What Makes Horror Horrifying? Part 1

I don't wanna say this movie's name...

I see it all the time: "The most terrifying movie you'll see this year."

But very rarely is that ever the case. In fact, usually when a movie has to market itself with a statement like that it pretty much never is the case.

Conventional horror flicks have a formula that is almost never deviated from:

Shocking event in the beginning, character development (a term I use loosely) for the first third of the movie with a couple of cheap jump scares or "look behind the curtain but there's nothing there" moments, followed by the "we've got to get to the bottom of this" for the next third of the movie where the characters usually find some sort of expert on whatever topic the movie is about (you can find anything on Craigslist am I right?), followed by a "climactic" third act where stuff gets broken, people yell and scream and then the evil is banished but not really.

I'd say that roughly 90% of wide-release horror movies follow this formula, another 9% follow most of this formula with some slight deviations and twists, and the last 1% are actually unique stories and genuinely scary movies. But unfortunately, about 75% of the last 1% are seriously under budgeted with limited releases.

Usually to find a good horror story you have to look to film festivals or something like that to find those true gems.

So with all that being said, what makes horror actually horrifying? 

"Mom! I'm hungry!"

You can watch a jumpy movie and it might rattle you for a split second while you're watching, but after you've left the theater or turned off the movie you can go about without giving a second thought to what you just watched.

But what about those movies that stick with you? The ones where after you've watched it, you feel uneasy. You don't leave the theater immediately because you're still in shock at what you just witnessed, or you let the credits roll while you're on your couch, staring at the screen like a drunk monkey pondering the meaning of its life.

I've seen hundreds and hundreds of horror movies but there's very few that I truly love. My most recent favorite is the sleeper hit "It Follows."

Goddamn what a concept! If you're unfamiliar, basically it's about a sexually transmitted curse. Once you've been infected with it, this thing follows you at a walking pace. It can look like someone you love or a complete stranger, whatever helps it get close to you. If it gets you, well it ain't pretty. The only way to get rid of it is to pass it on to someone else by sleeping with someone. But there's a catch, if the thing kills someone you passed it to, it comes back after you and goes down the line through everyone who had it.

This is shockingly accurate.

If that's not terrifying then I'm a fucking unicorn.

It leaves so many questions: What if you get on a boat and stay in the middle of the ocean, what if you're a lesbian—would that count if you're a girl and sleep with a girl or can you only pass it on through "straight" sex? And think about it, if you pass it on, you can never really rest easy. What if the person you pass it to fucks up and gets killed? Then it's back after you!

Seriously, watch it. It has a 90 something percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes which is almost unheard of with horror movies.

Except for genetically modified crazy cow ice cream.

But that's just one example. Take the movie "Isolation" for example. It takes place in New Zealand on a dairy farm with a genetically fucked up cow running around and killing people and it can spread whatever crazy thing it has to other cows. It's a B-Movie, but it's a good B-Movie. It plays itself seriously, not a wink at the audience to give away that it's a B-Movie and if you think about it, there's a shit-load of cows in New Zealand. 

One crazy cow might not be that bad, but thousands of them? Yeah that's bad. 

So horror doesn't have to have an elaborate plot like "Oculus" to be scary, although that was a pretty decent film. It can be as simple as crazy cows to make a good horror film but why are some movies scary and some just goofy? "Black Sheep" (not the Chris Farley one, may he rest in peace) but the one that follows an almost identical plot as "Isolation," except it's sheep instead. I loved it, but it wasn't scary. It was goofy! Goofy gory fun.

The first "Nightmare on Elm Street" was scary but it had some kinda lame effects. Most notably the end when Nancy's mother gets sucked through the window. But it was still scary! Great concept, iconic villain, inventive kills... But that does not a great horror movie make!

Making killing funny since 1984.

I've run through my head a million times, "What is scary?" and I've nailed at least one aspect for sure and that's atmosphere. That's one I know for sure is a key element in horror. Unfortunately, some filmmakers think that atmosphere is a "creepy" soundtrack playing the entire film which I flat-out hate. The original "Alien" has almost no music at all and that is a definite scary movie. Same with "1408;" hardly any music and pretty much no true body count. But those movies have atmosphere up the yazoo with foreboding camera work and strong performances by their respective actors (another key element missing from a lot of horror movies.)

So I'm going to stop here, I can go on for a long time about this which is why I'm splitting this article up into at least two posts... But probably more. I haven't even gotten to books yet. So far we've got atmosphere nailed down as a key element in horror. We'll discuss more later!

So what do you think? Any thoughts on what makes a horror movie truly terrifying? Sound off below in the comments!