The art of appreciating Horror films.

As a fan of the genre, there is one thing of which I am very aware: crap prevails EVERYWHERE. Even in the best of films, there is some crap involved except for a very few and select of them.

So how do the crappy ones not only survive but thrive, particularly in video store rentals?

That is where watching horror films is an art.

What a dedicated horror fan will do is endure a film that is 50% crap, 30% hackneyed drack, 19% a too-long porn setup for that 1% that actually does something good. Something that makes the pulse race a bit without the downside of meth tweaking.

I love horror flicks. Classic ones, new ones, old ones, all of them. For a dedicated fan, there is a silver lining in almost every one of them.

For example, Near Dark had some dynamite stuff in it ... redneck vampires on the prowl with Bill Paxton cutting throats with sharpened spurs on his cowboy boots and Lance Henrickson at his best. On the other hand, a I-Know-What-You-Did-Last-Summer has on the positive side only a lot of Jennifer Love Hewitt cleavage although if they could have hidden her horse face and gagged her to prevent her from stepping on the others' cues, it would have been improved.

So, what are some of your silver linings to otherwise crappy movies?

Often what appears to be crap is really directors making jokes with their audience about the formula. Since the formula is rigid, the "crappiness" (or the camp, or wink-wink) really is a huge part of the entertainment value. That's why viewers don't punish horror films when they do that.

the sequel to "I Know What You did Last Summer"?

I think you're talking about the "Scream" movies, which make fun of the slasher subgenre of horror films. But if you look at this list of my favorite horror films, I don't think you'll find a rigid formula that they all conform to:

* Dawn of the Dead -- some of the last survivors of a zombie plague hole up in a mall and basically wait to die, as there is obviously no hope of survival outside of this shopping center.

* Love Object -- a shy nerd has a crush on a pretty co-worker but has no social skills or ability to woo her, so he orders a RealDoll off the internet and dresses it up to look like her. Mental illness ensues.

* The Tenant -- Roman Polanski stars as a guy who has trouble finding an apartment. He finally, out of desperation, takes the apartment of a comatose woman who tried to kill herself and lies in the hospital, waiting to die. He becomes obsessed with learning about this woman, gradually finds himself meeting her friends, lovers, etc. Eventually he starts dressing like her and is obsessed with the idea that the woman was murdered and that he is next, since he now "is" her.

* Dead Ringers -- Identical twin gynecologists become addicted to drugs and slowly go mad when the shy one falls in love with a patient that the macho one had seduced and offered to "share" with him (not telling her they are twins).

Actually, there are too many to mention. But the only things I see in common here are things going horribly wrong, which is one of the things that horror movies allow that a lot of other movies don't. Horror movies seem to be permitted to have downbeat endings and still be regarded as commercially viable.

I've seen two versions. Strange film(s). What do you think about that one?

Gyre

Shadow of the Vampire?

Very cool movie.

I could watch just about any movie that has scenes with scenery of particular interest to me.

ex: So I could sit through the part(s) of a Horror movie (not my favorite genre) that has a high speed chase or vehicles racing along in the Los Angeles River bottom and, maybe, stay through the rest of the movie to see other scenes of familiar parts of LA that I'd find fascinating to see on the big screen.

I think. A few of his films have been excellent, like The Thing or Halloween. But most of his films are simply mediocre with some very creepy and disturbing scenes thrown in. Prince of Darkness was basically pretty lame, but there were a few moments in it that made my skin crawl.

A horror movie is supposed to push buttons in you. It's like we watch them to see things we're not supposed to see. If a movie can do that, even if the script sucks or the acting is terrible, then it's basically done its job. That's what I look for in a horror movie.

Adrienne Barbeau and Jamie Lee Curtis are both good on multiple levels.

And don't forget Janet Leigh.

Lots of creepy stuff in it although it did not deserve the "R" rating it got.

I never have. Even the good ones just don't interest me in the least.

Not for me I guess.

who just have to know what it is under the sheet. Seeing the shape isn't enough for them.

I tend to bounce all around Horror.

I like Dark Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Thriller, X-Files type stuff that borders on horror but I guess I prefer a little ambiguity.

The mystery the sheet provides is what I like.

I didn't figure out the ending, either. I love when that happens.