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Ch!ld0fV!si0n
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I'm not overly fond of the horror genre. It's rather disappointing really. I'm not bragging or anything but it takes a lot to scare me... in fiction anyway. I don't know if it's just harder for me to suspend my disbelief for horror fiction to affect me or if I'm just wise to the horror genre's tricks, but a work of horror fiction has to be really crafty to freak me out.
Still, I know there are fans of the horror genre out there who just delight in spending hours in perpetual fear.
What are your scariest horror stories?
There are still a few movies that have managed to put me on edge:
1.) War of the Worlds
Yup. Terrible movie. But man if those tripod walkers don't freak me out! It's a combination of the threat you can't see coupled with their total invulnerability to conventional weaponry and that freaky sound they make!!
All that, and just what they do to people is terrible! The movie does a good job establishing the overwhelming threat of the alien invaders early on. For a while the movie proceeds through a cycle of scenes depicting survivors fleeing from the tripod's merciless extermination of the human race. Once the threat the aliens pose has been firmly established, all it takes is to hear that low eerie wail from off in the distance to know that everyone is about to die.
Also, that scene in Tim Robbin's basement where they try to elude one of the walker's tentacle probes is tense and admittedly a pretty creative premise for a suspenseful scene. They quickly screw it up later but until then it had me on the edge of my seat.
2.) The Alien
No, not the xenomorph. I'm going to conveniently pretend that the whole blighted alien franchise never happened past Aliens. The alien was still scary back before a whole world lore had been canonized about it. Back before they turned it into a clown. Before it even had a name. Back when it was that thing lurking somewhere in the dark, so utterly otherworldly it couldn't be understood. The threat you couldn't see.
Moreso than the alien itself, the Nostromo is what makes for the true source of horror in Alien. On its own, the dark, dank, confounding labyrinth of the Nostromo is just another clunky space tug creeping its way across the cold dark silence of space. But when the Alien makes it its hunting ground, it turns into a place of terror.
3.) The Ocean House Hotel - Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines
When I first played this legendary level I had never heard of it before and didn't know what to expect. By the time I had returned from the dusty charred ruins of the abandoned seaside hotel I was on edge, shaking, and jumping at shadows. Fortunately, I just so happened to be playing through this level for the first time well after midnight in a pitch black room.
I didn't get much sleep that night.
Sadly, these days my playthroughs of the Ocean House Hotel are more nostalgically quaint compared to the terror induced nightmare fuel of that first playthrough. Such is the nature of horror. It's built on suspense, so that once you know what to expect there's nothing to be scared of. The Ocean House Hotel feels more like a chintzy carnival ride now. But when I first stepped through the front doors of the imposing Ocean House not knowing what was in store for me, I was treated to ghastly mind tricks, horrific thrills, nerve wracking suspense and incredible spooky ambiance and to date the only video game to ever scare me to wits end.
4.) The Skeleton Key
I've found this to be a little known horror flick, but to date really the only well crafted horror film to ever really freak me out. It's a different kind of horror. You'd be forgiven for not being scared most of the time. Or for thinking that what little scares exist throughout the entirety of the movie are lame and superficial. I was honestly bored most of the way through. You could be forgiven for thinking that the whole plot is built on a mystery that ultimately ends up going nowhere...
But you'd be wrong, because the ending is where the movie really lets loose and drops its devastating revelation - much of it thanks to a finely crafted narrative that serves to make the ending as traumatizing as possible.
I can't really say much, because I wouldn't want to spoil it for anyone. Suffice it to say that the scares affect on a personal level. There's no creature lurking in the shadows. No real impending threat of doom the whole time. Just one very dark, fatal secret.
It's also one of the few horror stories that can be viewed a second time, not just in spite of but because of knowing how it all plays out allows you to go back and piece together the little hints and suggestions you couldn't have picked up on the first time that flesh out the story and provide additional horrific revelations.
Still, I know there are fans of the horror genre out there who just delight in spending hours in perpetual fear.
What are your scariest horror stories?
There are still a few movies that have managed to put me on edge:
1.) War of the Worlds
Yup. Terrible movie. But man if those tripod walkers don't freak me out! It's a combination of the threat you can't see coupled with their total invulnerability to conventional weaponry and that freaky sound they make!!
All that, and just what they do to people is terrible! The movie does a good job establishing the overwhelming threat of the alien invaders early on. For a while the movie proceeds through a cycle of scenes depicting survivors fleeing from the tripod's merciless extermination of the human race. Once the threat the aliens pose has been firmly established, all it takes is to hear that low eerie wail from off in the distance to know that everyone is about to die.Also, that scene in Tim Robbin's basement where they try to elude one of the walker's tentacle probes is tense and admittedly a pretty creative premise for a suspenseful scene. They quickly screw it up later but until then it had me on the edge of my seat.
2.) The Alien
No, not the xenomorph. I'm going to conveniently pretend that the whole blighted alien franchise never happened past Aliens. The alien was still scary back before a whole world lore had been canonized about it. Back before they turned it into a clown. Before it even had a name. Back when it was that thing lurking somewhere in the dark, so utterly otherworldly it couldn't be understood. The threat you couldn't see.
Moreso than the alien itself, the Nostromo is what makes for the true source of horror in Alien. On its own, the dark, dank, confounding labyrinth of the Nostromo is just another clunky space tug creeping its way across the cold dark silence of space. But when the Alien makes it its hunting ground, it turns into a place of terror.
3.) The Ocean House Hotel - Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines
When I first played this legendary level I had never heard of it before and didn't know what to expect. By the time I had returned from the dusty charred ruins of the abandoned seaside hotel I was on edge, shaking, and jumping at shadows. Fortunately, I just so happened to be playing through this level for the first time well after midnight in a pitch black room.
I didn't get much sleep that night.
Sadly, these days my playthroughs of the Ocean House Hotel are more nostalgically quaint compared to the terror induced nightmare fuel of that first playthrough. Such is the nature of horror. It's built on suspense, so that once you know what to expect there's nothing to be scared of. The Ocean House Hotel feels more like a chintzy carnival ride now. But when I first stepped through the front doors of the imposing Ocean House not knowing what was in store for me, I was treated to ghastly mind tricks, horrific thrills, nerve wracking suspense and incredible spooky ambiance and to date the only video game to ever scare me to wits end.
4.) The Skeleton Key
I've found this to be a little known horror flick, but to date really the only well crafted horror film to ever really freak me out. It's a different kind of horror. You'd be forgiven for not being scared most of the time. Or for thinking that what little scares exist throughout the entirety of the movie are lame and superficial. I was honestly bored most of the way through. You could be forgiven for thinking that the whole plot is built on a mystery that ultimately ends up going nowhere...
But you'd be wrong, because the ending is where the movie really lets loose and drops its devastating revelation - much of it thanks to a finely crafted narrative that serves to make the ending as traumatizing as possible.
I can't really say much, because I wouldn't want to spoil it for anyone. Suffice it to say that the scares affect on a personal level. There's no creature lurking in the shadows. No real impending threat of doom the whole time. Just one very dark, fatal secret.
It's also one of the few horror stories that can be viewed a second time, not just in spite of but because of knowing how it all plays out allows you to go back and piece together the little hints and suggestions you couldn't have picked up on the first time that flesh out the story and provide additional horrific revelations.
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