#horror movies in real life

[cursesformostoccasions]

Desires

[theonlydrewboo]

Happy Friday The 13th!

[lark-of-mirkwood]

Scrolling through Witcher 3 fics on AO3 and found this gem of a note 🫶🏽

[etfrin]

best thing about the murder boyfriends is that they can kill you but instead they try their best to actively keep you alive because it's just not killing that makes their heartbeat anymore, it's you, and the late night walks and the coffee dates (NOT STARBUCKS) every morning.

Imagine someone who takes lives for fun (or various other reasons) trying their best to make sure you live until forever because they can't imagine you dead. They can't imagine you cold and not breathing, they can't, they won't.

I think that's beautiful. And that's why I need Ethan, bye!

[skankhunt44]

[spearxwind]

I would like to offer a sincere apology to every horror movie protagonist I've ever complained about for losing their braincells when horny. I now know how that feels like. I am no longer allowed say "Could not be me" when watching them make disastrous decisions in favor of laying pipe

[diego-r-the-artist-2009]

Guys I'm Back After To Watch This Great Horror Movie ;)

Name Of The Movie: Five Nights At Freddy's (2023)

[breelandwalker]

tfw you're a fan of Japanese horror and you catch a glimpse of something white next to your feet beneath your work desk and you quickly realize it's just a package that somebody chucked under there but that doesn't change the fact that your soul left your fucking body for a hot second

[box-off]

Emesis Blue changed my life, so here’s a fan art

[nellasbookplanet]

There’s something weirdly validating but also kind of sad in having a strong dislike for a seemingly harmless thing, figuring it’s just a personal preference, and then finding out the full context and realizing it’s actually worse than you ever thought, but to everyone else it’s still perfectly harmless and they'll think you an absolute killjoy if you talk about how much you hate it.

Anyway, everyone go watch this video on fake psychics, faith healers, and mediums (and this video on fake martial arts by the same creator) and this video on sadistic game shows so I don’t have to feel unhinged alone.

[practically-an-x-man]

Genuine ask: What is it that's appealing about Horror? I've never really been into it (Except for reading some Stephen King). Have I just not been exposed to *good* horror?

Long ramble ahead, I'm very passionate about this stuff

Well it's definitely a polarizing genre, there are some people who love it and some people who really can't get into it no matter how much they try. I'm the former, so is my dad, my mother is the latter. She does not enjoy horror and never will, and that's fine.

I find a few things really fun about horror. The first is that I'm a bit of an adrenaline junkie, so the fear and tension in a good horror movie is a similar effect to riding a roller coaster or going skydiving. Some people find it a thrill, others find it terrifying. I find it a thrill.

There's also a psychological phenomenon linked to it, called excitation transfer. Basically, the more intense a scary situation is, the more pleasant the relief feels when it's over. I actually did a whole research project on this! Horror movies present a safe space for experiencing these emotions, since you know you can't really get hurt, and excitation transfer means that even when the fear and anxiety during the movie may be unpleasant, the relief feels really good afterwards. Again, same principle as thrill rides at theme parks - terrifying in the moment, but fun when it's over. Granted, I like roller coasters in the moment too since I actually really like the feeling of flight or falling, but... same principle.

And even outside the thrill perspective of it: horror movies can have some of the best or most interesting practical effects, and I'm an SFX artist myself so I have to appreciate those. And because of how many complicated, intense emotions it presents, it can often involve some of the best acting on top of it. Horror usually presents a greater variety in themes and plot than other genres, since they aren't afraid to go to uncomfortable places. I mean, you watch a romcom and pretty much always expect that the guy gets the girl, you watch an action movie and expect the heroes to come out on top, but with horror it's a lot harder to really guess how something could end, or if it'll be a win for the "good guys" at all. Sometimes the dark ending is just what's right for the story, and horror is more likely to keep that ending while other genres may shy away from it.

And horror can also present as a bit of escapism - you can see yourself as the final girl, or the killer exacting well-deserved vengeance, or whoever else. Everyone has dark fantasies sometimes, and there's almost always a movie to reflect that in a safe space. You daydream about killing your boss at work? Mayhem (2017). Belko Experiment (2016). You want to see spoiled rich brats getting their comeuppance? Bodies Bodies Bodies (2022). The Menu (2021). You like zombies? Vampires? Robots? Demons? Slashers? Mind control? Mundane settings turned terrifying? It's such a versatile genre, there's something for just about anyone as long as they like scary things.

