Old School Horror vs. New Horror

As we watch these movies in class from many years ago we realize how frightening they were to people. When people went to watch these movies such as Bride of Frankenstein and Cat People in the theatre they would actually be scared. They showed this by yelling and jumping out of their seats. Today it seems as though movies do not have the same affect on people. During my years of going to the movies I have never seen anyone yell, make a noise or jump out of their seats. I have only seen people jump because of a loud noise or someone popping out during a scene. Not so much because they were scared of the so called monster, but because it was unexpected.

I am unsure if the movies written in the forties and fifties were more scary or if the writers today are not making scary enough movies for our times. Are the writers trying not to make scary movies and focusing on a different genre such as gory movies? Or are the writers given only certain parameters that they have to abide by? All these questions arise, but the answers seem to be unclear. It seems today that there is many more gory films then there are scary. Such movies such as SAW which depict gory acts of mutilating human bodies in different ways seem to be more popular. Are these movies more likely to scare us in today’s world than scary? The answer to this could be yes and seems to be very true.

In today’s world are we able to distinguish what is reality and what is fantasy better than those in the forties? Is that the answer to why we are not as scared and those years ago were? Since our technology have developed at a high rate is it easier for us to distinguish that monsters look too fake and unimaginable. I believe sometimes movies get so caught up in the newest technology that the audience realizes how fake and animated the movie is. Looking back at older movies they had to work hard to make a set and create a monster. I feel like these movies are more realistic then the movies today. Today’s movies are longer and paced faster then the older movies which helps draw out the confrontation with the monster. By doing this it makes the movie more suspenseful and able to explain the characters and plot in detail.

To understand the reasoning of why movies do not have the same affect on people of today then those many years ago is hard and probably has multiple answers. Whether it be that we can distinguish fantasy from reality better now or that writers can’t come up with or are not aloud to make scary enough movies. There are many famous horror films from the forties and fifties, but it is hard to find one that’s looked upon today. This could be because horror films are not as impacting and seemed to be more focused on gory movies than scary.