Horror Films: Blood and Gore Vs Jumpy type scares

[Bolch]

Which do you prefer your horror films to have? Personally I like a good balance between the 2 but our lass can't stand blood and gore so will refuse to watch I want to.

Any recomendations to blood/gore free Horror films?

[takuly]

I prefer jumps. Else you have about three minutes of the killer creeping up on them or them running away from the kiler only to fall down and be diced.

The Eye has no gore and is storming.

[Richie]

good blood/gore free Horror films recomendations:

The Haunting (1963) :eek:

Rosemary's Baby (1968) :eek:

The Others (2001) :eek: :eek:

Ring (1998) :eek: :eek: :eek:

The Vanishing (1988) :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek:

[Crawf]

I`m not a bloody and gore fan at all, much prefer the unseen psychological aproach to horror. It just seems easy sometimes to put a bit of gore into a film to gain it a reputation, whereas a more psychological film has to rely on actually being a good film to get the same word of mouth.

I must admit to having a bit of a soft spot for things like Dawn of the Dead though, but I watch it more for the story.

[*Tiffany*]

Originally posted by Crawf
much prefer the unseen psychological aproach to horror
Same for me - a mindedit will stay with me longer than an evisceration.

Case in point, the last ten minutes of The Blair Witch Project still bothers me :(

[mrsteve]

The Blair Witch Project (masterpiece)

Dead of Night (1946 Brit horror portmanteau flick)

Night of the Daemon (aka Curse of the Demon)

Dark Water & Kairo/Pulse (Japanese horror)

Ghostwatch (yes, the BBC special - scared the poo out of me)



:eek:

[Terminated]

Neither. Good atmosphere is what I like the most!:thumbs:

I do enjoy gore but only under the right circumstances.

[PAIGE2709]

GORE!

[George vader]

I love both, I think 'The Thing' is the perfect combination of both, great blood and guts scenes plus excruciating tension.

I think all great horror films don't have to rely on guts, e.g Halloween, Psycho, Texas Chainsaw Massacre etc....

[Herbal]

Wow brought back from the dead.

I prefer jumpy type films to those that are all blood and gore. I still think about the last 10mins of the Blair Witch Project. I think i watched it at the worng time on my own at 2am.

[LordoftheDance]

I like a bit of both. Huge fan of the independent low-budget stuff from the late 70s/ early 80s, which was notoriously gory and the filmmakers didn't worry about the censors too much. :thumbs:

I like equally classics like The Exorcist and Texas Chainsaw Massacre as well as crap like Night of the Demon (Jim Wasson version, obviously) and The Burning.

[Goblin]

Jumps, which are very rare in Hollywood. Gore isn't scary and a Horror movie isn't very effect if it doesn't scare you!

IMO the last decent US Horror was Exorcism of Emily Rose.

My favourites are all goreless, The Entity, The Haunted, Ring, The Eye, Dark Water, Shutter.

[pompeyfan]

Atmospheric ones rather than gore for me.

Watched a few in the past few weeks - Silent Hill, Inferno, Land of the Dead, The Hills Have Eyes, Hostel, The Dark and I enjoyed the Inferno the best, although Silent Hill wasen't bad on a second viewing after I'd asked some questions on here about what the hell was going on;) lol

[Raigmore]

I think there is a distinct difference between 'scary' and 'horror' films. Horror films, whether blood/gore or jumpy type, cause the adrenalin to rise during the time and maybe a few days afterwards, but with very few exceptions one tends to forget them soon afterwards. I have seen plenty of both types in my time and cannot say that I have ever perosnally identified myself as "it could have been me".

But there are some 'scary' movies which have neither jumps nor gore but leave a lasting impression. One movie that has done this to me since I first saw it over 20 years ago is the Hammer House TV movie "In Possession" with Carol Lynley and directed by Val Guest. Thankfully, it is soon going to be out on DVD.

[Space Duck]

The Haunting (1963) :eek:

EEP!!! I remember catching this on BBC 2 one EARLY Early morning and being totally freaked out, not just by the lack of colour but the banging and the thudding, just the atmosphere of it all!!! :)

I think todays horrors rely too heavily on the gore and when they do try and recreate classics like The Omen, they try to make things far too Theatrical for it's own good :(

Although I have to say Turista/Paradise Lost.... Great scene, Melissa George putting on a Bikini without revealing anything... the finished product is enough to give it 5 stars!! :D

[charlie angel]

I much prefer psychological horror - I find it a whole lot more disturbing (when done right of course)

That said, sometimes you're just in the mood for some hack & slash gore.

