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MaxFaust

By MaxFaust
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What horror movies would you say stand out of the crowd? When I think of a horror movie, I usually think of something like Insidious or Alien. I actually like Alien, but not because of the story or characters. I just think the atmosphere and filmography are quite good, and that's how I feel about most horror movies (but not all of them). It could be that I'm out of the loop or just watch the wrong horror movies.
To be clear, I don't have any problem *at all* with the concept of horror as a genre of film. I do find that the particular horror movies that I've been exposed to, for the most part, fall short on story and characters. Now I don't think a film has to have a good story and good characters to be enjoyable, but it seems to me like there are certain horror film formulas that have been used over and over. I can pick out almost any paranormal horror film and have a similar experience, for example. I think large budget horror films could really do a lot better in general, at least based on what I've seen.
What do you think?
 
You could definitely group it into genres and say that some have been done to death. Slasher films already didn't have much going for them other than jump scares and gore, but at least had some novelty at the beginning before being done to death. Paranormal horror seems to be the same in today's environment, I can't say that I've seen anything in that style recently that I've particularly enjoyed.

Alien kind of straddles the line between sci-fi and horror, but you're right that it delivers on atmosphere in a big way. You don't have to see a bloodbath to get creeped out, you can hear the sounds and feel like you're being stalked from the camera work. Not that bloodbaths are bad, they just have to have a point, otherwise they're not scary or even all that fun. I'm no expert, mind you, but here's a short list of some of my favorites, old and new:

The Shining
John Carpenter's The Thing
Suspiria
Hellraiser
Halloween
Antichrist
Let the Right One In
Rosemary's Baby


I can tell that I'm not feeling well, I'm drawing a blank on anything else. Anyway, you get the idea.

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