Is franchise horror dead? Where does that leave us?

[BGTNJeff]

[COLOR="DarkOrchid"]Halloween and Rosemary's Baby are definitely old horror movies which means they don't have yet the qualities of advanced technology we use in film-making. And that results to crappy cinematography, crappy music, crappy lightnings, typical loud sounds followed by a "BOO!" event, ending that suggests a possible sequel and too predictable scenes.

If only each part were consistently having good special effects like horror movies nowadays, it may have fared better for the casual moviegoers. Still, for the undemanding viewer, those movies tour might well worth be considering.[/COLOR]

So what you're saying is that without special effects, a movie can't be scary? Surely you don't really think that.

Rosemary's Baby -- Crappy cinematography? Right, you mean the cinematography by William Fraker. The William Fraker who was nominated for an Oscar six times. Photographed the car chase in Bullitt. Yeah, that guy. What a hack. And forgot the Oscar Ruth Gordon won for her performance in that movie. Nope, not scary at all. What a giant piece of crap.

Halloween -- Crappy music? That is possibly the most recognizable and iconic horror soundtracks EVER. Last time I checked, Halloween was still the highest grossing independent film ever and why? Because it scares the living SHIT out of people. And how much blood did you really see? Practically none. You had two strangulations, a knife kill totally done in silhouette and a small cut on Jamie Lee Curtis' arm. Call in ILM!

Think of all the special effects in Psycho. Think of all the opticals and process shots in Turn of the Screw. Oh, wait, what? There aren't any? NO SHIT.

I guess that's because fear is psychological. It's an emotion. A special effect has nothing to do with it. If anything, too many special effects pull you out of the movie, make you aware of your surroundings instead of what you're watching and ruin the whole gods-damned thing.

Perfect example? Jan deBont's remake of "The Haunting." They spent millions of dollars on one staircase. Ridiculous. I don't know anyone who didn't laugh like a little girl on cocaine during that whole fucking movie. But when they go back and watch Robert Wise's original movie from the mid-sixties? Effective. Scary. They're impressed.

Again, because you can't punch "fear" into an imaging computer and come out with a scary movie. It doesn't happen.