To think horror films are horrible

[Somethingthecatdraggedin7]

I have never understood why people enjoy horror films.
By that I mean the genuine films of that genre not crime/action whatever which have violence in them.
I watched part of a horror film at a freind's place when I was much younger (late teens) and was completely freaked out and left my friend’s house. The film was so shockingly nasty that it took me years to block out the images.
If you enjoy horror, why do you like them? Is it a thrill akin to a rollercoaster for you?
I honestly don’t understand why people like watching torture etc.
YABU = Horror films are great fun and I can’t get enough
YANBU = Horror films are horrible and I avoid them

Strangely, I used to avoid horror films when I was younger and saw some that gave me awful nightmares. I watched the original IT and it terrified me for years.

But over the last few years I've grown to love a good horror, I dont know why it changed. I like funny or psychological and thought-provoking ones. I can't watch torture like Saw or anything too gory, although I love Final Destination as it is so camp.

The good ones are few and far between, so when I find a real gem, it's so satisfying.

I love horror films and hate it when people look down their noses at them. You’re not a superior being because you prefer Little Women to Jaws.

I love them, my favourite genre. 28 Years Later is out in June, that should be terrifying. Hooray!🙌

And NB @ItGhoul neither Brief Encounter nor Casablanca are exactly “great art” - I often teach these to students so I see them on a regular basis, and have read most of what film scholars have written on them. Both of them were mass-market mid century genre films specifically designed to be popular “weepies”. People venerate them these days simply because they’re famous and old, but they are themselves quite knowing about the tropes and caricatures they recirculate!

😂 Yes because horror fans are incapable of appreciating any other art or culture… if it hasn’t got a chainsaw in it we’re just baffled 😂

What a snobby post.

Haha! No, I don’t particularly like Little Women, either. I teach film studies though, so I’d be likely to be teaching Jaws - just not as great art 😆

But “great” is a subjective definition. In your opinion Stephen King is not a great writer - to many others he is.

Also “overrated” is also subjective.

Fucking hell, I'll bet you're fun at parties.

Indeed. Many would say that the Shawshank Redemption is a timeless great. It’s annoying that people look down on the genre although it’s been around for centuries. I like a bit of Poe
and Mary Shelley too.

I hate literary snobbery. Stephen King couldn't have written the Mill on the Floss. George Eliot couldn't have written The Shining. Horses for courses, genre fiction is a skill in and of itself.

YES!!! The tube scene absolutely terrifies me.
As a Londoner, having been alone in those cavernous empty tunnels by night , It's especially scary.

The Werewolf as it's chasing him, and you see it at the bottom of the escalator...sheesh..

Here :

There are plenty of non-subjective definitions of great art (in fact, most of aesthetics as a discipline is about exactly that).

Stephen King is good at writing popular books. Just like Jeffrey Archer is, or Jackie Collins, or any number of popular writers who are good at what they do. But King’s writing is not great art. Drain orgies and time-travelling aeroplanes and schlocky party horrors are all very inventive; but they are generic, and so is his writing.

I can’t be dealing with the torture porn etc ones. Probably could deal if not enjoy pre kids but they now give me intrusive thoughts. Watched even the Luther film on Netflix a couple f months ago, having always enjoyed the TV show even though dark, and the first ‘crime’ scene made me cry!!

Some of the very camp/silly gory ones have always been good fun though, Evil Dead/Final Destination etc. I generally want happy/silly escapism or very good storytelling from my films though.

I am quite fun actually! I’m clever and funny, I know a lot about many things, and I’m quick at making jokes, so I’m actually really good company. 👍

Thanks for posting the clip @oakleaffy - such a great film, such a great clip. Same here, I’ve been known to look back down the long escalators at night on the and imagine what I’d do if I saw the slathering beast at the bottom. Answer - pee myself in fear, die.

Jaws is my ultimate comfort film I know every bloody line to that one!

“The nine year olds from the school have been…karate-ing the picket fences!” 🥋

Actually, Eliot could probably have written The Shining pretty easily. She was pretty good at imitating other styles, and a lot of her novels adapted tropes from sensation novels (the contemporary Victorian equivalent of horror fiction).

We're gonna need a bigger boat.

I like them. A good horror is my go-to for a cosy afternoon off, along with a blanket and a hot chocolate. Like lots of others here, I don't like torture or anything too gratuitous. I've no interest in the likes of Hostel. But I love the classics like The Thing, Alien, Scream, Halloween. And there's been some really interesting horror this century too, like Heretic, Midsommar, Hereditary, Sinister, Oddity.

It's strange because as a child, I had a very active imagination and was easily scared. I was really upset for a long time after watching Jaws, and I was deeply scared just by overhearing Robocop (which I now love). I didn't even see anything, but what I heard played over and over in my head. I remember fleeing to the other side of the house when my brother and cousin were watching Aliens (which, again, I now love).

It wasn't till my late teens that I suddenly had an interest in horror films and books.

So neither the Exorcist, the Shining or Psycho are art?
I think most "teachers of film studies" would disagree with you.

I think horror is such a broad genre. The Substance for example is a great commentary on modern beauty standards and not exactly scary (though pretty gross).

Why does anyone like anything? I’ve loved reading horror and thrillers since I was a teen (and watching). No it’s not high brow but it’s for my own personal entertainment so I’m really not bothered.

I love horror, I am interested in the supernatural and also admire the intelligence of the creators for causing suspense in psychological horrors. Can't really explain it further than that, you either enjoy it or you don't.

100%
and Rosemary's Baby, The Birds...amazing amazing films!

Here's to swimming with bow legged women.

I don't know how many times I've watched it.

Pleasepleaseplease let it not be crap. I'd be heartbroken if it was crap. The trailer is great at least 👍

My favourite horror films in no particular order:

28 days later
Halloween
A nightmare on elm Street
Alien
Rosemary's baby

I bet I could think of dozens more if I sat and thought about it for a bit!