brit_columbia

*snickers*

I don't find most horror movies scary either, but there are a few that will keep me up at night - only after watching them for the first time though.

I know lots of people -- okay, women-- who refuse to watch them. I used to be among their number, but that was mainly due to the grossness factor. Horror movies are always spewing blood, slime, pus, ichor, goo, and severed body parts, which sorta puts one off one's popcorn. I remember worrying that those repulsive Orcs in LOTR (which wasn't even a horror movie, but they'd obviously borrowed a couple of truckloads of latex prosthetics and plastic teeth) would be too scary for little kids. But my co worker, whose sons were aged 4 and 6 at that time, told me that his children loved the Orcs and in fact cried and protested if they weren't allowed to watch their LOTR DVD before bed!

Are horror movies meant to be scary? News to me. Here I've been treating them as comedies all these years.

LOL, I know! It's hard to find even a moment of delicious scariness to bask in, even though the special FX have gotten way more sophisticated over the years. Plus, the actors who play monsters are usually not, shall we say, at the pinnacle of their craft. You can tell that they've prepared for their roles by watching weeks of horror movies and are ready to incorporate a little bit of everything into their performance. As the movie wears on, they're alternately channeling 'zombie' or 'hellspawn' or 'generic psycho-killer'. The minion-types are always standing around with their mouths open because of those bulky prosthetic teeth. I'm of the firm opinion that prosthetic teeth and speaking roles are mutually incompatible, or maybe I should say 'mildly funny'?