Sometimes it seems odd that a movie that was shot over half a century ago remains scary for contemporary viewers. In contrast, modern scary films are simply irritating and do not possess the former quality. Indeed, filmmaking is one of the most popular mediums that thrive today, with horror movies being some of the most popular entertainment types. At the same time, the process of filmmaking, storytelling, acting, and the application of multiple advanced techniques characterize movies as art and not only entertainment products. Such a complex nature of film implies the controversy in the effective attributes that comprise a good film. In particular, horror films as a genre exists in many forms where directors use different techniques from surprise to suspense to trigger fear in the audience. Both elements, namely suspense and surprise, pertain to human emotions. However, unlike surprise in the form of sudden sounds or startles that persist in modern horror movies, suspense creates a more sophisticated, intellectually and emotionally loaded long-lasting effect on viewers. Therefore, a good scary movie must rely not on surprise but the suspense and effective use of audio-visual presentation and filmmaking techniques.
Starting off, modern horror films and media rely on the element of surprise to scare the audience. Horror media, especially film, has developed considerably, both as a sphere of culture and avenue of art in the past few decades. With the improvement of modern technology, filmmaking, and understanding of various practices, talented directors were able to create works of art that are capable of truly terrifying and frightening their audiences. Achieving the sense of fear, terror, panic, or anxiety in the watcher is difficult to accomplish; an array of filmmaking techniques have been created for that goal. One of such tactics is the “jump scare,” which, when used accordingly, can have a significant effect in enhancing the emotion of fear during a scary scene. In most cases, however, this approach is overused and tired, following and actively creating horror film clichés that do not contribute to the art of filmmaking in any capacity. In other words, as stated by Sbravatti (2019), acoustic blasts and startles are episodic emotional responses that make a scene scary due to unexpected sound effects. However, they do not provide an artistic quality to a film as a piece of art. A good horror scene consists of complex and intricate details by slowly building to a particular conclusion, while bad horror only seeks momentary emotions. Thus, surprise or “jump scare” are not the attributes of a high-quality horror film due to the lack of intricately built details and artistic techniques.
To elaborate, the process of building suspense using multiple filmmaking means, instead of shifting to mere surprising effects to keep the viewer on edge, makes a much stronger impact. When viewers are watching a horror film, they become slowly engrossed in its atmosphere, familiar with the characters and the settings, as well as acutely aware that they are watching a horror film. By effectively combining good use of cinematic techniques and storytelling, a film director can weave narratives that become real to the audience, even if just for mere moments (“What makes a good horror movie,” 2015). Building up tension, showing only glimpses of the true fear they are about to experience, and keeping the viewer guessing are the ways a horror film can leave an impact on its watcher. For example, in Alfred Hitchcock’s legendary shower scene form, the horror movie Psycho, the use of filmmaking techniques allows for building suspense and creating fear (Wang & Wang, 2020). The meticulous combination of framing, timing, music, acting, and editing allows for creating an illusion of a cruel stabbing scene, while in reality, the knife does not touch the actress’s body at all. By effectively intertwining a variety of these tactics, a much deeper and richer sense of dread can be achieved through appealing to the human emotion of empathy or primary fear as a basis. Consequently, the emotions caused by such a creation are much more touching and intimately moving than a simple act of startling a person with a loud noise or a scary image.
In addition, high-quality visual effects, acting, dialogue writing, camera work, as well as audio work are key to constructing a good scare. All these elements are inherent in suspense, which enhances the sense of fear through anticipation and imagination. Indeed, keeping up the right atmosphere of a scene is most crucial for horror, and one of the most prominent ways of doing that is through the use of music, visual composition, and various special effects. The musical component of a horror scene is extremely underappreciated, as it allows the creator to translate emotions onto the screen without using any words, make people feel certain things to better get into the atmosphere of the movie. For example, repeatedly referring to the horror classic by Hitchcock, researchers emphasize the violin theme of the shower scene, which represents the sounds of knife blade movements and screaming (Wang & Wang, 2020). Visual composition, similarly, can either make or break a horror scene, as the position of actors, the duration, framing, colors, and camera work need to be taken into account for a film to have a proper effect. In other words, the narrative perspective is crucial since what is scary is not the things that are explicitly shown but that are hidden from the viewer (Sayol & Pons, 2017). Therefore, by meticulously using a variety of techniques available from the filmmaking art, a director can build fear on suspense through appealing to viewers’ imagination, which leaves a far richer emotional and aesthetic effect.
To summarize, through an intrinsic use of aesthetic means, the horror genre is built on dread and fear to bring people enjoyment. The purpose of horror movies is to trigger a vivid and intense emotional response in the viewers. However, different techniques provide different impacts and might be more or less effective. When viewing from a merely entertaining perspective, the “jump scare” as a method of evoking a startle and sudden splash of fright provides a momentary emotional response without making any aesthetic or artistic impact. This surprising effect is achieved through the use of scary and unexpected noises or music, which, in combination with silence, create a constant tension of an expectation of the startle. However, suspense allows for achieving a more effective type of scare, the one that is not built on instant fear or a momentary clasp. On the contrary, it evolves through the process of viewers’ engagement with the plot and characters and builds tension implicitly without exposing the audience to harsh scary reality. These hints are delivered through high-class acting, screenplay writing, dialogues, audio and visual representation of the material, and the camera work. Evidently, such a creative process requires sophisticated approaches and talented implementation, which ultimately contributes to the worth of such a motion picture as a piece of art. Therefore, in order to create a good horror film, it is much more effective to adhere to suspense rather than surprise since it allows for making the movie more than an entertainment medium but a product of a craft.
References
Sbravatti, V. (2019). Acoustic startles in horror films: A neurofilmological approach. Projections, 13(1), 45-66.
Sayol, L., & Pons, À. C. (2017). Suspense mechanics in narrative video games. International Journal of Film and Media Arts, 2(2), 38-52.
Wang, Y., & Wang, Y. (2020). A neurocinematic study of the suspense effects in Hitchcock’s Psycho. Frontiers in Communication, 5, 102.
What makes a good horror movie? (2015). The University of Nottingham. Web.