Post 20: Horror Movies: Gore vs. Suspense

Just the other day I was talking with one of my friends about going to see a movie. She wanted to see the Conjuring.

We didn't end up going to see it, but it did get me thinking about the different types of horror movies. I don't just mean supernatural versus human villains, but gory versus suspenseful.

Some horror movies have little to no suspense, they're just blood and gore, and violence everywhere (they also usually have  a half-naked woman running around for no apparent reason at some point.) 

Then there are horror movies that are almost all suspense, and no one really dies or there is like no blood or violence. These tend to have the endings that leave you going, 'really?' There is a movie like that I saw in theatres a long while ago. I don't remember what it was called but the basic plot was a mother and her kids move into a house and the mom becomes convinced there are ghosts. She starts to go crazy, then it turns out in the end her and her kids were the ghosts all along. And the people she thought were ghosts, were actually the new owners of the house.

I like ones that are mostly suspense, but still have some action. I mean, suspense is like when you start going up on a roller coaster. At some point it goes too high and it takes either an amazing (and I mean, absolutely amazing) ending or it is just a let down. Like climbing up, higher and higher only to meet a slow decline, or worse, nothing at all. Ones with all blood and gore is just all going down, or just tiny little bumps, it isn't the same.

But, that doesn't mean that I don't like ones that have gore and violence. (As long as they have a good plot. That is a MAJOR factor in whether I like it or not.) For example, I really like Repo! the Genetic Opera and Sweeney Todd (yes, I am aware they are both musicals) but they are also very bloody. But they both have an interesting plot. And strong, well-developed characters.

And Repo! especially brings up some really interesting social conundrums. In the movie, murder is almost acceptable. Drug addiction is wide spread. But no one seems bothered by these things, it reminds me some of Hunger Games. People accept that kids are going to their deaths, the same way people accept that there is a group of assassins that go around killing people and removing their organs for not paying their loans in time legally in Repo!. Everyone in both, or at least the people with enough power to do anything, are too occupied with the spectacle they are being given by the head honcho.

My friend who wanted to watch the Conjuring, watched Repo! the Genetic Opera with me and her eyes were closed almost the whole time. She was so freaked out! It wasn't really even scary to me.

Gore and blood are what scare her in horror movies, while suspense doesn't. Suspense is what scares me in horror movies, gore and blood don't.

What freaks you out more in horror movies? Blood or suspense?

What is your favourite/least favourite horror movie?