Screwing up horror, badly.

[Furwerkstudio]

Since there is a thread talking about how to create successful horror now let me ask, how does one mess it up.
[SPOILER WARNING: I will spoil some moves including the original Psycho. I know, but just a warning to be polite to a very old movie. Oh and there will be minor spoilers for The Haunting in Connecticut, but it is a bleh movie, so.]

There is a few things to kill a horror on different levels and they are; Jarring soundtrack surprise, that don't work. A good example of the jarring soundtrack surprise is when Anthony Hopkins (correction Perkins) stabs Janet Leigh in the show, runs with the whole in the face scene going on. When does it not? punching up fake jump scares, like in The Haunting in Connecticut which a ghost is seen in the mirror when one of the characters open a door, it would have worked as it would built up atmosphere and some chills in "what was that/did I see that?" way but instead they did a bugging loud sound alerting there is a ghost standing there. Short of prancing onto the set with large arrows and shouting, "HEY, look! Ghost Waldo!"

A shame really since the tv show is quiet good, the movie though is aweful.

[Eric]

Anthony Perkins. I spent a long time trying to figure out what horror film had both Janet Leigh and Anthony Hopkins!

Somebody...WHAM, I think, mentioned a game called Scratches in another thread. I wasn't frightened by the scenario he mentioned, but later on, there's a string stab when a silhouette passes by that actually did cause me to tense up. Part of it is in the editing and timing.

[Ghost]

The more you show, the less horror. Almost every horror movie I can remember manages to build up at least some tension and atmosphere- as long as it doesn't show the thing that we are supposed to be afraid of. As far as I am concerned horror in every medium works best when it relies on sound, visual hints, and moody environment, and it fails the most when it relies purely on graphical horror (be it gore, gross stuff, or the lowly jump scares).

Case in point, "Under The Bed", a recent movie that deliberatey attempts to recreate the atmosphere of 80s monster/horror/teen flics (Probably NOT the best place to start. I am looking at YOU, The Gate!). Spoilers: It's a movie about a monster under the bed. And initially it works quite okay, with a subtle soundtrack, lots of empty space where something *could* be and the protagonists dealing with something they can't understand. Then we see the monster. Which actually looks kinda scary but... well, shown is known. And from then on there is no more tension. We've seen it. We deal with it.
Clowns are an exeption; clowns are always scary.

Maybe this has something to do with us usually knowing we are playing a game/watching a movie, and we rely on visuals the most. Everything you see in a video game is instantly "distant" and safe. It can gross you out but it's not part of the actual world; a good game will pull you in but there's always the safety net of it being fictional. But we're more vulnerable when it comes to sound because that actually COULD be outside of the game/movie. Could well be.
Again, this does NOT apply to clowns.

And "squick cuts"; going from a scary suspenseful scene to a mundane, lighthearted one. It's often done to create contrast and ground the horror in the real world but I think it usually lessens the impact.
But it is impossible to ruin any tension by showing a clown, no matter what situation the clown is part of.

Clowns always work.

[Armageddon]

Random flashes and loud noises will make someone jump but it won't scare. Ever.

[Furwerkstudio]

Anthony Perkins.

Sorry, I get the two mixed up.

[Igor Hardy]

Random flashes and loud noises will make someone jump but it won't scare. Ever.

Reminds me how incredibly boring Amnesia was.

[Calin Leafshade]

The most common error I see in horror is the following:

"Scary things are scary, I will show the viewer the scary thing and it will be scary"

See the first Dead Space as an example.

[selmiak]

but the first deadspace was creepy, especially for the narrow hallways with lots of corners where some slimy alien could be hiding around every corner. So that's for the atmosphere, I can't remember any really scary imagery though except the usual gore when Isaac dies...

[Armageddon]

The first Dead Space wasn't scary at all. I still don't understand why people call it a horror game.

[Narushima]

Dead Space was massively disappointing. And it wasn't even good in other respects.

[selmiak]

I enjoyed the first DeadSpace and the tension when going through the narrow rusty corridors where Necromorphs are lurking everywhere. The creepy feeling wore of over the course of the game though, but it's still enjoyable. So maybe you could say relieing on the same creepynessfactor over the course of a complete and long (8-12h?) game screws up horror? But there were also some cool bosses to fight that are slimy and deadly, some might consider that horror too But from what I recall there also was a mission where you have to search for and kill 5 or 6 of these gas emmitting beasts, that felt like (and actually is) just a bad filler for additional gameplaytime. That took away a lot of the immersion I had with the first dead space.

[Secret Fawful]

I think you can show the "monster". Clock Tower is terrifying because you can't fight and you have to run for your life and hide, but even if you escape, the Scissorman will always come back again later. He's always around, and he's often hiding in unexpected places.

But I guess I find being chased scary. What I really think ruins the illusion of horror is a fighting system, or at least a good one. I love Eternal Darkness, but it never scared me because I could fight, and usually pretty well. The bathtub thing didn't get me either. Resident Evil lost me with the fighting somewhat, but the fighting was way clunkier and involved conservation of items, so that helped raise the tension. Dino Crisis and Silent Hill both had this as well, but Silent Hill 2 dropped the tension of the main monsters when I realized I could wreck them with a pipe. Then the tension became more about conserving my health fighting tons and tons of enemies.

Being defenseless is the way to go. As soon as you implement the ability to fight back well or at all, you're done. The monster or killer must always be more powerful than you, and relentless.

[Narushima]

Being defenseless is the way to go. As soon as you implement the ability to fight back well or at all, you're done. The monster or killer must always be more powerful than you, and relentless.

I couldn't agree more. "Call of Cthulhu Dark Corners of the Earth" was very scary in the first third or so, then you get a rifle and realize that the monsters are nothing more than flesh and bone (well, polygons and pixels), and can be killed like anything else. That completely neuters them and their ability to threaten you.

[blueskirt]

Horror, like eroticism, is about showing just what you need and letting the brain imagines the rest.