Horror, Thriller, or Psych Thriller?

[Wait Wut]

I get to watch “Paranormal Activity 3” this weekend. The first one freaked me out...bad. The husband was out of town and I watched it alone, in the dark, with my deaf dog. It’s amazing how many sounds you hear that aren’t there when you’re afraid some demon is coming down the hallway to drag you off by your feet.

Here’s the weird part, I don’t believe in demons. I don’t believe in hell. I do sort of believe in ghosts because of a few personal experiences, but I could’ve been mistaken. So, why do movies about demons freak me out so much? I was raised an Episcopalian, so there was no real “fire and brimstone” lecturing. Religion in my house was an afterthought.

Part two of this post: Do you like horror movies, blood/gore movies, thrillers, psych thrillers and what movies can you recommend. I personally prefer psych thrillers, but love a good horror movie and don’t mind gore. “Saw I” was great, the rest not so much. I thought “Hostel” was dumb. I also like computer games with a horror/thriller story. “Silent Hill” was one of my favorites.

[ceile]

1. Tough one...

I like all types of thrillers. I watched "Insidious" a few months back and I wanted to sleep with the lights on. The first "Paranormal Activity" was great; the second one was awful so I'm a bit hesitant to watch the third. A good demon movie is "The Last Exorcism"- if you can get past the "lost footage" type of shooting. And I can't wait to see "The Woman in Black".

[Wait Wut]

5. Agree about the first to PAs.

But, I've heard the third one is pretty good. At least I don't have to watch it alone this time. I saw "The Last Exorcism" and loved it up until the end. Without spoiling it, the end was pretty hokey imo. I haven't seen Insidious, but just looked it up and can't figure out how I missed it. Thanks for the heads up! I didn't mention that movies with kids always freak me out a bit.

[RebelOne]

2. When I was younger, I loved horror movies with lots of blood and gore.

But now, I prefer psycho thrillers. I am not into blood and gore in my old age.

[Wait Wut]

6. I hated blood/gore when I was younger.

Now, it doesn't bother me, although I don't seek them out. I did like most of the Saw movies, but they have the added "puzzle" and psych elements and weren't just gross.

[frogmarch]

3. I like all three, but

I avoid movies with blood and gore.

I don't believe in demons or ghosts, but I still get the bejeebies scared out of me by movies about them. Some I'll only watch in the daytime.

[Wait Wut]

7. I still give the husband hell...

...for making me watch PA alone. It honestly took me weeks to get over it.

Nolabear's comment below yours gives a great explanation for why we "non-believers" are still afraid of the dark.

[frogmarch]

14. That must be it! Our old lizard brains

crave something to dig their teeth into. Something dangerous and threatening!

I've never watched PA, but if and when I ever do, I'll probably half-watch it while I play ball with the dogs, or I'll dust, or I'll scrub the kitchen sink while watching it reflected in the window above the sink. My non-lizard brain is a coward. lol

[Wait Wut]

16. Maybe I should've tried that!

I'm not afraid of anything. Anything except invisible, non-existant, demonic nasties, that is.

[nolabear]

4. I like psych thrillers but have always loved a good scary movie. As for belief,

You're talking two different areas of the brain that only communicate so well. The limbic system is the first to operate (fight, flight, rage, etc) and it is completely survival oriented. Then things get associated with those responses over a lifetime and even though our cognitive processes know better those associations take a lot of undoing to stop working. Most of us enjoy that jolt of energy so keep prodding the area.

I'm a big freaker where the Uncanny Valley is concerned--the realm of preception where something appears damn near, but not quite, human. Always disliked dolls (Talking Tina) and the Japanese horror movie habit of removing frames to give the humanlike greeblies a herky-jerky motion style make me jump out of my skin.

[Wait Wut]

8. You just made me feel sooooooo much better!

I thought for sure there was something seriously wrong with me. It's like not believing in Santa, but insisting on putting cookies out every year. Well, not exactly, but you get my meaning. So now when I lie awake in bed saying, "There's no such thing as demons, there's no such thing as demons." it will be a little easier to convince myself, thanks to you.

