77 - Effective Horror

[matt]

In this video, I discuss some elements of horror stories that I feel are particularly scary.

[gagaplex]

Personally, I tend to like the horror of the banal. The story 1408/the movie adaptation was kind of good in that regard. But a lot of horror-themed media use that. We had the DD on FEAR, a lot of which takes place in an office building. The Paranormal Activity (very popular, although I haven't seen them myself yet) stuff takes place in normal houses. Dawn of the Dead takes place in a suburb and then a mall. The Silent Hill games primarily take place in a picturesque albeit a bit dull lake-town. There's something particularly unsettling about seeing places of normality turned to evil. So in a way, I'd disagree with you here: Haunted houses and other "typical evil" places are nice and all and can be effective (and I certainly think the mansion in NN is extremely well done), but you kind of expect something bad to happen when somebody goes into one of those areas. When a seemingly normal place turns bad, though, you lose what safety you thought you had in your every day life.

[matt]

While I wasn't clear, I wasn't trying to point out that I like spooky locations. I was more trying to point out the idea that ghosts and evil that cannot killed is better than monsters that can.

You make a very valid point about the advantage of horror in mundane locations.

PS. technically the hotel room in 1408 was haunted, right? Alma was haunting the office building.

[RightClickSaveAs]

First off, does your collection of cool Tshirts never end?

Horror tends to be subjective, but I think a lot of people would agree that demons and spirits that can't be physically fought against are scarier than something that can be killed. Those are some of the scariest movies to me, the ones that deal with possession and ghosts. You mentioned The Conjuring, and that was a fantastic ghost/demon movie. One of the areas where I feel horror movies can stumble is have the ghost turn out to be just misunderstood, and the Conjuring ultimately avoided that by having something just pure EVIL.

For Neverending Nightmares, I think one of the things you can do to make the horror more effective is continue to do what it looks like you're already doing, from what I've seen so far; make the horror really visceral, as opposed to just gratuitous. That short segment from the Kickstarter launch video where the character is peeling the veins out of their arm and digging into the skin, then wrenching a bone out with a pipe makes me cringe so hard every time I see it, because there is something personal and relateable about that. It makes my arm have phantom pangs of sympathy. In a movie where someone gets their head chopped of or sometimes even gets stabbed, you really can't relate to it; but when you see someone's toenail or fingernail get torn off, or one of the worst for me, see them get their Achilles tendon sliced, you feel it and can imagine the pain. Everyone has stubbed their toe against a door frame in the cold, but not everyone has been shot or stabbed, even though getting shot or stabbed is probably way more painful

Apart from the details like that, I think a more general way to amp up the horror is to try to recreate that feeling of helplessness you get in a nightmare. I think this was discussed some already, but limiting the character's movement and making it so they have difficulty doing things that shouldn't be that hard, like turning on a light or opening a door, and running from something that is chasing them (this is where the limited run mechanic could really shine). Some of the most terryifing moments in horror games I've played have been where they recreate that feeling of being chased, Outlast and Amnesia: Dark Descent did it really well.

[matt]

I do have quite a few. We’ll see if I run out.

I did quite enjoy “The Conjuring”, but I feel like there should have been more of the Annabelle doll. That was amazing! I was arguing with my wife trying to make the point that it would have been even better if someone died to up the ante. My wife made fun of me saying I wanted kids to die, to which I responded that there were plenty of other characters they could kill, but that didn’t really satisfy her.

It’s funny you mentioned having your Achilles tendon sliced. I have something in the design docs about that…
I agree that helplessness and vulnerability are keys to good horror. I think that’s why there are so many female protagonists. I don’t mean that they are helpless. I think most women could kick my ass, but I think it’s more of the societal perception. I think that’s one of the things that is so great about “The Shining” – all of the POV shots from poor defenseless Danny. What’s more vulnerable than a child?

[miumiaou]

I think an evil detecting dog is more vulnerable than a child (he died after all)

[matt]

While that may be true, killing a dog usually doesn't have the emotional resonance (at least for me) that killing a person does. Then again, my wife can't stand it when they kill dogs in movies (even violent ones), so I guess it varies from person to person.