Quote from: dekaranger;387402I found the the scenes that were meant to be scary usually were.  Problem was there was a lot of the movie where there just wasn't anything.  Building suspense, for me, only works if you don't drag it on to long.  This is what killed it for me I guess, I mean I liked some of the movie but felt that a good chunk of it needed to be sliced out.

The burning Ouija board was waaaay over the top for me.  Right about there my suspension of disbelief was shattered, and the suspense for the rest of the movie was damaged.

Quote from: two_fishes;387245I really liked it Paranormal Activity. I thought it was one of the top ten scary movies of the decade. Drag Me To Hell was a lot of fun, but not actually very scary.

Sometimes I think there are two basic approaches to horror movies. One is that you resolve not to let it get you. In a sense, you challenge the movie to get past your defenses and actually frighten you. The other approach is to willfully lower your defenses and allow yourself to be frightened by a horror movie. I'm definitely in the latter bunch. I'll do my best to buy into the premise, identify with the characters, and let the movie get under my skin. There's still plenty of movies that fail to do so, or do so inconsistently, but the good ones really rock me (e.g. the Japanese versions of The Ring and The Grudge were great, but The Eye was pretty mediocre). I suspect people who prefer the former approach, seeing the movie as a challenge, are frequently disappointed by horror movies in that the movies fail to overcome their resolve not to be frightened. I can't help but see this as a little bit like going to a comedy with the firm resolve not to laugh.

Big horror movie fan and I agree with your post. I enjoyed both movies. Drag me to hell was more of a fun ride from than a fear fest, but it was still plenty of fun. I definitely thought paranormal activity hit a good note in terms of suspense and fear, but you did have to give yourself into it (but I think that is true of most any horror movie).

Quote from: two_fishes;387245I really liked it Paranormal Activity. I thought it was one of the top ten scary movies of the decade. Drag Me To Hell was a lot of fun, but not actually very scary.

I like 'em both, too. I echo your sentiments, although Drag Me to Hell got me to jump a couple of times.

Seanchai

Quote from: Seanchai;387565I like 'em both, too. I echo your sentiments, although Drag Me to Hell got me to jump a couple of times.

Seanchai

I have to admit there were a couple of moments like this for me as well. But what I really liked about the movie was the overall style. It just had a nice feel to it.

Quote from: BedrockBrendan;387575I have to admit there were a couple of moments like this for me as well. But what I really liked about the movie was the overall style. It just had a nice feel to it.

Yeah. Luckily, I knew about that feeling going into it. Allowed me to just ride the bliss.

Seanchai

What I liked about Drag Me to Hell was how it hit the genre notes so well. There was nothing very unpredictable in it, that wasn't the point. Like, when she finds out she has to go to the graveyard to return the button, of course it's the darkest, spookiest graveyard you've ever seen in your whole life, and of course it's the middle of a dark and stormy night.

Paranormal Activity wasn't a "Hollywood Movie", a guy made it in his house.  Hollywood was gonna remake it, but they decided not to.  The movie scared the shit out of me.  I hate the claustrophobic restricted feeling of watching a film within a film like Blair Witch Project, it creeps me out.  Also I was probably too young when I saw the scariest movie of all time, The Exorcist, so demon movies get me.

The part where she is standing over him in bed while the clock goes by for hours was one of the scariest things I've ever seen.  I was dreading her doing something and I sure didn't want her to turn towards the camera.  When I saw the movie, at least 20 people left after that scene, and they weren't bored, they were running for their lives.

Never saw Drag me to Hell, but the remake of the Ring was another classic.

Quote from: CRKrueger;389957Also I was probably too young when I saw the scariest movie of all time, The Exorcist, so demon movies get me.

Ditto. The Exorcist scarred me for life I think (almost as badly as Jaws), especially since I was only like 8 when I saw it for the first time. Personally I liked PA and it had me jumping at shadows around the house for a week. That's just me. It really was one of those polarizing movies. Either it scared the shit out of you, or it was dumb as all hell, and very little in between.