And, I agree with your entire last paragraph. It's that edge of reality feeling. You just know for a fact that if they were coming to get you that they'd move just exactly like that. And, they'd appear to have a purplish-blue filter.

My sister had this 3.5 ft tall doll that scared me to death. It would just stand in the corner and stare at me, waiting for me to fall asleep so it could get a butcher knife from the kitchen.

[frogmarch]

15. I think you nailed it!

My limbic system loves watching my occasional scary nightmares, but the rest of me tries to run away!

In movies what freaks me the most of anything is seeing something - maybe a werewolf or other hideous creature - approaching someone from the distance, first appearing as a tiny dark figure, then steadily getting closer and closer and closer... :-O

[RiffRandell]

9. I like them all but am pretty picky.

I didn't really care for Saw, love the original Halloween, thought Seven was great, liked the first Paranormal Activity.

I highly recommend the series "A Haunting" which used to run on Discovery and now is on the Green channel. Re-enacts actual hauntings and the people tell their stories---lots of episodes with demons, which I'm on the fence about. Scary stuff.

[Wait Wut]

10. Seven is one of my favorites.

Loved Halloween, as well. The music alone gives me the willies. I'm a big fan of the "Hellraiser" movies, but never got into "Nightmare on Elm Street." Pinhead could kick Freddie's ass...and would.

I don't get the Green Channel, but I'll see if I can find A Haunting online. I'm not really into the "real account" ghost stories, but if the reenactments are done well it could be interesting.

[ScreamingMeemie]

11. I like all of them. Insidious is probably the scariest in a ***CRAP! BabyG did you hear that??***

sort of way when we watched it.

For pure creepy, stay with you forever, God I wish I hadn't watched that because I feel like I had a part in it, I would say "Funny Games". That movie (in both of it's incarnations) stayed with me for a long, long time.


All of the "Paranormal Activity" series had me crying...with laughter. They just weren't scary to me.

[Wait Wut]

17. Another one I missed.

Netflix is supposed to rec these types of movies. Instead, they keep recommending sappy, romantic, foreign films. Why? Because I love Chocolat. For some reason, they ignore the fact that most of the movies I watch are scary or have Vin Diesel in them. It's some sort of conspiracy.

[Noodleboy13]

12. PA 3 isn't horrible.

Not as good as the first.
As far as "found footage" horror goes I would recommend "apollo 18" and :Home Movie"
"Frozen" is good psych thriller from Adam Green of "Hatchet" fame (over the top gore/slasher film)

The "Cold Prey" series from Norway is also pretty good for the slasher genre.
Speaking of Norway, "Trollhunter" is delightful.

As far as demons go, I have recently had a crisis of non-faith. A friend of mine has, for most of his life, been plagued by scratch marks that appear spontaneously. They bleed. I have witnessed these marking on him, and they look very much like something with 4 large claws took a swipe at him.
My friend is not religious at all.
His grandfather is Mexican catholic and recently gave my friend a jug of holy water, which he splashed around his bed and uses as body wash. The attacks on his person have stopped, but whatever it was is now kicking over his hamper and re-arranging his room.
So.
If I accept that my friends problems were "demonic' in origin, in that they responded to a "holy" cure, does that mean that I have to entertain the idea of angels?

peace
Noodleboy

[Wait Wut]

18. Nice.

Nolabear gets me feeling all normal and safe and stuff and you come along and tell me this story. WTF is wrong with you?

I'm just going to tell myself that your friend has a cat. You say he doesn't? HA!!! Cats are damned sneaky. He has one and just doesn't know it, yet. Most cats hate water, so that explains the holy water thing. They love clothes hampers and live to destroy rooms.

Yep. He has a cat.

[dimbear]

13. Why are they so much fun? It's like the situation with happiness. We know that

happiness is the comfortable contemplation of the misery of others. (Bierce.)

Not too distant a stretch to make security the comfortable contemplation of the peril of others.

[Wait Wut]

19. Is that why I laugh when people fall down?

Hey, I only laugh when I know they aren't hurt and I don't laugh at old people when they fall. I'm not evil, I swear.