What Makes a Great Horror

Opinions differ, but what makes a great horror? Let me try to formulate this into several segments. Each of them should be considered as my perspectives and ideas surrounding the theme of making an effective attempt at the genre.

And before you object to me, this list is meant mostly for horror movies that could be considered serious, so horror comedies do not apply today.

Originality

Without a doubt, the hardest thing to obtain is originality these days, and horror is no exception. Be it by the setting, an engaging plot, a creature almost unthinkable, weapons, characters, scenes, music and certainly not in the least, sound.

Sound

This is so important for the genre because it goes along with any haunting scenery, any creepy figure, any foreboding moment, any shrieking character, the list goes on. While visuals are the core definition of any movie, sound is arguably more important in horror. 

That doesn't mean that you need cat-scares(which are either false scares or loud scares) to make the lasting appeal all the time. A simple breathing process of a person during a suspenseful scene is enough already to make it effective.
    

Fear of the unknown

This doesn't necessarily have to do with originality, because sometimes, letting the wind gust through a scene with dark objects and a black sky beyond an old window, or hearing strange movements coming from the pipeworks inside the walls might be enough to set us up for something called fear of the unknown.

Sure, you could think that it's just the wind or the pipeworks making the sound, but what if there is someone else present? What if hypothetically, it's your little brother messing around, or it's someone blowing air in the next room?

The greatest horrors don't need visual or audible scares, they just need to mess with your mind and your fragile imagination.

Inspiration

 
And with this, I mostly mean real life situations. Current taboos or large incidents could serve as sources for future inspirations for horror media. If it successfully can drag some of the insanity of real life back into the horror, then that adds another positive aspect for it.

Believable graphics

I think that most people that actually care about this are the same ones that condemn CGI for many awkward and unbelievable moments these days. Good CGI exists, but the majority of them creates huge damage towards the overall experience.

How many times have you heard people say that a certain horror movie was interesting until the "CGI monster" came up? Sure, back in the last century, things weren't necessary great either with costumes and masks, but what I am trying to say here is that I would like to see believable graphics.

It doesn't have to be realistic all the time, just believable so that you could fear it.

High quality

 
Honestly, most horror movies are crap, it's embarrassing. High quality means that the director and it's team has taken care of qualified acting, editing, cinematography, special effects and any other technical effects I might have missed, aside from the elements that usually let the people see a horror in the first place.

Combine all of the above, and you have made a great horror for me. You have also made a great horror if:

-It offends
-It scares
-It's disgusting
-It makes you think that it's creepy insane

What Do I Fear?

Here's a little bonus post about things I personally currently fear:

Wasps

Moreso than hornets or bees, wasps have frightened me since I was stung by one of them on my left middlefinger during my elementary education years. The mere sound of them passing me by my ears is a provocative tactic in my perspective to back the fuck off for the otherwise harmless insects.

Most people are more afraid of spiders, but I don't happen to be. Mostly because of their lesser mobility movements to catch up with us silly humans. There are exceptions in certain kind of species that I believe are able to jump, but I am of course talking more generally about urban living insects.

Rollercoasters

Laugh all you want, but despite knowing very well that these attractions are safe to ride, it's an exclusive feeling for me. It's not that I ever have been nautious about them, but it's more the feeling of thinking that I am about to fall into the hole of terror, especially during those fast drops from high above.

Either that, or it is the feeling that I am not falling downwards, but rather thinking that I will fly upwards from my seat if this speed keeps up. And then there's also those rollercoasters where you are hanging instead or those sections where there are corkscrews, loops, twists or whatever variations there are.

Death?

Do I fear death? It depends upon when you ask me, as I have mixed thoughts about that. Not that I constantly think about it, but there are moments in life, random ones, that these thoughts can pop up. Sometimes I do fear it, thinking that there is nothing left and knowing that I must enjoy my ride at the very best during life.

Sometimes, I don't fear it, thinking that it will not only bring complete closure, it will give you the ultimate retirement as well, and you will hopefully be able to look back at a great life, given that you have reached an admirable old age.

I suppose that all three of these phobias are psychological related. I know of the first two that other people rather enjoy them instead, and about the third one, well, I think that most people struggle with it during those moments of thoughts as well, like me.

Retro Blog: Resident Evil

Amidst the mixed reviews of part 6, let's celebrate that there was a time when the franchise was untouchable; enter REmake. Praised with global critical acclaim, even if you started out with the original PSX version, or happened to play it for the first time on the DS, most of us will agree that the GameCube version is the definite one.

As my first horror game as a young teenager, I believe it's this game that brought me into all the horror media really good, including films, books, myths and stories. I remember the really scary parts with Lisa Trevor and the zombies/hunters breaking the doors just to fly in.

