ntnon

The challenge. The community. Broadening horizons.

Hmm... I would say "happy" not scared. When I'm scared, I'm a bundle of nerves...! Horror/scares make me appreciate that reality isn't like that, so there's the schadenfreude angle, I suppose. However bad things get, at least we're not posessed by demons.

Dick Laurent

Well for me, whether I get it or not in today's (or any day's) horror films, I have a great ability to suspend disbelief and actually put myself in the shoes of the characters. A long time ago I used to watch movies from a technical aspect and I would critique the hell out of them. Now, doesn't matter how bad the movie is, I can place myself in the character situation and let myself be manipulated however the film maker's intend.

BTW, the movie that changed my watching thought-process was Blue Velvet. Watched it about 21 years ago. Changed my life forever (yeah, sounds corny, but it's true).

Gobear

The Giant Claw, a bottom of the barrel Sam Katzman drive-in flick.

Try this one

Trevor

That's exactly what a possessed person would say to throw us off the track.

ntnon

There's no such thing as demons.

Watching Cursed again - still excellent - I was struck by how good, and often subtle, the script was. But the standout was Ron Swanson asking if they saw the creature:

"Yes. It looked like a wolf."
"...whatever, Jimmy. Wolves haven't been around for years. Probably a bear. Anyone else see it?"
"No, just Jimmy."
"..."
"It was a wolf."
"Probably a bear, then."

Even better than when EVERYONE just keeps saying 'no such thing as X' is when the police take and then categorically dismiss witness statements..!

Darth Maher

This is pretty cool. Just DON'T watch it with the lights out:

Two Horryfying Tales To Be Scared On Halloween

Don't say I didn't warn you....

Chad

The Cabin in the Woods.

A little less mainstream, but should be no problem for this crowd...

CrazyMat

For me its a lot of whats already been said. When I was young I did not see much horror it was not forbidden but it was usually avoided. So in some ways I feel like I missed out on a whole genre. Also for a while I went crazy buying horror especially those 8,10,15,20 movie sets. I might get a few scares off a few films or a creepy atmosphere, but usually nothing that stays with me. I also think what Undeadcow said in post 482 sums up a lot of it. The more I watch the more it takes to scare me so there definitely is some desensitizing going on.

As far as stuff that's really scary is usually stuff that taps into your innermost fears. I was thinking about this last night and for me its movies with a bridge collapsing. Most bridges don't bother me but there are a few that I get nervous going over.

J. Farley

The Sect. Just revisited it the other day, actually, with the overlooked Damned in Venice for an Italian Antichrist birthing double-feature.

mrcellophane

Thanks! I get bored during meetings and often do a bit of sketching.

This is one of the reasons The Blair Witch Project scares me so much. Sure the idea of the unknown, lurking in the dark, is scary, but more frightening is the thought of being lost in those dark woods. I've only found myself truly lost a couple things (and only once in the woods), and that film reminded me how discombobulating and horrifying that can be.

Undeadcow

I hate it when an atmospheric haunted house ghost movie turns out to be overly explained or more mundane as seems to be the trend these days, something like it was always just a homicidal incestuous father/uncle living in a hidden room or a secret league of serial killers - save those "twists" for Scooby Doo. Whatever happened to good old fashioned haunted house movies? Now I go into ghost movies half expecting it to turn into something other than a haunting (maybe just a stray incorporeal demon if I'm lucky). This supernatural theme can be a tricky one.

Dick Laurent

I'm not sure if I missed any talk about stats over on the pre-planning thread. Just wanted to mention my thoughts as we get to the end. All of the final numbers generated are interesting and certain compilations do harvest good results, but I feel like this challenge we should back it down a litte.

Like only count how many movies watched, FTW/FTL, and checklists for each player. The decades and time and which service was used to stream seem a little much, and we maybe could all use a year relaxing on that. I need to update my watches, but really just plan to list device (streaming, DVD, BD, HD-DVD, etc.) and year only if it needs to be separated from a known remake. Other than that, I feel getting down to minutes, hours, decades watched, etc. should just be left up for the personal lists (not combined with the grand total).