From an academic perspective, too: horror reflects the societal fears of its time period. In the 60s we got Invasion of the Body Snatchers and the Manchurian Candidate because it was the Cold War and people's biggest fear was foreign spies. In the 80s it was a lot of demons and Satanic themes, because the Satanic panic was what had people scared. Lately we've been getting a lot of tech-based horror like Countdown and Host, since technology is usually at the forefront of people's fears. It's neat (to me at least) to see how society's trends reflect themselves in horror.

Plus, I just really like spooky things. Vampires and zombies and creepy mutated creatures and whatever else are my jam! I can get all academic on why horror is a great genre and why people enjoy it, but this stuff also just calls to me. I love it.

[astrxealis]

dear gods i adore horror tbh but i am way too sensitive to it

[smalltownfae]

Is it me or there are only people that are either obsessed with horror or can't watch it at all because "it's too scary"? I can't be the only one that thinks horror is just a genre like any other, right? Neither obsessed nor afraid of it. I watch it and read it like I would a drama or anything else...

Btw, if you like horror is there a movie or book or show that actually scared you? I don't remember being actually scared by any after my teens.

[someoneintheshadow456]

Amanda the Jedi’s movie reviews came in my YouTube dashboard and she reviewed the movie Tusk which I literally just this second found out existed.

I remember when I read the Wikipedia of Human Centipede in high school. It gave me this sick uncomfortable feeling and mental paralysis despite knowing the movie could never happen IRL.

And the exact same emotion I am feeling right now. Thanks. I hate it. Now to cope I’m doing the exact same thing I did back then - imagining “preventing” the movie.

With my unlimited transmigration powers and invisibility I Jedi Mind Trick Wallace into not answering the creepy bathroom ad. No, I would go back even further and tell the psycho’s parents to lock their doors that night, so they never get killed, preventing the psycho from even existing to begin with.

[giantkillerjack]

The cool thing about a horror movie that takes place in a mental hospital and, shockingly, actually turns out to be on the side of mentally ill people is that it avoids all the common disgusting pitfalls of mocking, demonizing, and infantilizing mentally ill people.

The downside is

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!

[It's much scarier.]

[boreal-sea]

For those two polls about violence, I want to expand on them here because it's fascinating to me.

I'm a 6/6 on the horror movie scale, meaning they don't upset me at all and I love them. There's certain genres I don't like as much, and those are ones like Saw that depict realistic body injury and dismembered etc. I even look away during some regular horror movie murders that are a bit too realistic, but I still enjoy the tension leading up to those moments. Hannibal is a great example of extreme gore that I can handle no problem, because all of the characters are usually dead when they're "displayed". Living characters in the process of being hurt can be a bit much, but monsters or body horror on already-dead characters is perfectly fine.

But real life violence? I'm a 1/6. Cannot handle it.

True Crime (which was on the poll as an example) doesn't bother me because usually they don't show the person's uncovered body at the crime scene out of respect. Crime scene photos without a body don't bother me. Autopsies of the body don't bother me. Seeing the body uncovered in context to where the violence was committed? Too much. Overall, true crime is something I actually enjoy.

News footage of ongoing events is usually ok too because they also don't normally show uncovered dead bodies in context. They also don't usually show the violence being actively committed to the people.

I cannot watch videos of real people experiencing real harm, or real deal bodies in context to where they were killed. I can't watch videos of skaters falling and breaking their limbs, for example. I can't watch police cam footage of police violence. I can't watch eyewitness recordings of police violence. I can't look at footage from war zones. I know people often share those videos and demand you "witness" the violence, but personally it's harmful to me.

I saw two videos of graphic gun deaths as a child, both in a history class. I saw the footage of JFK being shot (I think the teacher tried to hold up a piece of paper to cover the worst of it but believe me, I still saw far too much). I also saw footage of a kidnapping victim or POW being shot in the head while kneeling. I will never, ever forget those images. They are burned into my brain.

But again, I love horror movies. Just goes to show that what someone enjoys in fiction may be COMPLETELY opposite to what they can tolerate in real life.