I was definitely frozen in terror by this. Not to mention that extremely haunting soundtrack, Resident Evil´s scenery seen in here remains beautifully scary. The hanging man from the residence area is one event I´d like to remind everyone that this game knows what it represents.

Fear of the unknown, of horrible creatures and of survival horror. Unless you play on Easy, the game´s amount of supplies is just about right, given the circumstances. You simply cannot attempt to kill every creature encountered, because that goes against the nature of the game.

Resident Evil has graphics which will probaply never look old enough to view, especially the backgrounds. After a decade, I replayed this, and I managed to beat it again, with tension and enjoyment for the eighth time. It´s my most beaten one out of anything else.

The plot, the characters, the mansion, I will probably remember them forever. This is a masterpiece and a classic comprised of two discs. Capcom managed to remake Resident Evil with such stunning results, that the impact can still be felt by me.

Gone are pretty much any cheesy lines from the original, in comes professional voice acting. Combine that with new areas to explore, new enemies, several changes and more bonus content plus a challenging difficulty on almost every mode, and you get REmake. 

It still is one of the scariest games I have ever played, but most importantly, it´s such a joy to have played through all of the different modes. Invisible Enemy, Real Survival, One Dangerous Zombie and Hard modes, combined with two characters.

Even if everything was crafted extremely well with this, I still applaud Capcom for making the decision to go revolutionary with Resident Evil 4, changing the course of the franchise dramatically. And while Resident Evil 5 and most likely 6 as well aren´t entirely true towards the horrific nature of the earlier games, at least the gameplay remains terrific.

Whatever the course of future titles will be, Capcom will always be able to look back at this and be able to remember that REmake is a great example to follow with inspiration. Revelations was a great direction, let´s see what´s coming up next.

Rating: 9.4

The Tall Man

Not to be confused with the villain from the Phantasm films, this is a new title from Pascal Laugier, the French director who brought us Martyrs(2008), one of my favorite modern horrors.

As my most anticipated title for this year, because of the director's potential, it was time to watch this during October, which by the way will have more horror related posts on the way. Not that this post is essentially all the way horror, but more of a mixed bag.

Children are being abducted in a small town, disappearing completely. The town folks are angered, worried and hopeless as it all happens so sudden and unexpected. Rumors have been generated as to the presence of The Tall Man being responsible for this, but there are no eye witnesses.

Jessica Biel from the first remake of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre(another reboot has been shown a couple weeks back) stars as the protagonist Julia. Amidst the folks of the town as a nurse, she is aware of the myth, but doesn't give it much thought.

Until her own child is abducted mysteriously, which she desperately goes after, but after a struggle in the kidnapper's car, she loses track of them and goes back to the town's local pub. There, something doesn't seem right despite her current shocked state and the help being given.

Suddenly, she must escape from the folks who notice that she has fleed the pub. Taking a secret hike, Julia reunites with the child. Midway through, a twist is revealed, turning the suspicion towards someone else. As Julia returns with the child at home, more insights are revealed.

I'm being obviously vague here, not showing you all details of the spoilers in order to protect the impact. But I can tell you this, the ending will eventually be recognizable mere moments after the quarrel near the caravan. And the mood of the film will have changed by then.

While The Tall Man is not a great horror or thriller, it does end with some food for throught. Thus, it ends up being alright, nothing too special, but as a standalone title, it stands out amongst the many similar ones who often have lame reasons for the vanished.

Rating: 6.5

The History of Nintendo

Comprehensive look at the vast history of the multinational company known as Nintendo Co., Ltd. It all started in 1889, when a small based card shop would eventually emerge slowly but greatfully throughout many decades.

With many interesting changes for Nintendo happening, shifting from markets again and again, and learning from mistakes and successes, they kept rising steadily. Personally I already knew a few bits of information before 1980 regarding Nintendo's history, including the hanafuda cards, the first 2 Color TV Game Consoles, some of their toys such as the Ultra Hand and Chiritori and interesting bits of trivia such as investing into Walt Disney, love hotels and a taxy company. 

But The History of Nintendo provided for me, as a dedicated fan, a whole new perspective of historical moments and products to read into. They created so many kinds of cards, many kinds of toys, many kinds of board games, many kinds of electronic toys, a vast amount of card games and even produced miscellaneous stuff such as rice, cane-prams and photocopiers!

Some of the most interesting new stuff I learned in here was amongst other things the Love Tester, the N&B Block, the Laser Clay System, the Shooting Simulations, the Kosenju weapons, the Kosen Denwa LT and the brief insight into Nintendo's most influential president; Hiroshi Yamauchi. There is no doubt for me that any fan of Nintendo's uncountable video games, whatever games they like, should definitely consider learning much more about their large, often forgotten era of emerging.