[Todd Tomorrow]

I like all kinds of horror films, but prefer the ones that rely on atmosphere and suspense most. My least favourites are the ones with lot of false jump scares. It was fresh when Halloween came out, but it really is an old hat now.

[SqueakyG]

All methods have their place; but if a film just tries to shock with gore or jumpy bits, it's rarely a good horror film.

I especially don't like "false" jumpy bits. You know... where the heroine is creeping around and you know a jumpy bit is coming up, then BANG! And it's the Annoying Character going, "Haha, I'm a complete prick, I jumped out at you!"

Films that are psychologically creepy are far better. Some of the biggest scares in horror cinema didn't need a "jump" moment, or gore.

[MrHat001]

I especially don't like "false" jumpy bits. You know... where the heroine is creeping around and you know a jumpy bit is coming up, then BANG! And it's the Annoying Character going, "Haha, I'm a complete prick, I jumped out at you!"
Nah it's usually the classic trick of building up to a scary thing happening and then a sudden let down (ohh it's just the cat/open window, etc). It's then when the audience has had a second to relax that the scary thing suddenly jumps out.

It's more often the person next to me that makes me jump. I've seen that something scary is almost certainly going to happen but I'm not expecting the actual person by me to jump about 2ft out of their chair.

[Raigmore]

If gore gets to the point of silliness, it just becomes nasty and stops being scary. I classify the original "Nightmare on Elm Street" - the only one of the group that I have seen - in this genre. It got so stupid that my wife and I had a few laughs and neither has ever found it scary in the slightest. To be really scary, a film needs a certain amount of subtility, leaving things to the viewers imagination.

[SqueakyG]

Nah it's usually the classic trick of building up to a scary thing happening and then a sudden let down (ohh it's just the cat/open window, etc). It's then when the audience has had a second to relax that the scary thing suddenly jumps out.
But that's such a cinematic cliche, it can't possibly be respected in this day and age. It's old and tired and lacks imagination. When the heroine is creeping around, I don't want it to be a cat or a door banging, because then I'll know they're doing the old tired "real jump comes straight after".

A recent annoyance is the trick of making a jump cut to a previous memory a jumpy moment. The character will be saying, "Remember that time when the monster was attacking us--" EXTREME LOUD CLIP OF MONSTER ATTACKING. That also feels like such a cheap jump.

[LordoftheDance]

I think you're cutting off your nose to spite your face though, Squeaky.

When I watch movies, I don't try to over-analyse what's going on. I don't try to second-guess what the director's about to show next or when the next shrieking violin music cue's due.

I just watch it and let what happens happen without thinking 'oh he's done that, so there's going to be a scare here' or 'oh he's about to cry and cuddle her, so I know the string quartet's about to start up on the soundtrack.'

I realise it can be difficult to do this when you've got an in-built compendium of cliches in your brain from watching too many movies, but I find I can do this pretty easily, and it makes films so much more enjoyable. :)

[AndyWilson]

It can often take a better writer/director to work within and respect the cliches and conventions, than to try to be "original" or "cutting edge".

Anyone who can pull off the fake jump without the audience feeling cheated deserves respect!

[MrHat001]

I realise it can be difficult to do this when you've got an in-built compendium of cliches in your brain from watching too many movies, but I find I can do this pretty easily, and it makes films so much more enjoyable. :)
I think that's the tricky thing. We've seen so many of the same tricks used over & over that I find it hard to not think ahead a certain amount. I'm not purposefully trying to see things coming - I just can't help it.

Another example is the medicine cabinet mirror trick. Victim looks at themselves in mirror, opens door to get something, closes door... only for the killer to be shown in the reflection!
(Sometimes adjusted to the 'wipe steam from the mirror' version).
It's been done so many times that I can't help but expect it when it starts to come up on screen.

[AndyRoo21]

I would agree with a lot of the sentiment expressed here. I used to love horror films but these days I barely have time for them. It's not a case of "they don't make them like they used to" but rather "they make them exactly as they used to". There's only so many times you can be scared or made jump by the same old cliches.

[mr starface]

Love all kinds of horror films but a truly good film will give you the jumps and the pay off of some decent gore.

Really put off by some of the sanitised horror's that get a 12 certificate these days.