What defines a good horror? - General

So I was pondering over this. Is it the more blood, the better? Increased visuals? What do you think it is? For me, I use the imagination. Placing myself in the shoes of the main character (Protagonist) and thinking about just how scary it would be. Like Texas Chainsaw Massacre, for example. I would shit my pants.

The thrill, scares and atmosphere is what make it for me. I also prefer Psychological Horror's more.

Psychological thrillers seem to work for me. I hate watching films with pointless gore

[QUOTE=Wide Ruled;23820170]Psychological thrillers seem to work for me. I hate watching films with pointless gore[/QUOTE] Care to add a definition for psychological thriller?

[QUOTE=Cypher_09;23820196]Care to add a definition for psychological thriller?[/QUOTE] Films like American Pyscho, The Shining, The Silence of the Lambs

[QUOTE=Cypher_09;23820196]Care to add a definition for psychological thriller?[/QUOTE] 1408 is a very good one.

Not relying on cheap jumpy scares or gore

Realism. Im more scared of a door closing quickly then a big monster thats about to kill someone.

One that doesn't just give you heaps of blood and gore, more of a psychological thriller, sometimes supernatural, one that presents atmosphere that just gets under your skin.

One which doesn't rely purely on jumper moments to scare.

The Shining is my favourite horror movie because it manages to be scary without resorting to "Jump" moments.

I'd say if you have to sleep with the lights on that night, it's good.

[QUOTE=Squeaken;23821912]The Shining is my favourite horror movie because it manages to be scary without resorting to "Jump" moments.[/QUOTE] The Shinning was scary?

atmosphere 100% you can scare someone with a audio track. the thought that there is something is gonna pop up on the screen. even if you know it wont.

Unpredictability, a tense atmosphere.

Situational realism. Y'know, shit that could actually happen.

The black guy dying first.

A good horror makes me go to the bathroom with the door wide open.

Scary [img]http://www.lumilon.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/psycho_house-300x207.png[/img] Not Scary [img]http://www.iwebneed.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/Watch-The-Crazies-2010-Online-Stream-Poster-310x460.jpg[/img] (couldn't find a good still) And I will enjoy the top one 100 times more.

Movies like REC where it seems so real and you can place yourself in the situation and genuinely fear for your life.

What's left up to the audience's imagination is 100 times scarier than anything that can be filmed. Film that get under your skin are much scarier than films that splatter gore everywhere or rely on cheap scares. I still think the Shining is one of the scariest films I've ever seen.

It needs to immerse you and have you afraid to see what happens next, which is why a jumper moment can make the audience scared anticipating the next one. But the jumper moment is nothing without a buildup of atmosphere and and subtle details. The same applies to gore, the character involved has to mean something before any violence will be scary. It helps if the gore is nasty looking too, not CGI bullshit.

I think the worst horror film I ever saw was Wrong Turn 2. My idiot roommate who has the worst taste in films you'll ever see told me it was scary. I laughed my way through it.

Monsters, ghosts, gore, these do not a good horror film make. While the above are elements of horror, they don't make up what good horror is. A good horror film shows us something that scares us. This definition, however, is simple and highly subjective. A film about spiders would scare the piss out of me, but not you. There are many elements to a horror film, and as mentioned in this thread, horror films can range widely. Look at the difference between [I]The Exorcist[/I] and [I]The Haunting (1963). [/I]Both received huge critical success, but they both employ different elements. [I]The Exorcists[/I] uses monsters (the girl), gore, the uncanny, suspense, surprises, and graphic scenes to scare the watcher. [I]The Haunting (1963) [/I]uses no monsters (except maybe the ghosts that you don't ever see), no gore, and no graphic scenes. It relies solely upon suspense and sound to scare the viewer. So, a good horror film doesn't necessarily have to rest upon the classic horror tropes, but instead relies upon what makes a good [I]film[/I]. Strip away the monsters, the gore, the suspense, and look at what you've got left - the acting, the cinematography, the writing, the sound, the directing. Looking at how these things work in the context of the horror movie then becomes important. For example, soes the cinematography/directing enhance the feeling of unease/suspense? A horror film that has good cinematography employs techniques that often make the view feel helpless. Often times the camera will be positioned higher than normal, or in an enclosed area, to give the viewer the "I can't run away" feeling. Other times, the camera will be pointed in a way that creates blind spots or is "too close" to something so that again, the viewer can't escape. So, when looking for "good" horror films, start with what scares you. Then, look at the directing, acting, and the other elements of film.

Good story, acting and atmosphere.

Actually since taste for the genre is such a subjective thing, everyone has a different level of immersion than other people, you're asking the wrong question.

Actually caring about the protagonists.

the ability to put myself in the character's position

The build up and backstory is really important. Giving the audience something to think about before the jumps really helps bring out the creepiness because generally the unexpected happens. Physchological horrors are awesome, even movies that don't mean to be horrors. Moon is an excellent example.

Good story, atmosphere and relatibility to the characters. Not relying on Jump scares to scare you, rather it should be about tension. And the bad guy, the monster, is it a credible, original threat, how is it portrayed?