Horrifying horror films
Alfred Hitchcock pulled out all the stops in horror with his film Psycho.
Steven Spielberg scared people out of the water for years with Jaws. M. Night
Shamaylan successfully spooked audiences in The Sixth Sense. Audiences love
being terrified and on the edge of their seats — in the safety of a movie theater.
Horror uses the element of shock value that works by surprising the audience.
When I was a kid, I hid under my little sister Nancy’s bed and waited until she
was tucked in for the night; then I jumped out and scared her — she was horrified.
A slasher film is a subcategory of the horror genre that often includes shots
showing the killer’s point of view, vulnerable teenage girls (usually virgins
at the beginning of the picture who get murdered as soon as they lose their
virginity), and very naïve victims. Slasher films also tend to be very graphic.
Friday the Thirteenth and Nightmare on Elm Street are great examples of
slasher films.
Less is more when it comes to shooting horror films. The robot shark that
kept breaking down during production of the film Jaws worked to Steven
Spielberg’s advantage, because the less we saw of the shark, the more suspenseful
and frightening the threat became. If you want your horror film to be
more effective, don’t over-expose the villain.