For a movie to hold my attention, it needs compelling vibes and atmosphere. The plot can be paper-thin as long as the vibes are right. I actually prefer paper-thin plots, since I’m honestly quite dumb, so if the plot is too complicated I get lost and lose interest (for example, I’ve tried watching The Lord of the Rings many times but haven’t been able to get through it for this reason), lmao. That’s why my favorite kind of horror is folk, atmospheric horror: Suspiria, The Witch, Midsommar, Hereditary, The Wicker Man, Blink Twice, Hagazussa, Lamb, The Blair Witch Project, Rosemary’s Baby…
For me it’s the movies where you can’t see the “monster”. So, Paranormal Activity and The Blairwitch Project are among my favourites.
Final Destination?
That - along with suspense and the absence of cheap jump scares. A horror film doesn’t need much to happen for it to be absolutely nerve-wracking.
Seeing a unique take, no overused tropes in sight.
Horror movies, at their core, are about subverting expectations. You cite “Suspiria” and “Midsommar” as favorite movies. The second and third acts of both movies are a massive subversion of audience expectations. And the best horror movies can most jarringly break what viewers anticipate, all without using jump scares.
I kinda like two kinds of horror film: funny ones (dale and tucker Vs evil, shaun of the dead, cabin in the woods) because they’re often some of the funniest comedies; and brooding ones with compelling characters (the skin I live in, Psycho, Alien). Although that second category is highly subjective and probably not really a category at all except inasmuch as it excludes comedies, slashers, and ones with paper thin poorly motivated characters…
Being genuinely unsettled by the events or images shown. But I also like seeing the monster. The Thing is pretty much perfect. But a good deal of body-horror works just as well.
If you’ve not seen Color Out Of Space, that’s got some great, practical body horror in it. Very unsettling.
Exact opposite. I need a plot where the characters aren’t complete bone heads and the plot needs to be deeper than “some dude grabs a knife”. Because of this I tend to enjoy horror thrillers more than slashers. It’s the reason most of my favorites are things like “The Crazies”, “You’re Next”, and “The Strangers”. That isn’t to say that I need high fidelity or effects. Some good entries there are “Splinter”, “Vacancy”, and (to a lesser degree) “Rest Stop”.
I used to watch horror movies, and I just wanted to see gruesome mutilation and splatter. The Hellraiser series also included some interesting mystery and lore.
Currently, I no longer find horror that interesting, so I guess I grew out of it.
Horror isn’t one thing. There are plenty of subgenres.
There’s gruesome violence (Hellraiser, Hostel, Saw)
There’s body horror (Ugly Stepsister, The Substance)
There’s psychological horror with building suspense and dread of the unknown (Babadook, Blair Witch Project)
Monster, zombie, supernatural, etc horror
Jump scare horror (fuck everything about this shit, why do people watch this)
Horror comedy
I’m sure there are way more… But I really dislike some subgenres and really love others.
Hmm… I guess I should explore some of those titles. Might find something interesting. Particularly body horror could still interest me to some extent.
I’m not massively into horror, because I don’t generally like feeling uncomfortable. But the horror flicks I do enjoy tend to be incredibly empathetic, and actually about something other than the horror.
For example, my favourite horror movie is Dark Water, a Japanese flick from 2002. It’s creepy as hell and genuinely unsettling, but at its heart it’s about heartbreak and trying to learn how to move on. It speaks to the human condition without having to rely on simple jumpscares.
In fact, I think the most successful horror movies (from an artistic perspective, rather than box office take) tend to be the ones that talk about what it is to be human.
The one with which the story or the concept shock you to the core.
Definitely not the ones that rely on jumpscares or dumbass protagonists.
Us by Jordan Peele comes to mind.
