The last thing that any horror story wants to be is corny (unless it's Trolls 2, which is so embarrassingly corny it's hilarious ) as that would take away any notion of fear. However, at the same time, stories where the audience can get emotionally attached to the characters are considered to be the most meaningful. I have sort of a weird question (well, two actually), what is an example of a horror film (or show or whatev) that you personally thought to be both scary and emotionally gripping without taking away any of the horror or becoming corny, and what do you think made it work? Discuss... RAAAAANDOM DISCLAIMER!!: Show some respect, please. Don't assume that everyone has the same opinion as you. Saying stuff like "you're a moron, the answer is obviously 'The Shining', or 'The Walking Dead'" or whatever adds nothing, and I mean nothing, to the discussion except for one to stroke his or her own ego. No one is a moron for having a divergent opinion or for not thinking the same way that you do, and the whole point of this is to hear everyone's different opinions. We good?
I think the only way for a horror film to be successful is to be emotionally gripping. It needs to keep the audience genuinely scared and in suspense and not just rely on cheap jump scares to try and get some sort of reaction from them. I think "The Thing" does a pretty good job at this. It's visually appealing, it leaves the audience in just as much suspense as the characters, and by the end you aren't sure what to think or believe. The YouTube series "Marble Hornets" I think also does this pretty well, since it takes this very realistic approach of uploading recorded footage to YouTube.
Well, depending on how you look at the Twilight Saga, that is both terrifying and emotionally gripping. Or neither!
the 1982 Kurt Russell in a prospector hat The Thing did rock hard. I think the mini series version of The Shinning was good classic build up horror and you cared about the little kid. "Damn, nosy little pup! You get down here and take your medicine"
I feel like I only truly feel something if it's emotionally trying to punch me in the face. Then again, after starting the most recent 'the Walking Dead' series (because my partner loves zombies) I felt like they tugged at your emotional side in the first few seasons and ripped it out, so now I laugh when people die in the new season. They tried to use the emotional aspect too much and it backfired. However, If Daryl or Michonne die then I will just stop watching it. Also, what they did with their only acceptable female character was absurd and hilarious. I know they have a track record for creating crappy female characters, but after turning the only reasonable one into a 'monster' or whatever, they've completely lost respect.
Perhaps 'Splice' or 'Event Horizon' off the top of my head. Splice is about an unauthorised genetic experiment where human DNA is crossed with this genetic experiment to create Drell, a new form of life that could land both it's creators in prison if she's discovered. Effectively a gender swapped Frankenstein, it's gruesome as well as it as emotionally affecting I think. I like it and it's certainly a good movie. Event Horizon is set in the future. It's about a ship that uses a new method of travel and is lost for a couple of decades after it's first test run. It finally turns up one day, derelict and quiet save for it's distress signal. A team are sent in to investigate what happened to the crew. These two fascinate rather than scare these days. Looking back on it...Only one thing actually scares me...and it's not a film. It's a 'game'.
totally agree with the mini-series version of "The Shining". If I may go off on a bit of a tangent, people say the mallet wasn't as scary as the ax in the Kubrick version because it's so blunt, but that's what was brilliant about it! I say that the mallet is scarier because it represents blunt anger, you would really have to whack someone with a vengeance to do damage with a mallet, and that is why it's a perfect external representation of the character's blunt and blind rage
I rarely watch horror movies because i don't really like them, but when i do, i rarely expect any kind of realism. So in that sense i don't think horror movies even need emotional depth since that's not their main (and often only) purpose.
Call of Cthulu: Dark Corners of the Earth! makes you scarred to ever fall off your nut and have to go to an asylum ^_-
In the literal sense, the horror genre is infact emotionally deep due to it's cause of fear, but if you are looking for Horror Series that cover Social issues or a person's struggle with themselves: Read anything from H.P. Lovecraft, play the first silent hill, play any fallout (Yes it technically counts as psychological horror loosely) or play these games Memory Of A Broken Dream The Castle Doctrine I Have No Mouth, And I Must Scream No One Has To Die Off and of course this game Spoiler: WARNInG THE MOST GRIMDARM OF ALL GAMES EVER!!!!!! Saya no Uta: The Song Of Saya Enjoy horror that treads the topics of human decency, Humanities Right To Exist, Parental/Homocidal Paranoia and Child Sociopaths
I don't think that investing the audience emotionally is always a recipe for success. Some horror films have been successful just because of how meta they are. They aren't afraid to mock the stereotypes that tend to litter the genre, but still have some decent scares. The Scream franchise, Army of Darkness, and Cabin in the Woods all come to mind. Funny Games also did this in a different way, since the antagonists of the film continually keep asking the audience why they're even watching, and possibly enjoying, the terrible things happening to the other characters in the film. Otherwise, you have to consider how a film is trying to be emotionally gripping. Some do have decent character development that make you feel bad for what the characters end up going through. The first couple seasons of The Walking Dead and American Horror Story are fairly successful with this. Then there's the movies or series where they make it so you know the characters can relate to the horror they're experiencing. The one example I can think of for this method is R-Point, which is about an abandoned Asian island that keeps sending out military distress signals. So various Asian military branches that pick up the signal go to investigate, only to get emotionally messed with. The last way I can think of is to just make the contents of the film so utterly shocking and disturbing, that the emotionally gripping part comes into play because you just feel bad that the characters have even been subjected to what happens in the film. The examples I can think of for this are to be viewed at your own risk. These are seriously depraved films with a lot of controversy surrounding them. I'll only mention a few, which would be A Serbian Film and the Guinea Pig series.
I think the only horror done well is horror that incorporates a myriad of human fears into a story with a larger emotional scope. As in, the horror story that makes you feel more than fear, including love, hope, loss, etc. But that's just my opinion.
