Have horror movies gone to far in your eyes?

I have recently written an article of Helium about that same question and I was just curious to know what you all thought about the topic?

It depends on the person. I detest horror movies and find myself cringing over the gore factor...but my partner and his mate love them - and don't think there scary enough. At the moment they haven't been able to fin a horror film for at least 2 years thats scared them = and they have seen a lot!

that is usually how I am, like I can sit through a horror movie that is just supposed to make you jump and not care, but the gore factor in it is what really makes me cringe

Most every horror movie these days is but a clone of some other and usually any aspect of "horror" is diluted by cheap scares that you see coming a mile away. These just isn't much room for the atmospheric growth nowadays that taunts you with something unseen instead of having some stupid teen die when a guy with a hook comes running from some dark corner. They just seem to have lost their edge.

I never watch them, too much of a wimp.

I hate them. Though I blame that on my mother who watched the first Alien in the cinema while pregnant with me, she saw the bit where the alien comes out of the stomach, looked at hers and was sick for three days!

Yes and no. You quickly become almost immune to the gory stuff once you've seen a few gorefests but the best horror is psychological. In that sense, we've still a way to go yet. Thankfully as I love horror flicks.

I actually went and saw the new hannibal movie and the messengers today, i thought they were pretty good

I saw the trailer for The Messengers online, and it certainly looked good. Also Dead Silence which is either on in America or will be soon, looks very good indeed. I have yet to find a horror film that scares me, and believe me I've watched many. Some make me squirm a little, but not too the point that I have to look away. Lisa x

Lisa, that is how I feel exactly

You know what are actually more frightening than horror movies? Slapstick comedies! You know like Spy Hard and 2001: A Space Travesty. Now films like that always make me scared... of losing an unhealthy amount of braincells!

marandina wrote:

Yes and no. You quickly become almost immune to the gory stuff once you've seen a few gorefests but the best horror is psychological. In that sense, we've still a way to go yet. Thankfully as I love horror flicks.

I agree the gore detract from the 'horror' for me. The scariest movies are the ones that play with your mind not the ones that fill the screen with blood....

There are movies that have gone too far, but they don't generally get the Hollywood treatment, and so get less noticed. Unless they do something really shocking - although it's surprising what they do do.

There are some pretty big/well known films which were at the time said to go too far - Texas Chainsaw, Exorcist, I Spit on Your Grave, Last House on the Left - all of which were banned. And all of which have had uncut DVD releases in the last 5 years or so. Perhaps it's a sign of the gradual desensitization of society as a whole.

I guess it depends on what you want from your horror. I like films that can creep me out, so long as they tell a story. Things like I Spit On your Grave are true explitation films that leave me as a viewer feeling abused myself. I mean - a 40 minute rape scene! Plus a terrible portrayal of a mentally ill guy; a common trait in the 70s. I can give credit where it's due, they filmed one murder scene very well. But on the whole it does go too far. Whereas Hollywood horror now just just doesn't seem to go anywhere.

They can be pretty sick, it's just that they generally lack any passion. Or are marketed to hell and never live up to it. Sometimes that makes particularly gorey films seem more gratuitous simply becuase there is no context for it. I understand this is a common complaint of Hostel, which doesn't interest me becuase even the trailers made it look like a souless film. It's a bad sign when the remakes are all pale comparisons to their source material. Dawn of the Dead, Texas Chainsaw, The Ring. One thing in common - they all remove the elements that made the originals so good; like subtexts, surprise, atmosphere. Especially when you consider how good horror remakes have been - Invasion of the Body Snatchers, The Thing, The Fly. If anyone's interested Halloween and Cannibal Holocaust are being remade soon.

Most recent horror film I rated highly was Ringu, which scared the bejeezers out of me! I think that was in 2000.

Oh, if anyone was tantalized by my comment on films that do go too far. I didn't mention the one I was thinking of. If you're brave enough google 'Slaughtered Vomit Dolls'. I've only seen the trailer and read an interview with the director (who gets aroused by vomit). It's one of the most disturbing things I've seen and cannot think of any artistic merit for making the film in the manner it seems to have been, other than for the gratification of the director. And to line the wallet some dubious producer, with money from people who probably shouldn't be allowed to spend it. Genuinely - do not watch the trailer.

The Polar One wrote:

There are movies that have gone too far, but they don't generally get the Hollywood treatment, and so get less noticed. Unless they do something really shocking - although it's surprising what they do do.

There are some pretty big/well known films which were at the time said to go too far - Texas Chainsaw, Exorcist, I Spit on Your Grave, Last House on the Left - all of which were banned. And all of which have had uncut DVD releases in the last 5 years or so. Perhaps it's a sign of the gradual desensitization of society as a whole.

I guess it depends on what you want from your horror. I like films that can creep me out, so long as they tell a story. Things like I Spit On your Grave are true explitation films that leave me as a viewer feeling abused myself. I mean - a 40 minute rape scene! Plus a terrible portrayal of a mentally ill guy; a common trait in the 70s. I can give credit where it's due, they filmed one murder scene very well. But on the whole it does go too far. Whereas Hollywood horror now just just doesn't seem to go anywhere.

They can be pretty sick, it's just that they generally lack any passion. Or are marketed to hell and never live up to it. Sometimes that makes particularly gorey films seem more gratuitous simply becuase there is no context for it. I understand this is a common complaint of Hostel, which doesn't interest me becuase even the trailers made it look like a souless film. It's a bad sign when the remakes are all pale comparisons to their source material. Dawn of the Dead, Texas Chainsaw, The Ring. One thing in common - they all remove the elements that made the originals so good; like subtexts, surprise, atmosphere. Especially when you consider how good horror remakes have been - Invasion of the Body Snatchers, The Thing, The Fly. If anyone's interested Halloween and Cannibal Holocaust are being remade soon.

Most recent horror film I rated highly was Ringu, which scared the bejeezers out of me! I think that was in 2000.

Oh, if anyone was tantalized by my comment on films that do go too far. I didn't mention the one I was thinking of. If you're brave enough google 'Slaughtered Vomit Dolls'. I've only seen the trailer and read an interview with the director (who gets aroused by vomit). It's one of the most disturbing things I've seen and cannot think of any artistic merit for making the film in the manner it seems to have been, other than for the gratification of the director. And to line the wallet some dubious producer, with money from people who probably shouldn't be allowed to spend it. Genuinely - do not watch the trailer.

I've seen "Ringu" and we're back to that classical Japanese assault on the senses rather than relying on gore. I would say that the remake of "Dawn of the Dead" was a visual triumph because it did something different with the franchise. Otherwise, I rest my case that good films have good stories, regardless of genre. If you want out and out gore then just hang around the town centre in Northampton round about kicking out time.