I'm Not Scared Of Scary Movies: Help Me

[DevilRising]

Getting scared by "scary" movies is 100% psychological. If the movie deals with CONCEPTS that scare you, or you allow yourself to be bothered by, and don't saturate yourself in the mindset of "it's ONLY a movie, those are ONLY movie effects, this is a dumb MOVIE plot", then you're not going to get very affected. Part of the magic of film, is that you have to suspend disbelief. You don't watch Harry Potter or Star Wars and go "YEAH RIGHT MAN, THAT'S NOT REAL", because if you're doing that, there's literally no point in your watching the movie. Part of the enjoyment, is to just sit back and go along for the ride, which I will admit I find that many people in this modern era seem to have trouble doing. Why? Because of the internet. Because it's a hyper-critical age, where people get all sorts of background info and behind the scenes data and all this other shit, at their finger-tips, online.

It also doesn't help that more and more "scary" movies these days, go for two things to "get"you:

1. Stupid jump scares, "GOTCHA" moments that are just meant to give a sudden jolt, which is the illusion of being scared, not really feeling "fear" or real tension.

2. Gore. They just up the gore, they go for shock value, trying to be vulgar, and disgusting, and as disturbing as possible. Feeling disgusted or grossed out or disturbed is not the same as feeling "scared". At all. So those movies aren't even "scary" movies, they're disgusting movies. Sure, the gross/disturbing content, were it real life, would still be scary. But it's so over the top and beyond dumb in most of these movies, that you're not scared....just disturbed.

And to me, both of those things suck. That is not the classic approach to horror films, wherein you try to build an atmosphere of genuine creepiness, you try to actually creep the viewer out, to make them tense, to make them feel some sense of fear, at the concepts you're putting for and the story you're telling.

One of the few decent examples from MODERN horror I could give you, would be the first Jeepers Creepers. It did it right, for the most part, not overshowing the monster, not relying on too many "jump" moments, or extraneous gore and shit. It was more psychological, it got to you with concepts that are actually scary. At least that was my take on it.