Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Are you scared yet?
There was an earlier post about how The Haunting of Hill House wasn't very scary, and it got me thinking about what makes a truly scary story. This, of course, will be different for everyone, but it is certainly worth thinking about. Nothing gets me like the old "monster/killer-just-stands-there-and-watches-from-the-shadows-across-the-room" bit that we see in so many movies. That almost always freaks me out. As far as literature goes, tension and danger in the form of a very real threat (like in Prey, for example) get my heart pumping a little faster. So have any of you been scared at all by the stories we've read? If not, what does it for you? Can you be scared by the printed word, or have movies made that a little obsolete?
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7 comments:
I think Prey is by far the scariest story we've read. Dolls creep me out in the first place, so this is a nightmare to me!!!
I think movies have effected the way we read horror. We are always expecting the next turn of events and written horror tends to play with your min while movies tend to try to scare you with visuals and things that pop out. I like both, personally, but movies tend to get me to freak out for longer.
I thought Prey was pretty intense and reading smoke ghost at 3 am had me looking out my window haha.
Personally I can get more scared from a book than a movie because my imagination can run rampant with an idea instead of being constrained by what my eyes see. Although movies make me jump like books can't.
I also agree that Prey is the scariest story we have yet read. Although, I kinda see it as Saw or Hostel style scary. Its grotesque, but not something that's gonna make you turn your lights on at night.
The scariest thing that I think I have ever seen was actually a Dr. Who episode. Kinda weird how a sci-fi show beats silent hill, saw, etc. But it might just be because it played on things that personally freak me out and because it didnt overtly try to scare me.
I feel a lot of horror nowadays tries too hard to be scary, and thus is good for a jump scare, but doesnt give any lasting horror effect.
Ken: Which Doctor Who episode?
John, "the old 'monster/killer-just-stands-there-and-watches-from-the-shadows-across-the-room' bit" reminds me of that brilliant scene in John Carpenter's Halloween. We know the shrouded figure in the doorway is Michael, and not the now-deceased boyfriend, but the girlfriend doesn't know that, and she just keeps talking, and Michael just keeps standing there ...
I think the scariest thing is the thought of someone just standing over my shoulders. I know "The Strangers" wasn't that good of a movie, but the scene in the trailer when she's on the phone and the guy just walks through the hallway gave me nightmares...
I feel like movies have desensitized us to literature horror. I've read a few scary things, but I feel that I would be more scared if I had not actually seen these horrific things happen on the screen.
Andy, Halloween was exactly the movie I was thinking of (that and the new-ish The Haunting in Connecticut).
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