Things you are tired of in the horror genre.

[Sicknero]

Originally Posted by ChronoGrl

YES. My mind is a bit mushy right now so I'm scrambling for examples of this - What comes to mind for you?

I think I'd just watched Snuff 102 when I posted that (Argentinian art-housey thing with more of a plot than I expected but pretensions to "asking important questions").

It has some very convincing faux-snuff scenes which they obviously put some time and effort into, yet along with most of them went a soundtrack so loud that you couldn't even hear the screaming. With just the "real world" sound those scenes would have been genuinely disturbing and unsettling - the music just ruined it I thought.

I think I agree about Sinister, not a bad film imo despite lots of plot holes lol. But yes music is over-relied on there.

In contrast I watched 7 Days last night - not strictly horror though a bit gruesome in places - which has no score whatsoever throughout and shows how feelings really don't need to be manipulated by music in a good film.

[Ferox13]

Originally Posted by Elvis_Christ

Sinister and Insidious basically is a giant example of everything I hate about modern horror films.

Slick hollow and tacky cheap jump scares with some of the most fucking ridiculous looking villains in the history of horror.

I really don't get why they get so much praise when they are just poorly executed messes.

How can you not like the villian in SInister.

[Elvis_Christ]

Yeah you'd think I'd be down with a movie with a killer Panda in it right!

[MichaelMyers]

A good survey, but I was slightly offended by the question concerning neurosis.

[Kandarian Demon]

Originally Posted by MichaelMyers

A good survey, but I was slightly offended by the question concerning neurosis.

Same here, to be honest.

[ChronoGrl]

Originally Posted by shadyJ

I think Sinister with Ethan Hawke overused music for some scenes. It drained tension by drawing attention to the music instead of the overall scene.

HA! Yes. My hubby was trying to fall asleep but the music kept him awake... Didn't get in the way of my enjoyment but I can see where the complaints would come from.

Not horror, but I've heard the same complaints of Black Swan and Punch Drunk Love, two examples where I thought that the intoxicating music helped to set the tone, but again I can see someone finding it overpowering.

Originally Posted by Elvis_Christ

Sinister and Insidious basically is a giant example of everything I hate about modern horror films.

Slick hollow and tacky cheap jump scares with some of the most fucking ridiculous looking villains in the history of horror.

I really don't get why they get so much praise when they are just poorly executed messes.

Hmm - I thought that you actually liked Sinister (with the exception of the super-cheap jump scare at the very end which was SO unnecessary)... I actually thought that it successfully built tension and truly did unnerve me. I thought that I was in the minority, though - Of those two, folks seem to continue to praise Insidious which, honestly, I find the more disappointingly uneven of the two - I thought that the first third of the movie was a successfully creepy film about a haunting... But when the mood shifted, it lost me.

Because I thought that Sinister and [the first third of] Insidious successfully built a mood of disease, I didn't find the scares cheap; I was thoroughly unnerved and thought that the jumps they got from me were earned.

As for the Big Bads in both of those films, I do agree that they were executed poorly, Insidious especially, though I would argue that Sinister did it sparingly enough not for it to be a problem for me.

And now I want to watch both of those again...

Originally Posted by Sicknero

I think I'd just watched Snuff 102 when I posted that (Argentinian art-housey thing with more of a plot than I expected but pretensions to "asking important questions").

It has some very convincing faux-snuff scenes which they obviously put some time and effort into, yet along with most of them went a soundtrack so loud that you couldn't even hear the screaming. With just the "real world" sound those scenes would have been genuinely disturbing and unsettling - the music just ruined it I thought.

I think I agree about Sinister, not a bad film imo despite lots of plot holes lol. But yes music is over-relied on there.

In contrast I watched 7 Days last night - not strictly horror though a bit gruesome in places - which has no score whatsoever throughout and shows how feelings really don't need to be manipulated by music in a good film.

Haven't seen those, but I think I've experienced something similar when watching Giallo - YES, before folks jump on me, I realize that's part of the genre, but I'm not a huge fan of the genre, so it's not too surprising that I find the music annoying...

[Alucard the Risen]

I did, too. I see no connecting tissue between neurosis and horror films, when so casually and thoughtlessly thrown out there as he did.

[Kandarian Demon]

Hmm, to be honest, a good score is extremely important to me - maybe because I'm very sensitive to "scary music". Music and sounds can trigger my imagination in a way that no image will ever be able to.

What I usually don't like is rock/pop soundtracks - although they do fit in at times. But for the most part, they totally ruin the mood of the movie. Why try to get me in a party mood when I'm supposed to be scared?

[Elvis_Christ]

Originally Posted by ChronoGrl

Hmm - I thought that you actually liked Sinister (with the exception of the super-cheap jump scare at the very end which was SO unnecessary)...

I didn't mind it upon my first viewing but watching it again I've started to pick holes in it. I'm just finding the majority of recent horror quite bland or horribly uneven.

[Ferox13]

Originally Posted by Elvis_Christ

Yeah you'd think I'd be down with a movie with a killer Panda in it right!

DAmn my visual gag didn't work: