Log in with your MaiOtaku account.
Home Forum Anime Search Newest Help

What is scary?

notexactlyright
I'm a Psych major because I love to study what changes and effects people the most, including myself. I love horror movies, not the stupid slasher gore fests (although I will give Repo! The Genetic Opera a free pass because it's freaking Anthony Head as a not-stereotypical-patronizing-British-stick-in-the-mud [Nothing against Giles; he was awesome!] and oh my G-d that man can sing) but the psychological thrillers, the ones that plague the mind and challenge one to new levels of insanity while still giving a good show. For example, Apartment 1303 or White: Melody of the Curse. I also love written horror, particularly Edgar Allen Poe and H.P. Lovecraft. The Tell-Tale Heart, The Pit And The Pendulum, Hop-Frog, and then The Music of Eric Zann, The Outsider and Call of Cthulhu, all of them so chilling and shocking and well-written... Yeah, I love them. I also enjoy writing, which brings me to my main point. I have been wanting to write short stories, preferably dark ones with something to be remembered for, preferably something scary. Lovecraft had Cthulhu, Poe had the Raven, King had Pennywise, and while I'm not having dreams of grandeur quite yet, I think it would be nice to develop something both unique and fun that people will enjoy and be scared by. I'll probably submit my stories to some popular website like Creepypasta, but maybe keep a collection of them to publish indie-style when I get older, just for laughs. My question for you people is this: What do you find really, really scary? We all have common fears, like spiders, snakes, the darkness, closets, etc. but there's always that one thing that really freaks a person out. For me, it used to be cockroaches. I hated the things. Once I saw a few cockroaches flying around my brothers' room and I ran away and hid in my closet, curled up in the fetal position crying my eyes out like I'd seen a walking corpse. These days, I'm not really sure what I'm afraid of, so I'm asking you guys to share your fears and experiences facing those fears. Ready, set, go!
jotarokaiba
Okay first of all I want to respectfully agree with the following : '' I love horror movies, not the stupid slasher gore fests'' . I hate movies where people just get massacred. Like saw. Whats the fucking point ? You wanna see tons of blood and body parts, go study medicine. Now back to topic: I find things scary that nobody fully understands. SOmething that exceeds the human minds capability. Certain Ghost movies fascinate me on a high level, such as insidious 1+2 or rec. Because if I imagine that I have a soul, something that certainly gives me the right, the chance to excist even in afterlife, then I certainly would treasure that just as much as my mortal life. Perhaps even more. Now if there were a darkness, an evil that feeds on peoples soul, on their very essence of existence that goes beyond human understanding, that there is a disturbing way to lose that ''soul'' , that really scares the shit out of me.
jotarokaiba
+ Also I'd like to ad another thing I find scary. I dont know If you watch Hunter x Hunter. But its a very damn dark anime/manga series. I dont like giving spoilers but in the series there is a life form that eats the bodies of living organisms and steals their very abilities by absorbing the information from their dna. That alone is not too scary though. The scary part is, that the life form uses the genetic matertial it gatheres to reproduce. In other words it combines the flesh, the genetical information and the minerals and whatsoever the body is made of, to create a completely new living organism. That is fucking creepy. On top of that, this new organism remembers partially things from is life as human/animal or whatever it was. The thought just gives me the creeps.
sugihara
Jan 15, 14 at 12:49pm
I find screamers absolutely terrifying. You know the ones where a moderately scary face with flashing lights pop out at you after clicking a rather sketchy link? I have epilepsy, so whenever someone sends me one of those, I usually panic in an attempt to close it out, fall on the floor and have a seizure for several minutes before somebody comes to help me. It really sucks because I always fall for them too. People should seriously think twice about sending those, since they could actually seriously hurt somebody like me. ;_;
jotarokaiba
wow. thats not funny. I dont know if that is as easy as I imagine it right now, but maybe you can train yourself to not be so scared of screamers. I think if you meditate, and then prepare yourself, you can start watching horror movies with the same concept. Little by little your mind will get stronger and eventually stuff like that wont shock you. I dont know if that is so easy though. I have very little information on what causes epilepsy
notexactlyright
Holy crap! I hate screamers; they're so cheap and extremely stupid. In your case, though, I can see where the fear comes into play... Heck, I'd be scared, and pretty ticked off at the person who sent the damn thing in the first place. Jumpscares in general are just so cheap. It's more a reaction of surprise and the immediate fight-or-flight instinct than actual, genuine fear. The reason Ring worked so well for me is that the tension continued to build, dropping hints here and hints there and focusing on the slow, methodical plot-pace toward the climax, where you finally see Sadako, after getting to really understand and know and care about the people she kills. There's always a better way to freak people out that shouting, "Boo!" BEWD, that creature does sound intriguingly creepy! Being the kind of person I am, the whole demon/soul-snatching thing doesn't really do much for me, though. Strangely enough, I have yet to sit down and watch the Insidious movies... I should probably do that sometime. I do find urban legends rather intriguing sometimes, particularly those that are just off-the-wall strange.
notexactlyright
So is there anything else that can really create a scare that people want to mention? I recently watched a playthrough of the German RPG horror game "Schuld". I could understand and appreciate some of the techniques, but in the end I was rather disgusted, felt no closure in the story, and found that tactics had had a more repulsive effect than they had an actually frightening one. It was basically not scary for all of the reasons most American horror movies are not my favorite: 1) The story was told with an intent to disgust, not to scare, and 2) there was no closure and a stupid amount of New Testament references, which would only frighten a certain percentage of people, even among those who follow the Christian faith. Another question: Is the Book of Revelations really so scary to everyone else? I remember reading it as a child and laughing because of the weird imagery, while discussing with my sister the logical possibilities and implications regarding its symbolism and authorship. I wasn't as much frightened as I was amused at the concepts and the narrative. Then again, I didn't grow up fearing things such as the Devil, Hell, or demonic possession. The majority of people I meet did.
akm
AKM @akm commented on What is scary?
Jan 27, 14 at 7:01pm
Lots of stuff can be scary. People,big crowds, loudness,eggs, spiders, going out Side Cuz I might freeze to death before I make it to my vehicle. The way I think people might judge me. The truth about Bigfoot. Flying, driving, walking, eating,sleeping cuz I might not wake up, aliens, being isolated, the sunlight, not being able to watch my favorite anime.... um.. death by dragons worlocks, gremlings,trolls,killer super squirrels. Running refrigerators that eat house pets. And so on. Anyone can fear or be scared of anything . I know I'm weird and some ofthat stuff really is scary. And some some e'er of other for fun..
tader_salad
Besides the usual tangible drowning/suffocation or mild vertigo I would say I fear the thought of not meeting life goals. One of those happens to be have children. I want that experience, every second from joyous milestones to spending that first year running around in a panic not knowing what to do.
Continue
Please login to post.