Horror Movies: What Actually Makes a Scary Movie...Scary?

Usually when we think of horror movies, we're flooded with images of blood and guts and stupid characters fleeing around half-naked trying to seek shelter. But is this really the first image that we should picture when we think of the horror genre? For too long crappy torture movies and poorly produced storylines have presented themselves on the big screen.

Recently I was watching movies like Texas Chainsaw (2013) and the remake of Halloween. The original versions of both these films were all genuinely scary and presented a psychological factor that the remakes failed at. The original Texas Chainsaw film was genuinely creepy and had an element of true fear. And the original Halloween had pure suspense and relied on nearly no blood and no huge jump scares to carry itself as a truly horrifying film. The remakes are filled with crappy, attractive actors in their young 20's, willing to show skin and have their characters die in crazy over-the-top gore scenes. What went wrong?

I think teens of this generation don't really know what a scary movie is. A scary movie doesn't just throw jump scares at you, but also creates an atmosphere that lingers long after the movie has ended. Some recent movies that have done very well with that are The Conjuring, Sinister, and Insidious. Though modern, these movies maintain an eerie atmosphere packed with suspense and fear that will make it difficult to sleep at night. And not one of those movies relies on an attractive young cast with crazy kills and full on stupidity. So why is it that film makers don't understand that this is what we really want in a horror movie?

As teenagers, we keep giving money to these terrible, cheesy horror movies because they're dumb fun. Don't get me wrong, I love me a crappy horror movie to watch with friends and just sit back and have fun. But there's comes a point when the movie studios just need to stop and think about the audiences. We can still have a fun time at the movies with the scares and still feel something after watching.

So forget about all those terrible movies and start supporting some quality horror films before we have none left to support.