To think CGI isn't scary and it's ruining horror?

[MrsFattyBumBum]

I was watching IT, the one from a few years ago on Netflix before.

And Pennywise is scary as a character but all the CGI stuff, it's just so unrealistic that it just makes it almost like animation, just takes all the fear away. It's like watching a cartoon. You just know it's all fake.

I miss good old fashioned horror films that are just creepy. Things in the shadows crawling about. Peeping out from round corners. Not really knowing what is out there.

With CGI you see too much. Nothing is left to the imagination and it's imagination that keeps you up at night after a scary film.

So AIBU that CGI is ruining horror films?

The Orphan has low cgi and is freaky as hell

Another that has little if any cgi but will haunt me forever is The Orphanage

There's a good one on Netflix called The Boy or The Doll or something like that. I jumped out my skin!

I am scared by almost everything but I laughed all the way through Babadook. So stupid.

I agree that The Orphanage was gruelling. Really really upsetting. I always feel torn about whether or not to recommend it because it is a very good film but it is desperately heart wrenchingly tragic, for me anyway. I certainly could never watch it again.

The Orphan, on the other hand, is great. Watch that, OP.

IT is about a town haunted with child murders while the parents are malaised. It’s not a comedy.

Under the shadow mentioned above I thought was great.
The Babadook has a compelling story to it.
We need to talk about Kevin has some scary moments in it.
American Horror Story is worth a watch.

I though The Boy was crap with an awful end twist. Lights Out has some creepy moments. Pans Labyrinth is a classic, similar to The Orphanage.

I liked the Autoosy of Jane Dough as well, the second half let’s it down but the first half is very unsettling.

I agree, with modern films there’s often scene after scene of the boys playing with their toys (CGI), which do nothing to advance the plot.

Sometimes, what you don’t see is scarier. The Woman in Black from 1990 (not the Daniel Radcliffe one) is one of the scariest films ever - special effects are minimal, the most being the woman standing on a lake. More recently, The Conjuring has very little CGI, and is scary. Also Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children - although it’s very visual, CGI is used sparingly.

Another one is the Day of the Triffids - scary, even though you can see the triffids on their little wheels!

The new ones arent that scary but It 2 is so much better than 1 in my opinion

@Nuttyfellalovesnutella the prodigy is good with a good twist

Couldn't agree more.

Agreed, OP. I still think one of the most genuinely frightening and disturbing horror films I've seen was The Haunting (the 1963 original). When the door starts bulging - aargh...

I agree OP. Tension, imagination etc seem to be replaced more and more with cheap shocks, CGI monsters and stupid twists in the ending. Plus an odd thing I've noticed in a few films (including the new IT) where the ghost/monster/witch runs toward the camera with its head shaking - it's so ridiculous it pulls me out of the immersion straight away!

As pp have said, tension and horror work so much better when you don't see everything straight away, and your imagination fills in the gaps.

I love watching "making of" style programmes for older films. It's amazing how many iconic moments came about through the crew's ingenuity in getting around limitations, and watching the work that goes into making it all behind the scenes, animatronics, puppets, props etc leaves me in awe a little.

I used to work in the hotel where the original Haunting was filmed! It’s a very strange place with a genuine atmosphere, which I think probably added something.

100% agree. I’m a horror fan, but I want a slow build up of tension and creepiness, not CGI monsters all over the place. I recently watched the new version of It part one and was very disappointed. The only genuinely creepy bit is the very start with Pennywise in the drain, the rest is as scary as any other over CGIed Hollywood blockbuster.

Low budget is the place to find scary films now. There’s one on Amazon called “Horror House” about a group of people setting up a Halloween haunt in an old hotel with a dark past, also “February” on Amazon is good. “Borderlands” pops up on iPlayer occasionally, that’s properly scary, I also quite like “The Ritual” which was on both Netflix and Amazon, I’m not sure if it still is. The book it’s based on is better though.

I don't really get scared by much so I'm not a good judge, but I second Autopsy of Jane Doe and Creep as great films that have that slow burn creepiness and atmosphere. Absolutely loved Hill House. Hereditary was great, no CGI and a slow build of tension, although some gore in places. A Quiet Place is a good film, has CGI monsters but I didn't find they detracted from the story as they were sort of 'animal' like. It Comes At Night isn't scary at all but it's very claustrophobic. Hush is really good, simple concept good execution, very 'realistic' with no CGI or anything.

Also (not horror), but in films such as Harry Potter, and Lord of the Rings, the battle scenes are sometimes so LONG that they get boring, because the directors like to play with their CGI. In Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, the scene where Harry is trying to dodge the dragon goes on so long that I often skip it.

Stephen Kings The Tall Grass in Netflix is good. Maybe not a horror but a really creepy thriller.

Agreed re CGI. It's too obviously fake and, as you say, cartoonish. Used subtly, fine, but it's far too heavy-handed in a lot of films.

My favourite horror films of the last few years have been The VVitch, The Babadook, Us and Hereditary, I think.

Yes!

I have never been able to watch horror because I'm a wuss, and I watched IT after someone said it wasn't scary and then Chapter Two. Chapter Two basically has 1 decent jump scare that's it, and the first one is only on a level with Stranger Things IMO massively similar and the CGI in two is particularly crap.

Lots of stuff, not just horror, is so obviously filmed in front of a green screen and the background added in later. Especially when characters are driving along in a car. I remember LOLing at it in The Waltons a million years ago and it hasn't got significantly better IMO. With all the technology available to them I would have expected it to be more realistic.

OTOH my cousin genuinely thought that The Lion King used real, trained lions so it's obviously convincing some people!

Another vote for the original Amityville. I read the book when I was about 11 and it still scares the shit out of me.

Haunting of Hill House was also excellent and I loved the ending. I loved the character Nell and it was incredibly sad as much as scary.

But yes OP I agree a reliance on CGI over good story telling, characters, acting and tension means lots of tosh is being churned out.

Oh and Us. Just totally brilliant. I cannot hear the music in it ("I got 5 on it" I think it's called() without getting goosebumps now.

It's the same in horror writing, when the monster is described.

Playing on the human imagination will always be far, FAR more powerful, because if they do it right, your mind fills the gaps with what scares you the most. If you see it, the director is relying on their scary creation being the scariest thing to the audience.

But then I even think that things like the BBC Narnia series is better than the stupid CGI Liam Neeson movie Aslan.

Or how the original Willy Wonka knocks strips off the Tim Burton version.

It is a poor comparrison when talking about cgi horror movies for scares simply because the new it film is trying to incorporate the book which has a lot of fantasy elements you cannot create properly without cgi. Lots of old school horror movies look shite when you can see how poor the props are and the things moving via string etc. Cgi has its merrits and can go too far. I think the more important factor is theres been no good stories for ages.

Ghostwatch! Only people who are aged 35-40 will have been of the right age to be scared by that, but there was no CGI involved, just hours of misdirection and half-glimpsed shadows. I had nightmares for weeks afterwards and I knew it wasn't real.

Paranormal activity is a classic horror

Actually the original willy wonka. Terrifying