Horror Adrenaline Rush

[John Simpson]

Up to now I thought people who liked horror films were in the minority, but I was wrong. Horror is the cash cow of the film industry. Horror makes money. I don’t like watching horror because it just makes me frightened without an adrenaline rush; but I might find it fun making a spoof horror film with lots of jumps scares and creepy music. It would be getting a long way from holiday films and kittens on the lawn.

[Howard-Smith]

I’m thinking of making a film in which a terrorist inserts an explosive device into a farm animal.
Abominable...

[John Simpson]

I think you are getting carried away with the thought of a cash cow, the idea of an exploding cow would certainly be abdominal.

[TimStannard]

but I might find it fun making a spoof horror film with lots of jumps scares and creepy music. It would be getting a long way from holiday films and kittens on the lawn.

You seem to forget, John, that many, if not most, teen horror films (and mainstream stuff is mainly aimed at teens/starring a teen cast) are set around holidays at the lake/cabin or the "holiday" season (Christmas to us Brits) and those set in suburbia often feature a portentous mutilated kitten on the lawn!

[John Simpson]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tb59dEHRt5Q

[tom hardwick]

I did like A Quiet Place, and now I see there's a sequel. The good thing about modern digital audio tracks is that when it's quiet, it really is quiet. Scary quiet. Of course the auditorium amplifiers add some mush, but nothing like the mush we used to listen to from optical and magnetic tracks.

[John Simpson]

I did not know anything about "Quiet Place" but just watched the trailer on YouTube. It seemed very creepy and atmospheric. I can only imagine the scare factor in a modern cinema with all that surround sound stuff, which I know nothing about because I only watch films on the small screen. It is a good point you make that the quality of silence has improved greatly and silence is another powerful weapon in the film editors hands.

[tom hardwick]

That's a good last line. Back in the day our soundtracks were always fighting the noise of the projector, meaning that subtle soundtracks were out of the window. BBC sound f/x of birds used to be the amateur moviemaking joke. Now the only noise the audience hears are the noises you want them to hear.

[John Simpson]

The last time I went to a mainstream film was to take my young neice to watch Pirates of the Caribbean, more than 10 years ago. It was so loud, I could not wait for it to be over, I had the same experiences previously with the Lord of the Rings films, far too many battles and all much too loud for my taste. For me watching a commercial film often seems to be like some sort of assult on the senses, too much of something: gore, violence, heartbreak, bad taste etc. With the telly I can give a film a minute or two to see if it is my cup of tea. But Tom I was quite intrigued by watching the trailer for "Quiet Place" I hear the seats even shake in the cinema now - is that true?

[tom hardwick]

Depends if you see it in 4DX mode. I wouldn't bother; I found it a distraction to be shaken in my seat, to have smells whafted at me, to have rain on my glasses, to have smoke obscure the screen and to have electronic flashguns firing at me in the thunderstorms. It's worse than 3D. Give me a bigger, sharper picture with more dynamic range any day. And reduce the room lighting.

[Howard-Smith]

I remember the short-lived system Sensurround used for just three films: Earthquake, The Battle of Midway and Rollercoaster. During selected scenes it felt like not only was the seat shaking but the whole cinema building as well.
In the early 1960s there was a brief experiment with wafting into selected cinemas smells that related to what was happening on screen. It was a failure. Some parts of the cinema auditorium got the odours too late and then it all mingled into an unpleasant stench. One such film was called THE SCENT OF MYSTERY and one critic wrote, “Even without the odours wafted into the cinema this film stinks!”
John Waters resurrected the idea of smelly cinema with scratch & sniff cards for the 1981 film Polyester.

[fraught]

Horror is where it's at. I'm a Horror Fan (as you may have guessed from my films!).
The Horror Film Community are incredibly loyal, and some of the loveliest people I have met.

[tom hardwick]

'Fraught' helped us guess, I guess. Some of the loveliest people with bloodshot eyes, foaming mouths, snakes in their hair, yes.

[John Simpson]

Horror is where it's at. I'm a Horror Fan (as you may have guessed from my films!).
The Horror Film Community are incredibly loyal, and some of the loveliest people I have met.

At my lock-up I was walking down a dark corridor yesterday where the light bulb had blown, and I could only feel my way and, I was a little scared. If there was a down and out sleeping here and I suddlenly trod on him and felt him with my feet, I would be scared witless (to put it politely!) The situation felt like a horror film. I had my key in my hand and once I'd unlocked the door at the end of the corridor the light came through and I could see again.

If I was a horror fan and I had watched a lot of horror films, would that situation be easier or more difficult?

[fraught]

Haha! I've no idea!

I would probably be fine... even though my mind does get carried away at times.