I was talking to one of my friends today and she was saying that there are no movies that scare her anymore. I figured that I would post this question and see what responses I get.
Don’t hold back; I need your scariest material.
George A. Romero’s “Night of the Living Dead,” the 1968 classic.
Ultimately though horror movies have had it; the future of horror lies in video games, not movies, anymore. I hate to say it but, people have seen such grotesqueries onscreen, told themselves for so long “its only a movie,” people have become psychologically programmed not to be scared when watching a “scary” movie anymore. The only way to effectively scare people these days, is with video games; video games are immersive. Very immersive in fact.
The immersiveness and interactivity of games, how people tend to transfer themselves onto the character, the role of which they are assuming, makes it so that it feels like you are there. Easily, the most overwhelming in terms of scares game made so far, is Dead Rising. A game that when initially picked up is so terrifying, few gamers will admit how scary it was the first few times. It was a game so scary, most gamers don’t like to talk about it. How scary it was the first few times that is.
What can I say; since most of us are guys, and many guys are into that macho crap, few will admit they were scared sh*tless when they first played Dead Rising. I mean come on; that was a lot of @@#$$@#$ zombies!
If your friend is looking to get scared, buy a PS3, and then, buy Fatal Frame, or if possible the upcoming “Siren” for the PS3.
Horror is a genre of enterainment, that is most single handedly responsible for advancing technology in entertainment. The bulk of advances in the entertainment industry, horror, the genre of horror, has done the most to jump on the inovation band wagon. It was horror movies who were the first to ask Lucas’ industrial light and magic for special effects people. Whereas other movie genre types were reluctant, it was the horror people who knocked on his company’s door first. When films were first being made way back when at the turn of the century early 20th, it was horror, the people into horror, who first took advantage of it, and any innovations.
The 1990’s rolls along, and Infogrames takes advantage of video game technology to make Alone in the Dark. The point I am trying to make here is, that for horror to scare effectively, of all genres, it is the genre most dependent on technological inovation, and the people who make the stuff have known this for decades. Again, some of the first people to knock on ILM’s door, were horror movie makers, because they were the ones most in need of special effects inovations.
I’m not surprised your friend isn’t scared; it is entirely too easy, in a modern culture saturated with movies, to separate yourself from them, thus the movie loses its effect. I’m sorry to say this, but because of video games, the horror genre of movies could end up being a dying breed. It will die, the same way horror novels have largely died and fallen out of popularity. I mean think, who reads horror novels? Why do people bother writting them?
The point I am trying to make is this; in the victorian era, people scared themselves by reading. When films came out horror books were largely discarded. Then, films dominated the horror scene because they did more to scare the audience. Okay then, while novels and movies may not die out completely, they will take a backseat to video games. Horror games can leave you with a lasting sense of fear, so much so in fact, from the immersive nature of them, that did you know that Capcom has had to tone down its games?
True story; Resident Evil 4, the original “draft” they had planned on releasing was so scary, the testers literally sh*t themselves. If the staff has psychologists on their team, or people who have studied it, they know how to make a horror game that will make people go to bathroom in their pants.
I can not reccomend any movie besides the 1968 “Night of the Living Dead;” what I can reccomend however, is that she check out some scary games. Know what? Fatal Frame or Siren might be a little too much for your friend for starters, so, to de-virgenize her regarding horro games, buy a PS3, and play Resident Evil 4.
It is scary enough that my point will be made plainly clear as to where the future of horror lies, but not so scary she will, oh, have to go to an insane asylum after being done playing. Fatal Frame has been known to do that to people.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAA!!!!
good luck.