We love to hear your feedback! Top 10 Scariest Movies Ever blog wrote:
I'm trying to understand the perception of some of these films...While I think that some of the newer horror films are more frightening (saw, hostel, etc..) some people don't agree at all. In Fact they prefer the older classics. Yay or nay?
Great question, Top 10! Of course, people's opinions about art will always be somewhat subjective, but in the case of horror movies, there are basically two camps (actually, a third is emerging, but more on that a bit later).
Some horror movie aficionados point to the old black and white Hammer-style films as the true canon of the genre. These movies were "scary" in more of a suspenseful, story-based style. Of course, many of the clichés of horror movies we now take for granted hadn't even been invented at that point, and special effects technology was only just emerging.
Then, in the 1970s, a little independent film titled Texas Chainsaw Massacre came along, and everything changed. It was this movie that set the stage for more "modern" classics like Friday the 13th, Halloween, Nightmare on Elm Street, Hell Raiser, Child's Play, and many more. You see, a formula had emerged. This is important, so pay attention:
1 part horny teenagers + 1 part homicidal maniac = graphic sex and violence. Box office gold!
You don't mention your age in the comment, but perhaps you're old enough to remember the mid-1980s, when VHS ruled, and the concept of a DVD was still in the realm of science fiction. At that time, movie rental stores contained a plethora of spin-off horror movies following the above mentioned formula. These "slasher films" had titles like Student Bodies, Slumber Party Massacre 2, Trick or Treat, Frankenhooker, Sleep Away Camp, Prom Night, and on and on and on….and many of these movies were so bad (or the market was so saturated with similar titles) that they're not even available anymore.
Now, I mentioned above that there was a third camp emerging among horror movie lovers. You see, the more modern films, like The Grudge, Saw, The Ring and others take the story-based suspense elements from the early Hammer films and combine it with the in-your-face violence and gore of horror movies released in the 70s and 80s. Also, it is interesting to note that the element of sex-ploitation in horror movies has greatly decreased in recent years….but the reasons behind this are a discussion for another day.
And I should mention that in any era, there are of course "cross over" films that don't fit the mold I described above. These movies stand alone as great inspirations to the genre. Romero's original Night of the Living Deadis a great example, as is Raimi's Evil Dead series.
You see, in my opinion, the fun part about loving scary movies is not so much about picking what genre is superior to the other - rather it is seeing how we got from there to here, and possibly where it will take us in the future.
BUT, I guess if I had to pick a "scariest" era of horror films, I would have to say that the more recent films really did the best job of truly scaring me. (The Ring for instance...I still have to close my eyes in that one sometimes.) But I still have a love for those gloriously awful slasher films from the 1980s! Check out my Trash Films 101 blog post for more info.
~ The Ekimo