This is only the first volume of a series of books concentrated around the company. The second volume deals entirely with the Game & Watch games, and it's easy to think where they would go next with the third one.

Rating: ***

Why Traveling is Good for You

I simply had to quote this impressive list of reasons as to why traveling is good for anyone. Credits go to Airtreks.com. Consider this another lazy blogpost, but whatever, I've written quite a few long articles already if I may say so myself:

"It’s invigorating – If you are open to it, travel will simply make you a more well-rounded human being. Which is really the goal, isn’t it?

It will create lasting relationships – People you meet while on the road usually become some of the most valued ones in your address book, giving you points on the map to visit later on. And people met on the road give you a momentary glimpse outside your hometown circle of friends, forcing you into a new and refreshing perspective on things.

It will develop skills you didn’t know you had – The satisfaction you get when reaching the top of the mountain, or crossing a gorge, or helping a villager clean up after a storm, or simply getting what you wanted at restaurant in rural China, these things all allow access to skill sets you didn’t know you had. And better ones too than setting up a home entertainment system.

You could learn a language – There’s something satisfying about being able to throw around a few words of Greek, knowing how to say hello and thanks in Thai, pulling out that long dormant Spanish to book a room in Santiago, or simply hearing a language you didn’t know existed just a few weeks before.

You’ll learn geography – In order to travel effectively it’s vital to know how long it takes to get from place to place on the world map. Your around-the-world trip will do nothing if not teach you basic world geography.

Gives you adventure – No one looks back fondly on a trip to the dry-cleaner. But after ziplining over the jungle canopy in Peru, successfully navigating the alleys of Marrakech, the speedboat ride in New Zealand, or Jeeping out with the grazing animals in Tanzania you get a feel for what being an active human being is like (again). The need for adventure is hardwired; travel lets you tap into it.

Gives you perspective – Meeting folks from exotic cultures will teach you that the way you look at the world (perhaps through the lens of mass media) is not the way everybody does it. That you could in fact be dead wrong about it. Seeing it for yourself brings a healthy dose of reality to your so-called higher thinking.

As a transition – If you happen to be between jobs, schools, kids, or relationships, a round-the-world trip can be a perfect way to separate these life stages, give you insight into your next phase and provide closure on the last one. Plus there’ll be a nice time stamp on that moment in your life.

For education – Seeing the world provides a source of education absolutely impossible get in school, teaching you things like economy, politics, history, geography and sociology. While not an accredited institution, the school of travel is currently taking applications.

The challenge – Getting your daily Starbucks not nearly interesting enough for you? How about finding an address in downtown Tokyo. Bet you can’t.

To do something new – It sucks to be stuck in a rut. Everyone knows what that’s like. Travel can be the perfect solution. And what’s not new about being in Bolivia?

Dreams come true – If you want to do it now you’ve probably always wanted to. You imagined it, daydreamed about it, envisioned it. Guess what? Now’s the time to do it.

The cool stories – Don’t fancy yourself a storyteller? You’ll be the life of any party with the stories you come home with. Even if they seemed trivial when they happened, nostalgia will create a epic spin around getting your laundry done.

You will eat food like you never have – Enough said about this. You will be constantly surprised at the flavors exploding in your mouth.

To prove to yourself you can – If you’re the kind of person to dream big, and simply by reading this website you’ve proven that you are, you’re probably also the kind to reach for new challenges. Finishing a trip gives you the satisfaction that you were able to accomplish what you set out to do. And to give you energy to set up the next challenge too."

Traveling has certainly enriched my life. I hope that I will see as many countries with highlights as possible in my life!!

Germanic Countries

This summer, I had yet another astonishing vacation trip, and this time it was with friends and it was located in the middle of Europe, divided between 4 different countries where we visited interesting and diverse towns. Here's several of them, with the somewhat exception of Bolzano which isn't Germanic but rather a bonus entry:

Innsbruck, Austria

Largest city of western Austria. Plenty of restaurants, malls and older looking streets during this rainy visit.

Samnaun, Switzerland

Tax free, cheaper and supposedly a rather isolated town from the rest of Switzerland, Samnaun was pleasant with higher as well as lower degrees of temperature. This is only the first of several cities of this unusual country I will want to see in the future, including Bern, Geneva and Zurich.

Vaduz, Liechtenstein

I actually am surprised to have visited Liechtenstein given it's microstate status and location. It's really not my kind of tourist spot seeming as there was about nothing of extraordinary to see, but I suppose seeing the famous landmark castle and the capital Vaduz from above made the trip worthwhile despite the prices here being absurdly high.

                                                   Bolzano, Italy  

Just after passing by the border on a pretty large mountain and descending it, Bolzano is not far ahead, and featured impressive architecture here and there, and surprisingly a lot of green nature was featured inbetween and around the city.