Why I don't like Horror movies (despite being around people who do)

General Discussion
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I’m willing to admit to being jumpy. I’m willing to say that I’m the type of person who might shriek and accidently spill his popcorn at a movie theatre. However, that’s not my problem.

As far as I see it, the base concept of the horror genre is Normal = Good Abnormal = Bad. In horror, the protagonists are just regular people. Yes, sometimes they’re douchebags, but they’re still the sorts that you’re supposed to root for to survive. The antagonist, however, is portrayed as the one person who is different. From a physical/mental deformity or disability, being associated with the supernatural, being born from or raised in an unusual circumstance, being from an unpopular ideological group, going through an unfortunate event, or losing someone precious to them. Even going so far as being unpopular.

Humans are naturally frightened by what they don’t understand. For some reason, they seem to enjoy being afraid. So, Hollywood and media like to capitalize on this form of entertainment through fear, and fetishize the archetype of the evil outsider. And even though it’s entertainment, people still subconsciously treat it as reality. Especially when real life horrific events happen. Do you know how many people said that because I’m autistic I might be a serial killer because they think we can’t feel compassion? Or that I might bring a gun into school or work place where I was bullied, just because someone else did it in a whole other state?

This isn’t to say that I condemn the concept of this form of media, but it can definitely be balanced out. Human society and history certainly contains plenty of examples of “Normal” or “Popular” people doing horrific things, or people who aren’t normal or popular experiencing fearful events. We can have a movie in high school where the cruel and apathetic popular kids decide to hunt down, torture, and kill the nerdy kids just for the fun of it. We can have a movie where a small group of Pagans are being stalked and murdered by a fanatical religious group.

Hell, I once tried to write a story of a detective sent to a small rural town that reports werewolf attacks. Then he finds out that the town hosts a chapter of the Klan, and they’re kidnapping minorities and killing them. So, the werewolves are actually a coven made up of other town members using witchcraft for the sole purpose to battle the klan and stop their killings. Because I like the idea of the abnormal/supernatural trying to do some form of good.

Human history is filled with potential for horror, but people seem to prefer demonizing the outcast. Even though it’s done for the purpose of amusement, lots of people can’t tell fact from fiction.

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I do feel that a lot of horror movies are just bad cliches, and many aren’t even remotely scary (just stupid).

That said, I was more horrified to find my soon to be x-husband getting rid of my Stephan King books, just because he suddenly had a problem with them (and he used to like to read them.)

The other bad part about movies like the exorcist, is they have are a bad stereotype of what possession is like, and then people think stupid things like “if it doesn’t look like the exorcist, then it isn’t possession.” and also have stupid ideas about somehow priest having all these “powers of god” and other stuff like that. So much misconceptions and misinformation for people to wade through.

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Isn’t pazuzu a beneficial spirit?

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Nearly every movie ever is full of stereotypes and cliches that’s how you stimulate human emotions for the audience.

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Different audiences have different palates too. American horror isn’t the same as british horror.
Coolest horror I ever saw was called something like 3 seasons,. It was korean and out around 2004. Really awesome movie. Not like the cliche american horror movies. This was very much surreal and bizzare.

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I’m going to respectfully disagree: outcasts are often resentful of the “norm” and try to attack it, this is seen in its purest form with serial klillers, terrorists, and mass shooters, who usually isolated themselves and were nursing a bitter hatred which far exceeds the lazy disregard they got from others.

People who can’t fit in seldom just make their peace with that and usually want to fuck up everyone else’s good thing as well, in fact that core hate is often why they’re outcasts in the first place - that, and/or a toxic need to demand attention, be it positive or negative.

You see it with internet trolls, who spot a happy little community and try to fuck it up just purely for the sake of it - “misery loves company,” as the saying used to go. :woman_shrugging:

I’m fucking weird, was a loner all through school and really unhappy and bitter, and I still feel like a total outsider in most normal circles, but I’ve made peace with these qualities (plus learned some social skills to pass for normal, highly recommended), so I think I’m well-placed to see it, and call it out when it happens. :thinking:

Society needs norms and it needs outliers as well, we’re the fallback, the get-out-of-trouble reserve, the source of innovations and randomness, when things get stale or the conformity starts going in a toxic direction. We need each other, and belong to each other, the mistake comes when people play it like teams, and try to defeat or eradicate the other.

Sorry for the essay, but it’s something I’ve given a lot of thought to over the years. :slight_smile:

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Damn. That’s a really awesome way of looking at it!

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Thought this exact thing but didn’t want to say it. Having a sense of belonging goes a very long way.

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Even lone wolves are pack animals by nature🤗

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I can’t watch any horror/violent movies. They don’t bother me in the moment, but I have a tendency to get nightmares later.

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