Posted on 02/27/2020 8:07:34 PM PST by SeekAndFind
The number of horror movies released each year has increased hugely since the 1930s, at least doubling since the 1960s. 2007 in particular was a golden year for horror – over 100 million tickets sold led to the genre taking a 7% market share. Coupled with the proliferation in number, horror movies have become increasingly violent, graphic and explicit. The harrowing shower scene in Psycho (1960) looked mild by The Texas Chainsaw Massacre's standards (1974), and the sexual violence of Hostel (2005), briefly popularised in the 'gorno' subgenre, would have been unthinkable three decades earlier.
The scare tactics might be notched up each year, but YouGov's halloween horror ranking reveals it's the satanic terror of The Omen (1976) and The Exorcist (1971) that make them the all-time scariest movies for British people.
Paranormal Activity (2007) and The Ring (2002) are the only post-2000 horrors to make the top ten.
In terms of pure reach, lighter horror makes for a larger audience – Jaws, The Silence of the Lambs, Alien and The Birds are the most-watched, all with over 50% of British people having seen them.
But tastes are changing. Only seven movies have a net positive score for scariness among 18-24s, and five of these were made after 1999, while the two scariest movies nation-wide have negative net scariness scores. 25-39 year olds find 15 of the 22 movies scary on balance, and both 40-59s and over-60s find 19 of them scary.
By analysing the profiles data of over 7000 fans of the horror movie genre fans, we have also pulled out attitude statements that are disproportionaly true of horror fans compared to the general population.
The religious inversion theme of popular horrors chimes with this group for a reason – they tend to see religion as having created more harm than good throughout history – and these are definitely creatures of the night, tending to say they are night owls and can survive on very little sleep. They also share some of the recklessness of the genre ('when I drink, I drink to get drunk'), along with the rough justice necessary in the netherworlds ('an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth').
Interesting. Saw Psycho and the old version of Night of the Living Dead in a public theater back in the day. The screams from the audience were more frightening than the shows.
Carnival of Souls was filmed in and around Salt Lake City in the 60s.
As a native, it’s great (yet sad) to see all of the old places.
The scene where the teacher hangs herself really disturbed me as a 6 year old.
The Exorcist scared me to the point I could not sleep well for many nights. My heart goes out to Linda Blair who had to go through those scenes.
Top are two good movies....
The Haunting (1963).
That was my choice too. I saw it in the theater, black and white flick, and very intense for that time period.
Agreed.
Phantasm didn’t make the list?
I still cant watch the finale of Freaks from the 1930s either although the film is quite dated
The Omen was made in 1976. My youngest son was born in 1971. I'd read the book and then saw the movie, and was tempted to check my son's scalp to see if there was a 666 on the back of his head. Rosemary's Baby was another good movie. I read that book too, then saw the movie.
I didnt do that again until decades later, when, as an adult, I almost watched Hannibal Lecter have Ray Liottas brain for dinner.
At the time I saw it the Omen spooked the crap out of me.
We had had a party at our house the night before with voluminous amounts of alcohol and pot. The next day hangover so intense that it didn’t really feel like a hangover, but almost like a mescaline high, as Jim Morrison was said to describe it.
So I and another guy in the same condition went to the afternoon movies and saw The Omen. We left the theater somewhat stunned and remained in that way for the rest of the day. Under those conditions the movie was supremely spooky and surrealistic.
I’m certain that I would not be affected that way now. Ha ha
When I was in the second grade my brother and I went to the Saturday matinee by ourselves and saw the original The Fly, with Vincent Price. I had nightmares for months.
I still cant watch the finale of Freaks from the 1930s either although the film is quite dated
I was 10 or 11 when I saw Mr. Sardonicus. I had nightmares for weeks (or longer).
Found a copy of it in my 40s, it seemed rather pedestrian.
The Shining didn’t make the list? One that I liked a bunch was The Changling starring George C Scott... a scary flick that didn’t get much attention.
I remember audiences being freaked by The Exorcist when it debuted. I never saw it, but that’s what the news was going on about at the time.
A good folk-horror double-bill is 1973’s “The Wicker Man” and last year’s “Somartag”
The TV long version or the cut for movie screens short version? I like the long version.
Scariest movie, barr none.
I feel like I missed a big part of growing up because I never discovered the fun of scary movies until late in life.
The Blair Witch Project and the first Paranormal Activity movies are two “found footage” movies I really enjoyed.
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