Opinion Piece- Learning to actually enjoy horror
For many of you, it's no surprise that I don't enjoy horror, I've made a big deal about it many a time. Over the last year however, I've been trying to make a change, pushing myself out of my comfort zone and not just watching horror films but actually watching many in the cinema. I can't say I'm completely on the side of horror yet but gradually, I'm learning to tolerate and maybe even enjoy it.
The first way to try and enjoy horror (which may seem obvious) is to watch the classics. That doesn't even necessarily mean that you watch as many old horror films as you can, it means watching films that are proper horror to ease you in. Something like the Insidious franchise or the Saw films would be a bad start because they're excessive and most of those films aren't particularly well made. If you're after loads of jump scares or excessive gore then go for it but there are just better made films to start with. A film like Psycho is a good start for most as it's a superbly made film whose horror comes from a tension stretched across the whole film, only exploding at brief moments. Alien is also an excellent example as for many modern audiences, the scariest elements of the film haven't aged particularly well. That said, the rest of the film is still excellent and by being introduced to horror tropes in a more comfortable setting, it makes the journey to scarier films much easier.
The next step is pushing yourself further out of your comfort zone. Watching a horror film alone at your home is all well and good but to properly immerse yourself into the film and experience the horror of the film as it was designed to be felt, the only way to do it is in a cinema. I didn't get to this step until this year and that's because it does feel like a big hurdle but once you're in the habit of it, you'll really begin to enjoy it. The films I've been to see have been an interestingly mixed bag but that's part of what makes the cinema experience interesting. Watching Get Out and It Comes at Night at the cinema made for two of my most enjoyable cinema experiences of the year, both offering heavy tension that can't let up if you don't have time to look down at your phone. Equally, there was Alien: Covenant and IT, neither of which were bad films and both definitely had enjoyment in them but I can't say either was particularly strong horror. On that note...
If you want to really enjoy horror films, you have to know what kind of horror films you enjoy. For me, being a film nerd, it means I like well crafted horror that builds and builds instead of a haunted house of jump scares. A film like IT didn't work for me as well as it did for other people because I don't like jump scares, they just feel like cheap and easy ways to make the audience think they're scared. That's why I loved It Comes at Night because that film had this slow build, terror inducing tone that would never let up quite enough for you to be comfortable, offering enough ambiguities to make the discomfort skyrocket. Recently though, I watched the original Halloween which actually bridges the gaps between the two. It has tension that never lets up as the score shudders through the film and the bodies rack up but equally, there are moments in there that make you jump. The reason these work when the ones in IT didn't is because they understand that the sudden appearance of something, without even needing sound, is enough to make you jump. If a killer walks in through the door, the score can start blaring but don't punctuate it with unneeded violin stabs. Horror isn't a genre famed for subtlety and you could hardly call a film like Halloween subtle but as long as there is some restraint in the loud noises or characters jumping out at the audience, you're on your way to making a film that doesn't treat your audience like idiots.
I'm still not going to class myself as a horror aficionado and it is probably still a genre that I'm not a great fan of but there are great films in the horror genre that don't deserve to be locked away behind that door. Much of cinema is about pushing boundaries, both in craft and for audiences, and by watching horror and pushing yourself out of your comfort zone, you actually gain a greater appreciation for film in general. Or you have unending nightmares but hey, at least that means the film worked?
The first way to try and enjoy horror (which may seem obvious) is to watch the classics. That doesn't even necessarily mean that you watch as many old horror films as you can, it means watching films that are proper horror to ease you in. Something like the Insidious franchise or the Saw films would be a bad start because they're excessive and most of those films aren't particularly well made. If you're after loads of jump scares or excessive gore then go for it but there are just better made films to start with. A film like Psycho is a good start for most as it's a superbly made film whose horror comes from a tension stretched across the whole film, only exploding at brief moments. Alien is also an excellent example as for many modern audiences, the scariest elements of the film haven't aged particularly well. That said, the rest of the film is still excellent and by being introduced to horror tropes in a more comfortable setting, it makes the journey to scarier films much easier.
The next step is pushing yourself further out of your comfort zone. Watching a horror film alone at your home is all well and good but to properly immerse yourself into the film and experience the horror of the film as it was designed to be felt, the only way to do it is in a cinema. I didn't get to this step until this year and that's because it does feel like a big hurdle but once you're in the habit of it, you'll really begin to enjoy it. The films I've been to see have been an interestingly mixed bag but that's part of what makes the cinema experience interesting. Watching Get Out and It Comes at Night at the cinema made for two of my most enjoyable cinema experiences of the year, both offering heavy tension that can't let up if you don't have time to look down at your phone. Equally, there was Alien: Covenant and IT, neither of which were bad films and both definitely had enjoyment in them but I can't say either was particularly strong horror. On that note...
If you want to really enjoy horror films, you have to know what kind of horror films you enjoy. For me, being a film nerd, it means I like well crafted horror that builds and builds instead of a haunted house of jump scares. A film like IT didn't work for me as well as it did for other people because I don't like jump scares, they just feel like cheap and easy ways to make the audience think they're scared. That's why I loved It Comes at Night because that film had this slow build, terror inducing tone that would never let up quite enough for you to be comfortable, offering enough ambiguities to make the discomfort skyrocket. Recently though, I watched the original Halloween which actually bridges the gaps between the two. It has tension that never lets up as the score shudders through the film and the bodies rack up but equally, there are moments in there that make you jump. The reason these work when the ones in IT didn't is because they understand that the sudden appearance of something, without even needing sound, is enough to make you jump. If a killer walks in through the door, the score can start blaring but don't punctuate it with unneeded violin stabs. Horror isn't a genre famed for subtlety and you could hardly call a film like Halloween subtle but as long as there is some restraint in the loud noises or characters jumping out at the audience, you're on your way to making a film that doesn't treat your audience like idiots.
I'm still not going to class myself as a horror aficionado and it is probably still a genre that I'm not a great fan of but there are great films in the horror genre that don't deserve to be locked away behind that door. Much of cinema is about pushing boundaries, both in craft and for audiences, and by watching horror and pushing yourself out of your comfort zone, you actually gain a greater appreciation for film in general. Or you have unending nightmares but hey, at least that means the film worked?
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