Horror aficionados... GIVE ME YOUR KNOWLEDGE

[the jellyman]

I'm currently writing a university essay on the appeal of horror fiction as a medium in general, with a side note on the appeals of specific mediums (Books, film and games) and levels of quality (Pulp versus 'intellectual')

I'd welcome anyone's opinions on all that, but what I'm looking for is recommendations of games and films that fit into those categories. Name a really campy, silly horror game/film/book, or a really subtle, psychological one?

 

[No_Remainders]

I found Alan Wake to be quite a subtle psychological thriller, but some people disagree with me on that.

Pan's Labyrinth was quite the freakish one.

Anything that's basically "Oh, nothing's happening... BUT WAIT IT'S A ZOMBIE!" is not scary in the slightest, so yeah.

 

[VaudevillianVeteran]

Jacob's Ladder is what I'd call an intellectual psychological horror and it also inspired the Silent Hill series before it was about big-titted nurses.

The quality starts to decline after gore and jump scares become abundent. After all it was Alfred Hitchcock himself that said "The scariest thing you can show an audience is a closed door", when the audience's imagination is not put to work, the impact quickly declines.

I'll edit if I can think of any more interesting ones to take a look at.

 

[PeePantz]

For campy I'd go with (movies) Dead Alive or Cabin Fever. As far as games are concerned, check out Deadly Premonition. For subtle psychological ones maybe, Jacob's Ladder or Session 9. Video games are tougher with this genre because there needs to be enough action. Closest would be either Alan Wake or the Silent Hill series.

Edit: The Strangers and Funny Games are also good examples of psychological horror.

 

[Total LOLige]

I'd say The Shinning was pretty psychological.

 

[Deverfro]

Well films like REC offer the type of horror that comes with lots of gore and a feeling of imediate danger. It gets the audience involved by using a handheld camera to make it feel more realsitic. Its about drawing people in. It also provides little clues as to whats happeneing to let the audience try and work out whats happening, they spend the time piecing things together and want to know more.

Where as The Grudge (and alot of Japanese horror) usually go for a more slow build and alot of false scares (i.e. when there is no danger). False scares are appealing because when the danger has gone, the audience can just laugh. Its all about making people feel tense and uncomfortable. Another place to see this is in Silent Hill 2, atmosphere built through sound and visuals. With no music and just the sounds of the monsters you keep waiting to be attacked but it doesn't come, so your getting more and more fightened.

One thing that you mightbe good for a disscusion point is that both Alan Wake and Shadows of the Damned talk about being "Psychological Action Thrillers" but the are completely different games.

Hope this helps

 

[thefrizzlefry]

As far as psychological horror goes, you can't go wrong with The Innocents. It's a stone-cold classic.
As far as camp, The Toxic Avenger all the way. That shit was HILARIOUS.

 

[AbyssalSanhedrin]

A couple of subtle but terrifying (subjective, I know) ones:

Mario Bava's 'Black Sabbath'
The original version of 'The Haunting'
Armando D'Ossario's 'The Blind Dead'
'Dellamorte Dellamore' (Cemetary Man)

All great and ripe for intellectual discourse in one way or another.

 

[ComicsAreWeird]

As far as games that follow the psychological horror thing...silent hill 2 all the way.and it´s subtle. Psychological Horror is something that has also been done subtly in movies with The Others and The Sixth Sense.

 

[Motiv_]

An obnoxious, silly horror movie you ask? Land of the Dead, by George Romero. Nothing but gore, sex, and zombies, with stereotypes, racial slurs, and a predictable plot. However, I enjoyed the characters, settings, and special effects immensely.

 

[Blayze2k]

Hilariously, I found this article shortly after noticing this thread.
Hope this is helpful:

http://www.cracked.com/article_19360_7-questions-you-didnt-know-could-be-answered-with-math.html

(If for nothing more than a goofy sidenote)

 

[Rawne1980]

I'd say The Shinning was pretty psychological.

Couldn't agree with this more.

The Shining is a classic aswell.

The original Psycho is a good film if you can cope with black and white movies.

Also, The Hitcher. Perfect film if you like psychotic stalkers.

 

[Blank Kold]

Not going to give any example, but the appeal of horror stems from adrenaline. You essentially get a vicarious feeling of danger, fight or flight kicks in, and you get an adrenaline rush. This followed by various other hormones being released, endorphins included.

 

[razerdoh]

Dead Snow (Film) silly zombie film(got nazi zombies in it)

 

[LaughingAtlas]

Ju-on: the Grudge, (there's a movie, a game, [on the Wii, wierdly enough] an american remake, and two silly sequels to it) psychological (at first, I think) because there seems to be a message or two about the human mind/the harm hatred does a person and I can't quite explain why Kayako (long-haired ghost lady) creeps me out and Toshio (undead son) doesn't... maybe it's the meowing?

 

[Hero in a half shell]

For some good 80's Horror comedies look at "The Lost Boys" and "The Burbs".

The Lost Boys stars Corey Haim and Feldman, and is about a family that move to their grandads house, but the city he lives in is plagued by a teenage vampire gang, and the older brother becomes a vampire, so the younger brother has to kill the other vampires to free his brother.

Here's a clip:

And The Burbs stars Tom Hanks and Carrie Fisher (I know, how awesome is that) and Corey Feldman has a small role in it. It's about a quiet suburb that gets these really freaky neighbours moving in, and Tom Hanks and his neighbour believe they are murdering people, so they sneak around and try to find proof.
Here's the trailer:

Two great comedy horrors, although they kinda focus on the comedy side, there are still some good horror moments in there.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

No-one's said Amnesia- Dark Descent or Silent Hill yet? For shame.

For campy though:


But you really NEED to do an entire section on Hammer.


Christopher Lee, Vincent Price, Peter Cushing, John Carradine.

 

[the jellyman]

Wow. You guys (and girls) are all brilliant. Thank you for the input, and keep it coming in!

 

[xitel]

The only game I've played so far that gave me a feeling of actual horror, as opposed to just simple fear, is The Path. Mostly because nothing happens in the immediate, for the most part. Up until you meet the Wolf, I mean. You can just stay on the path like the game tells you, go into Gramma's house, and have a pure humdrum kind of thing. But if you meet the Wolf, which is a different kind of being to each girl, then you wake up at the bridge to Gramma's house, where you stagger into a surreal and bizarre nightmare version of the insides. I played a little bit of it and had to stop, because it really got into my head and made me horrified.

As for psychological horror movies, there's a fair couple. The one that immediately comes to mind is Buried, the Ryan Reynolds movie that came out a year or so ago. The entire film takes place in the same coffin, and the only person you ever see is Reynolds. It gets into your head, again, and makes you basically feel that you're buried alongside him, watching him do everything in person, if not giving the feeling of actually being the character.