the kane pixels backrooms are much more

the kane pixels backrooms are much more

Slightly related, but my wife won't watch horror films because ghosts and zombies and shit are too scary for her.
She loves watching true-life documentaries about unsolved cases of people who just vanish and theres not even any evidence that they're dead. Just gone. Which is infinitely scarier to me than any knife-clown or ghost-botherers
Documentaries aren't usually made to be scary though, there are no jump scares and other tricks that horror movie makers employ. So while life can be truly horrendous, I can see why she can handle these documentaries.
Adding to this, the documentaries also include interviews with people saying "I thought they should look into this more and they didn't", or "Our department was really trying to solve this, and it just took awhile." The implication that someone out there cares. It is less isolating than horror movies generally are, which tend to show how things went wrong usually because no one cared or no one knew anything was up. I guess the documentary is the natural sequel story - we couldn't stop the bad thing from happening, maybe multiple times, but we are at least aware of it and trying to figure it out.
You said documentaries aren't "usually" made to be scary, so you're implying that there's some documentaries out there that's got jump scares and shit. It makes me want to see such a documentary.
Probably not jump scares, but scenes with actors that do employ tricks with lighting, music, practical effects, and other cinematic tools that increase tension.
It is also the athmosphere of anxiety. Horror movies try to intentionally create feelings of fear, and uneasiness, which then is present in the color scheme, camera angles, music (or lack of), spacing... everything. In documentaries and the like, usually the incidents themselves, also speak for themself.
I cannot take horror at all either - I cannot usually watch even horror comedies - but one of my favorites, is to watch real tsunami footage. The point is not to see people dying or some unreal scary stuff, it is to witness the real absoluteness of destruction nature is capable of, yet also people managing to survive, and help each other, in the middle of it.
(Pre-amble, I don’t think the meme should be taken seriously and I do find it funny)
Horror is my favourite genre because it genuinely seeks to express the most primal and furious of all emotions: fear. From the goriest, straight-forward splatter fest to the subtlest discomforts of tense artsy horror films, the popular and cult favourite movies offer a fantastic reflection of that generation/culture’s deepest vulnerabilities.
Slashers like Friday the 13th were about the internalized self-criticism of modern, white Judea-Christian values (pre-marital sex, drugs, etc) and Nightmare on Elm Street was about parents, society, the government, etc, being unable and unwilling to help with the problems they created, problems that turn lethal. Suicide due to depression from repression, OD’ing from drugs because you need a way out, getting killed because you got mixed up with the “wrong” crowd at the wrong time, these were all things that happened to people because the “system” pushed you into a corner, and vilified any means you sought to escape.
Even “torture porn” like Saw was about feeling trapped and what extremes you’d take to “free” yourself. Terrifier, too, can offer a reflection of extreme violence offering some form of release.
Backrooms and Obsession are so relevant because they too talk about our fears of being trapped in the endlessly mundane, or attachments that we cling to beyond the safety of ourselves and others.
This is a really general rant so I’ve glossed over and even ignored so many nuances. Not to mention that I’m really not eloquent enough to really hit every nail on the head… and each person will pull their own unique experiences from horror.
I genuinely love it when people find something they can connect with in horror, regardless of what generation or subgenre they find.
edit: head not hand
It's just being reductive about modern horror and descriptive about old horror. Here, you can just as easily flip the script:
Old horror: A clown. Dreams.
Modern horror: Endless trauma labyrinth. Male fantasy gone horribly wrong.

Good explanation
We forgetting that a house was a horror icon for decades?
It’s not very scary when faced with the current housing crisis. 😔
Amityville horror? More like Amityville Bargain!
Me and that fuckin Lamp can divide the place up for all I care, I'll get that homie his own kitchen.
Where are the cheap haunted houses?! I desperately need one. I'd gladly share the space with any ghosts or monsters in there
I thought The Money Pit was a comedy?
Old: we knew who the enemy was
New: the enemy is everywhere
Bruh, the creepy fascist pedo clown is president of the United States now. I don't need this in my entertainment.
Creepy fascist pedo senile clown president
Backrooms resonates with people because it represents the fear of the unknowable, the fear of being in the presence of something you can’t see or identify, or understand its intentions. It’s practically infinite, easy to get lost in, and is way less empty than it looks. Maybe you’re fine. Maybe you’re seconds away from death. You can’t know.
Isn’t that just life in general?
Exactly.
Watch The Good Place. Life can be Hell.
Yeah, like there's this place with really good chicken, but you can't eat any because that means you hate gay people. But it's sooooo good.
Fountain of Chowder = horror
Each generation horror icons represent their fears.
This generation is afraid to date and real estate bussines i guess...
Is "a guy's girlfriend" from Obsession? (Oh, I see the spoiler.) Also sorta applies to It Follows, though the stalker wasn't anyone in particular; in fact, it could be "anyone".
How about "an adorable little girl who looks at you funny"? Samara from The Ring (RIP Daveigh), MEGAN, Arya Stark from Game of Thrones if you're one of the dozens of people she killed... there have got to be more. Wednesday Addams was kind of a horror icon, or tried to be. It just seems there are a lot of creepy little kids in horror.
You forgot the most iconic:

Shit got a lot more real if you ask me.
This new obsession movie (I still loved her despite her flaws) and these ari aster movies are true horror.
Old horror is dead
I think this is more of a comparison between different genres of horror and how slasher movies or franchise monsters aren't as big now as they used to be. I'd say for slashers in particular it's more difficult now because the camera resolutions are unforgiving and with things like video games depicting violent deaths in every way you can imagine, people have seen it all so there's less novelty.
Weapons is the exception to this
Both are good? There's different types of horror.
Although I don't really like the older horror movies. The effects and acting aren't good enough. Older Scream movies will always be an exception but that's because it's more comedic horror.
I'm not sure if I could ever find Freddy or Pennywise scary anyway. Not that much scares me at this point. I thought the Silent Hill movies had their moments. Heart Eyes is more comedic horror but it's really good. Terrifier series has been okay too.
All the modern horror icons can be summarized as muh mental health.
Except terrifier, which is just a reflection of weird degenerate clowns with chainsaws out to kill everybody; like Javier Milei and Elon Musk
The beautiful thing about the new horror icons is they're so cost efficient!
You've mixed up spoiler and alt text (which belongs in the image).
Thanks. I usually label the extra captions alt text (because of xkcd since that’s how they show it) and the description of the image transcript. I guess I missed changing spoiler on this one
I was half expecting "voice call" to be on here.
The blades on Freddy Krueger’s glove were made from scissors, not knives
Are you telling me he should be called Fredward Scissor Hands? I’m fine with that.
Thank you for the spoiler. I had no idea who "guy's girlfriend" was meant to be. Well, I still mostly don't, but at least I've heard of the source.
og resident evil(1st film), silent hill is one too.
Old horror: scarly looking guy.
What is backrooms even about? (May was to tag responses with a spoiler for others)
Liminal spaces, the breakdown of reality and memory, the horror of inferiority, sensory distortion, and an uncanny feeling throughout.
It was an excellent movie.
It’s based off an SCP post about a liminal space that goes on and on. There’s a lot more to it ofc. The game on Steam is a lot of fun, definitely recommend.
It’s a story of people noclipping into impossible geometries that are mostly yellow-wallpapered, carpeted rooms with office lighting. And there’s weird monsters in there. Nobody knows yet the whole explanation of what’s going on and how they came to be, and this is the core mystery that draws people in and wanting more.
I… see
Is the Obsessioner even an icon?
She's getting there. The insane pouty frown is certainly a meme already:

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