Horror Are Horror Fans Numb To Fear?

Tom

An Old Friend
Over my years I have read and watched a lot of Horror. It seems that I find nothing truly scary anymore. Sure physical danger still scares me but nothing I watch, listen to or read scares me in the least bit. I have also found that I tend to not panic when others go all frantic.

My question is; Do other Horror Fans have the same problem?
Does the genre change how you look at life to the point that horrors are insignificant?
When is the last time you were really afraid of something?

I also don't have nightmares anymore.

I would really like to know if this is common or if I am just strange?
 
Tom I reckon as we get older it becomes harder to lift that imagination, ergo to get into the here and now believability of horror stories being "real" for their run time. Added to this a lot of younger "fans" are into the genre because it's the cool thing, they aren't or never will be horror fans.

Thankfully horror can still on occasion get under my skin, though the cookie cutter felgercarb being churned out by Boredwood is pretty much cannon fodder - is anyone scared by any of that rubbish?

Recent-ish movies that sent a chill up my back:

The Ring, Ring - worked cause we knew the big scare was coming but kept right toward the end of the movie, the Japanese original worked better for me as I didn't know what was coming. The overall aesthetic of both movies works to making them unsettling, look at use of colour, light, and sound.

Paranormal Activity - don't know why, it simply worked. In the movie session we attended as a group there were chicks screaming, multiple workouts (doesn't usually happen in Oz - no refunds), and a lot of people hiding their eyes during the good bits, Katie standing next to the bed for hours on end for example. Surprisingly there's a real The Exorcist build to this movie that has mounting terror happening, but you need the right environment.

Movies that didn't send a chill up my back but seemingly had local crowds screaming.

The Conjuring - lost me at "based on a true story", sorry the Warrens are snake oil sales people, the fact that folk still believe what these two spouting amazes me.

Charle's Farm - local slasher flick, that fact that folk still believe Tara Reid can act amazes me.

Actually wrote an essay on what makes horror work, why the wrong people watch it, and the whole imagination as collateral damage for a Student rag, can't remember if I still have a copy or not.
 
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