Contrary to many here, I couldn't stand Drag Me to Hell. It was too Sam Raimi-cartoony-goofy with the googly eyeballs and face sliming and... just too damn Scooby Doo/Ghostbusters cartoon for me. And come on, who didn't see her mixing up the envelopes like immediately? But I digress...

Quote from: IMLegend;390022Ditto. The Exorcist scarred me for life I think (almost as badly as Jaws), especially since I was only like 8 when I saw it for the first time. Personally I liked PA and it had me jumping at shadows around the house for a week. That's just me. It really was one of those polarizing movies. Either it scared the shit out of you, or it was dumb as all hell, and very little in between.

Contrary to many here, I couldn't stand Drag Me to Hell. It was too Sam Raimi-cartoony-goofy with the googly eyeballs and face sliming and... just too damn Scooby Doo/Ghostbusters cartoon for me. And come on, who didn't see her mixing up the envelopes like immediately? But I digress...

The Exorcist is just a good movie (and book) period. I can't say I was truly scared by it (though I didn't see it until I was 16----and I had already heard about all the scary parts), but it definitely had me on the edge of my seat, and I just loved it. The book is definitely worth a read. Rosemary's baby is equally good (and another example of book and film both being great).

Neither Paranormal Activity or Drag Me to Hell were remotely scary to me. The former was a snoozefest and the latter relied too much on squick over scare.

However, i do acknowledge that seeing either in the theatre, rather than at home, might have resulted in a different experience.

I'm usually a tough sell when it comes to horror. Aside from Exorcist I can only think of a handful of movies that ever scared me. So I don't know, PA just somehow struck a chord with me.

Also, when at the theater I witnessed something I have never seen before. I saw grown men (large men that could probably kick my ass quite handily) leave the theater crying. CRYING for fuck's sake. In the middle of the movie (well 3/4 of the way anyhow). Bizarre. Never witnessed that in person before.

Quote from: IMLegend;390519I'm usually a tough sell when it comes to horror. Aside from Exorcist I can only think of a handful of movies that ever scared me. So I don't know, PA just somehow struck a chord with me.

Also, when at the theater I witnessed something I have never seen before. I saw grown men (large men that could probably kick my ass quite handily) leave the theater crying. CRYING for fuck's sake. In the middle of the movie (well 3/4 of the way anyhow). Bizarre. Never witnessed that in person before.

I think there's something to what One-Horse said.  A "cam-movie" like Blair Witch or Paranormal Activity seems to be far more engaging in a theater.  The first-person view combined with lack of seeing anything else (big screen and dark theater) really sucks you into first-person perspective, and you're captive, you can't control the movement.

Quote from: One Horse Town;390410However, i do acknowledge that seeing either in the theatre, rather than at home, might have resulted in a different experience.

DVD at home is inherently not scary.  The viewer has too much control of the environment and too much comfort in the surroundings.

I saw PA on DVD and was bored silly.   However, my buddy saw it on opening night at midnight with an all-college crowd.   The audience went batshit repeatedly and their reactions certainly attributed to his enjoyment of the film.  

Also, I find that horror fans can be a jaded lot.  Like porn addicts, we have seen so many horror flicks that not much affects us anymore.

BTW, my favorite "cam movie" is Cloverfield, followed by Quarantine.   I found the original Quarantine worked quite well.

Quote from: Spinachcat;394944However, my buddy saw it on opening night at midnight with an all-college crowd.   The audience went batshit repeatedly and their reactions certainly attributed to his enjoyment of the film.

That could have more to do with behavior from the audience that reinforces each others' reactions and mood more than the environment. Having a bunch of scared, nervous people around you in your living room would probably also make it much more frightening an experience.

Seanchai

Quote from: Seanchai;394976That could have more to do with behavior from the audience that reinforces each others' reactions and mood more than the environment. Having a bunch of scared, nervous people around you in your living room would probably also make it much more frightening an experience.

Seanchai

That's true, if I'd looked up part way through the film and found a bunch of scared, nervous people in my living room that would have frightened the shit out of me.