Horror Films: Keeping it Real - Film Scares Can't Be Too Slick

Do you fear Ghosts? Vampires? Zombies? Demons? The Boogeyman? Psycho Serial Slashers?

We're all frightened by different things. This basic fact of human nature makes it difficult to pinpoint one universal thing that inspires fear. I happen to think vampires are cool, they don't scare me at all. But ghosts creep me out. Maybe it's because as much as I love to believe in things that go bump in the night or ponder the supernatural, I'm pretty sure vampires don't exist and never have. However due to the sheer volume of accounts ghosts do appear probable, if not at least possible.

Filmmakers know this well judging by the variety of spooks and big baddies they throw our way. They may like to emulate each other in style or even general content, but each year we're treated to all manner of creature designed to illicit shrieks of tortured delight from us grateful horror fans. Vive la horror difference!

Horror movies change and are thankfully varied, so in one decade Count Dracula may rule the box office, in another Michael Meyers and today we have the likes of the Jigsaw killer from the Saw movies.

So we can't agree on what scares us, but can we agree on how horror films should be handled? At least the basics? Or can we as horror fans agree on the fundamental trappings of the fright flick?

Now I don't mean the "rules" of the horror movie, perhaps most famously discussed in the Scream movies, i.e. "young teens being promiscuous or having sex in out of the way places and asking to be killed off." These may indeed take place in many a horror movie, but it doesn't address the core or the essential spirit of the effective horror film. I'm talking about the intangibles, the atmosphere, the sound, and music, even the setting. These things can make or break the horror film.

For example, the big budget remake of the classic ghost story The Haunting boasted a big cast, a big budget, but no big bangs. It may have been expertly crafted and certainly the actors were competent, but something was off. What was it? For my tastes, it was just too slickly achieved. There was an artificial feel, which bled through into the slick cinematography and most especially off putting were the digital FX. Horror is about blood, gore, simple scares, mystery and the unknown. It's about the depths which the human mind and soul can plummet, about the risks that the foolhardy person will venture forth and take to explore the time ravaged tomb or the bleak, cold graveyard.

In plain simple terms, horror has to be down and dirty and most importantly REAL.

Horror must maintain a realistic feel within a fictional context. If the movie feels too polished, or produced or forced, it takes us out of the nightmare. Nightmares are never clearly realized or sharply experienced situations - at least mine aren't. They tend to be crazily envisioned trips into alien worlds which barrage our senses and strain rationale thoughts. They take place in the basement, or in a broken down house, they surround us and smother us in their everyday feel - the feeling that this could really happen to us.

My DON'T List For Good Horror Movies.

Don't use slick editing - use simple shots. It's a horror movie, not a music video.

Don't use epic, panoramic surroundings. It's a horror movie, not National Georgraphic.

Don't Drown Us In Digital. CGI is powerful, so use it sparingly. It's not Lord of the Rings.

Don't overly produce music. Psycho & Halloween, two of the most effective horror scores used simple melodies.

Bottom line, Horror Film Makers: KEEP IT REAL!