I'd vote for: #participants - #watches/FTW/FTL for each participant (individual and grand total) - #checklists completed (in participant's stats) - Maybe totals for each device used. Drilling down to how many use Netflix seems silly when they are no-where near the streaming standard like in the past.

I know it's early for this talk, but thought I'd throw my thoughts out there while I try to retro-actively pretty my list up.

shadokitty

That sounds good to me.

Trevor

If you all used spoilers you'd enable the game to be more than a solo one.

ntnon

A what now?!

I know exactly what you mean, though. I mind it less when there'd an "or was it?!" moment after the 'explanation', but true ambiguity - or actual haunting - should be more common in such films. This is, after all, a fictional realm where anything can happen...

Trevor

Only screenshots I have saved will be easy, but might be fun for someone anyway.

ntnon

I like decades, but it is a hassle to do... actually, I'll be more forceful: I'm more interested in reading stats about decades than formats.

The Man with the Golden Doujinshi

Name the movie this is from.

edit: Sorry Trevor, had my reply box open for awhile and missed your new one.

Trevor

No worries, we can have multiple at once. Besides, I just realized that I don't even know my own, they are unlabeled and just in my photobucket account from years ago and the easiest to post while at work.

CrazyMat

Formats ah the formats. I can usually remember if I have something on dvd or not but sometimes I forget. Last year I'm sure there was more stuff I watched on DVD than what I listed. Anyway this year I decided to drop that stat off my list sort-of. I did mention the first bluray I watched this month (Tremors), also probably the only VHS I'll watch this month (Dracula: Dead and Loving It).

CrazyMat

Trevor I hate to admit I know which franchise this is from but I don't know which movie.

Trevor

^ Me either. But it's putting me in the mood to open that set up. If only October was longer!

mightysparks

Mine is stuff with windows, like someone looking out a window and seeing someone's face or something similar. When I was young (must've been about 6), I had this nightmare where this monster thing was looking through our toilet window as I walked past. For months I would not go into that toilet (we had a second toilet luckily), and I would like run past every time I had to go down the hallway. I think that may be the source of the issue, and there was also the Nightmare at 20,000 Feet segment in the Twilight Zone movie which I saw when I was quite young too.

So anything where someone looks out a window and someone is looking back at them will send chills down my spine, but I don't really consider that true 'fear', because it's like a jumpscare and just for that moment.

J. Farley

Oops, I answered before I read the prior page. To make it up to you, I'll take a stab at your question.

Ever since I was a kid, I've been fascinated by horror. Back then, before thematic elements really resonated with me, it was the morbid imagery that got me hooked. Horror was like the forbidden genre, but once I got a taste, there was no turning back. As I grew older and my tastes matured, I came to realize that, despite the lack of respect it receives, horror is a very contemplative genre. I honestly think few films are as capable of the poignancy a horror film can pull off, and most certainly aren't as fun; I get more pure joy out of horror than I do 95% of comedies. Plus, where else are you going to find such rich examples of atmosphere? And no other film type possesses such a vast array of differing styles or sub-genres, nor the ability to be so charmingly quirky through sheer ambition and/or insanity. There's a natural curiosity about the darker side of life, about the unknown and the fantastic. It's a part of human nature that some embrace, some don't. No, I don't scare easily (though I do find plenty of things creepy or unsettling), but that makes the rare film which does scare me all the more special. I'll never forget the night I saw The Blair Witch Project in the theater or how it stuck with me afterward. Hell, it's the only film I still have the occasional nightmare about. And jump scares don't count. It shouldn't even be called a scare, it's a startle.

Dick Laurent

You're right-on there. I just TODAY remembered I bought the Leprechaun box set a while back. And it doesn't help that I seem to have reached the magic age where staying up all night to watch horror movies feels more akin to riding in coach for a 14 hour flight to London. Sure it's a nice place to visit, but it is in no way worth the pain of the travel. Or at least that's how I remember it.

Same with boosting my numbers. Sure I got all the way up to 400, but was it really worth missing 60 hours of sleep, all the hallucinations and the probable DUI (DU-Sleeplessness) trying to take my son to school? Great, now I'm tired.