouln't expect some real life psycho to have a DVD shelf full of Jane Eyre, In the Midnight Garden or Fifi and the Flower Tots, you get my drift....I'm sure it's much more likely that they have a shelf full of video nasty stuff. On the other hand, people who do enjoy horror films aren't necessarily nuts. That said the spectrum of 'horror' is very broad, I don't mind a good old fashioned Boris Karlof but I couldn't stand the more modern films that tend to be blood, guts and not much else. It's not the blood and guts itself (seen plenty of real life horror as a nurse) it's the violence that goes along with it I can't stomach. Saw a scene once of someone having their head caved in by two others (it wasn't that graphic probably) and I then went shaking all the way to the kettle to make a shakey cup of tea.Since then have been careful not to watch stuff like this, I know it's no good for my poor sensitive brain.

Tinyarmy

i think it is very reasonable to avoid watching horror if it disturbs you

but it was the insinuation that because i have enjoyed the odd horror flick or stephen king novel i am somehow lacking in empathy or basic humanity

that really hacked me off

I like them. I like being scared :-).

I don't particularly like blood and guts.

tinyarmy you're right. I call people like that grief tourists.

The idea that they have the same level of feeling as someone who's really gone through the experience is my definition of obscene.

I had a job that sometimes brought you into contact with sensitive issues.

A colleague used to try to slide out of those things because they 'upset' her sensitivities whereas we unfeeling bitches could deal with it.

She was a lazy, manipulative cow who wanted to claim the moral high ground and was a waste of space in our office.

I also knew someone who 'couldn't' watch 'violent' films because they upset her with the implication that she was more sensitive and better than the average person.

No distinction in her world between slasher porn and say Godfather Part II.

That's what I find objectionable about the OP's ignorant assessment of Changeling and her assertion that those of us who like the horror genre are 'fucked up'.