Horror

[Albertosaurus Rex]

The vast majority of stuff I watch, I watch with my dad. One side-effect of this, of course, is that I don't really get to see stuff my dad doesn't like unless I go out of my way to watch it. (And let's face it, watching things on your own isn't as much fun. I like to discuss the things I've seen with others.) And my dad really doesn't like horror.

Last sunday I watched I Am Legend with my dad and my younger brother, at my brother's suggestion. This movie drove home once again why we don't watch horror. Everyone has different tresholds for creepy and scary stuff, but my dad doesn't have a treshold but a ditch. You know scenes like Robert Neville going into that dark building after his dog, while he knows the mutants could be anywhere? My dad cannot handle scenes like that and actually left the room to make himself a cup of coffe at that point.

Given that I rather enjoyed the movie, which isn't that scary for the most part, and having enjoyed Prometheus last year (which I watched with a friend), I'm wondering what I'm missing out on. My brother actually suggested watching Saw next, but you can imagine the reaction that got. (Even I don't want to see it. I think I could handle those films, but I just find the concept distasteful.) I have very, very little experience with the genre, so again the question: what am I missing out on?

(One more anecdote. When I was a kid, I remember going to a friends' tenth or eleventh birthday party, which had us and a couple of other boys watching a movie together. That movie was one of the Hellraiser films, either the third or the fourth. For those who aren't familiar with the films, they involve a puzzle box that when solved will summon demons that rip people apart with chains and hooks. I don't remember being frightened but I do remember finding it very unpleasant. To this day I still don't understand how he ever got it through his parents. It's not appropriate in the least for ten year olds.)

['thul]

hard to say... these beings rather like the nightmare on elm street films, but not sure how they would compare to the saw films, as 'thul have not seen the latter. Nor do they really see the need to see it.

[Farseer]

I grew up on a steady diet of horror, with Jason in his hockey mask a constant companion through the years. I never travelled down the road to get to Elm Street , and don't think I've even seen 'Freddie Meets Jason' (I think that's the title?). I also watched all of the Halloween movies. I don't recall ever having been frightened at all, despite the fact that I watched the lot at a young age (how my father ever let me sit there, I have no idea...but I saw a lot of movies growing up that I didn't let my own three children watch until they reached an 'appropriate' age!). Not sure why I was immune to knife-wielding, hockey mask-wearing murderers but I thought Cujo, Razorback and Jaws were the scariest movies I'd ever seen. I couldn't watch horror movies now, I don't think. I've chatted with my sons about the Saw movies over the years but haven't actually watched them. The storyline does sound interesting, I will admit.

I agree, AR. Things are just so much better shared, be they movies or books or a bag of chips etc. What a great son you are to enjoy doing this simple but special thing with your dad.

[Albertosaurus Rex]

Yeah, it's great to have something to share. My father and I have watched innummerable films and television series over the years. We've been trying to involve my younger brother too recently, but that's going not quite as smoothly. As a sidenote, we have also tried involving my sister, but that's a lost cause. She doesn't appear to be very interested in fiction, a few exceptions notwithstanding. I will never be able to figure her out. She loved Smallville, Lost, Harry Potter and Avatar: The Last Airbender, but it was impossible to convince her to sit down and try even a single episode of Fringe or Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Trying something and not liking it is one thing, but many things she will never even a chance. These days she's gravitating toward reality shows and talent shows like Survivor, Holland's Got Talent, The Voice of Holland, etc. I have never been able to see the appeal of those shows and yes, I have in fact seen my fair share of it.

My brother, alas, gravitates more and more towards things that both my father and I find distasteful. Films and series that are very gory or rely on shock value for their humor. My dad was in fact reluctant to give I Am Legend a try, but I convinced him to give it a chance because my brother kept getting disappointed when we didn't give his stuff a chance. However, he (my brother, that is) still pretends he doesn't know what I'm talking about when I ask him "Does Saw really sound like something dad would like to see?"

(EDIT: I do seem to be getting awfully off-topic here. I've gone over my bookshelf and realized that there's virtually no horror there either. Which is curious, because reading is a much more solitary habit. The scariest book in my collection is Scott Bakker's Neuropath, which is marketed as a thriller.)

[joost]

If you want to try written horror, 'Coldheart canyon' by Clive Barker is a very good start. With movies, I'm not an extremely big fan of horror that relies purely on visuals for its shock effect (but as always there are exceptions: Blood feast and Bad taste are both hilariously gore). I'm more a fan of psychological horror (The omen!).

[fool-ish]

I love The Omen films! I much prefer the psychological/suspense horror to blood, gore and stray body parts. Any film adaptation of a Stephen King book, for example is a must watch, as they usually tend meet the above requirements, though they can be slightly disappointing. The husband, on the other hand is quite fond of the gory...Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Evil Dead and the like. Oh and Hellraiser remains one of his favourites! I'll watch them, but I could live without them.

[Farseer]

One comedy/horror movie I forgot to mention that I watched as a child was An American Werewolf in London.

I can't say that I've ever read any horror novels. Or, at least, *known* while reading that they would be considered as being a part of the horror genre. Maybe Silence of the Lambs would fit it? We were talking about book-to-movie adaptations and Silence of the Lambs in the Newsgroup fairly recently. I read the book long before I saw the film and imagine it could be seen as 'horror'? Or even Flowers in the Attic?

Might have to do a search on horror novels and see which ones I've read....!

Will have to try some Stephen King one day.

['thul]

the story of Sweeney Todd probably falls in under horror, though the pure story itself is history.

[fool-ish]

Stephen King's not to everyone's taste. And while some of his work leaves a lot to be desired, I find most of it gripping. He can make me believe the utterly unbelievable, which goes against my nature as a realist, so he's gotta be doing something right, right?

[joost]

Like King, don't like Tolkien? 'Fool-ish' is a proper name

The only Stephen King book I really like is Eyes of the dragon. I was mildly bored while reading most of his other work (I can remember Pet cemetery, Cujo, Cariie, and the first two or three Dark tower volumes, but I'm fairly certain I've read more). His Bachmann work was slightly more interesting.

For me, the best horror novelist is Clive Barker. But I must admit that I rarely read horror.