Longlegs came out this year and just as it happens with any horror movie that is slow, psychological, and doesn’t rely on jump scares, the horror movie dudebros who like to police the joy in the community are out in force telling people it “sucks because its not even scary!”

Here’s the thing, horror movies are scary. If you aren’t scared, it means your imagination isn’t working hard enough.
If your response to this statement is that your imagination shouldn’t have to work when going to a movie, just say your boring and move on.
I’m not here to argue, I’m here to share what makes a horror movie scary.

Do Jump Scares Cheapen Horror?

There are right and wrong ways to do jump scares in horror but sadly many horror movies rely on them too much. They throw in music that warns us that something bad is about to happen (or worse, that high pitched noise that’s painful and sets everyone on edge), give us effects like the sound of something running towards the protagonist (or next victim), and then give us a false scare (a cat usually) before BOO! The big nasty is upon us, filling the screen and making us bounce in our seats.
Its a cheap trick to play on a natural startle response most if not all humans have (though some macho dudebro will likely claim he doesn’t because he’s just too cool to have…basic survival instincts).

Sometimes jump scares are good. One or maybe two in a movie that heighten not only the audience but the main character’s nerves can be a good thing to drive the story along. However, if that’s the only horror in the movie, I would say the audience is better off playing a cheap or free video game or going to a haunted house attraction if that’s what they’re looking for.

What Scares You?

Clive Barker once wrote a story called Dread. In it, the antagonist attacks people based on their worst fears. For a girl that is vegan, he traps her in a room with the only thing to eat being a steak. She refuses to eat it for days but when she’s starving she digs in…its the same steak…rot and maggots and all. For the main character its loss of hearing due to childhood health issues. I’ll let you guess what happens to him (or better yet, go read it).

The point being, what scares us, what really sets us on edge, can be very individualistic. Because of that, what scares one person or audience will leave another person or audience cold or even bored.
An example for me is The Strange Colour of Your Body’s Tears. Some people love this movie. It deeply unnerves them. For me…I can do without it. I was bored out of my mind and after 3 attempts at watching, gave up because I just couldn’t get into it.

Did I then go to the fans of that movie and beratte them over it? No, because I don’t have the emotional maturity of a child. Hell, even my child has more maturity than that.

Dread, Self-Doubt, Tension, Panic, and More

There are many types of horror. Its part of why we have so many subgenres. Not all horror will present itself the same, and no, its not for everyone. The fan of the gory slasher with lots of corn syrup might not love something that is quiet and dread filled like No One Will Save You or grief horror like The Orphanage. Someone new to the genre might need a little hand holding before we push them into the extreme horror hot tub with Martyrs.

All of these movies are scary but certainly not for the same reasons. If we all compare horror movies to each other and only base “what is horror” on the most extreme films, we not only are doing a disservice to the art that the other movies are but also to ourselves for not seeking out the full sensory and mental experience.

Seek Experiences

Instead of worrying about “is it scary” ask “what sort of experience am I looking for/is this moving offering?”

This is also the sort of question we should be asking when writing copy for horror media and when reviewing horror media. Share the overall experience. Try and see what the creators of that media were trying to do. Did they succeed? Share your thoughts but don’t try and claim you know if it was scary or not because even if it didn’t scare you, it might have deeply scared someone else.