I scare easily but my partner is like Amanda. Doesn’t get scared by anything in a movie for the same reasons as her. Like Sean said on the episode, people who get absorbed in the story more will get scared, but there are people who don’t.
I like Amanda generally too, but I’ve learned that the whole “Horror movies aren’t scary, they’re so stupid and actually funny” is a defense mechanism from people who are actually afraid of getting scared.
Sean addresses this in a pretty kind way right after she talks about it. She just hasn’t gotten to the point yet where she’s able to let her guard down and get immersed in the experience.
I'm going to kind of disagree.... I generally have a hard time buying in to most of them but when I do they get me. But if you don't buy in it can just feel ridiculous and they are funny.
Yeah I’m not trying to say all horror movies are good and scary. I’m just saying people who don’t believe _any_ horror movies are scary sounds like they’re putting up defense mechanisms to me.
I used to be scared of every movie ever as a kid but now that I'm older and have gotten more into film and filmmaking I would say I fall into the no horror movies really scare me anymore.
It's certainly possible that it's just a defense mechanism, but I know I haven't been scared by a horror movie since I saw Paranormal Activity in high-school. I can't play horror video games at all due to how terrifying I find them, but movies don't phase me a bit anymore.
Idk I kinda have it. I don’t really get the tension from most types of horror movies, or thriller movies in general to be honest.
Only thing that gets me that way is torture porn and gore movies. Shocking gross shit. You’re typical horror, even like the good atmospheric shit doesn’t get much of that reaction from me.
I also don’t cry at movies, never done it in my entire life. I think it’s a similar thing and a level of emotional connection you can get to to something thats fake. I don’t really get “immersed” in anything.
I couldn’t watch horror movies as a kid until I developed this defense mechanism, and then I just thought they were stupid. Eventually, I let my guard down and now love them
Whenever I think about watching a horror movie I always think to myself, “nah. I’m not 13 anymore; nothing in a movie is actually gonna scare me.”
Then 10 minutes after it ends, I’m like “cool. I gotta sleep with the lights on for a month…”
I think, at least for me, it’s just that to be scared by a scary movie you have to buy-in and be emotionally invested. And if you don’t enjoy those movies, that’s not gonna happen.
Ummm, wasn’t she mad last year at Sean for making her watch Soeak No Evil?
Which btw - was the scariest crazy movie I’ve seen in years - highly recommend.
I can’t remember ever feeling scared in a horror movie, including as a child. I’ve certainly been startled by a jump scare or anxious about what might be about to happen to a character, but never genuine fear.
That’s 100% experience you’re supposed to have. If you’re actually afraid and it deeply bothers you then you probably shouldn’t watch horror movies. But if you put your defenses down and just watch the movie instead of putting a “I don’t get scared by horror movies this is all stupid” guard up, then getting anxious and worried about a character or getting startled by a jump scare is the fun of horror movies.
Yeah. I think some of the argument about whether horror films are scary or not comes from people defining scary differently. Some people would describe being anxious for the characters and invested in what's happening on screen as being scared by the film while others would only say a film is scary if they feared for their own personal wellbeing, which is rare for adults I think.
Scary moment but also very funny moment. I couldn’t stop thinking about how it reminded me of a college party and a random 6’6” dude would enter the room
I'm not really into actual horror movies. I can enjoy some slashers like Scream, zombie stuff like Train to Busan or some comedy horror like Tucker and Dale. But I fucking loved It Follows. I thought it was such an original premise executed perfectly. The direction and vibe were just amazing, with the music, camera shots and weird timeperiod. It felt more like a thriller type horror to me then actual horrific sequences. Any recommendations for me that are more of the thriller vibe horror stuff?
Idk even as somebody who loves horror movies I'm kind of with her like 90% of the time. The only stuff that scares me in horror movies is like realistically/gorily rendered violence because violence/blood is real and you can imagine it happening to you and even then that's not scared as much as it is being squeamish. The ghosts/monsters/curses/haunted houses/etc almost never scare me in movies pretty much for her exact reason, I know its not real (on the levels of movies are never real and that I don't think those things are real irl). Even in slasher movies like Halloween with no supernatural elements, it's not scary to me because it's Mike Meyers or because I'm afraid of serial killers, its that getting stabbed looks like it hurts.
I definitely get scared most by some of the more existential horror movies (Carnival of Souls being a recentish one I watched as an example) but I think Amanda is more talking about the modern blockbuster horror experience, which is all she ever really has because she’s not seeking out the weird stuff that can push certain buttons more. And for that, I believe her. Things like Evil Dead Rise or the latest Insidious were good/fine but they’re so….. exactly what you would expect? That seeing a deadite eat the wine glass or threaten a kid or whatever is just kind of a flat thrill. And sometimes people just really don’t gel with a movie. I found Barbarian pretty gross and scary at points but my wife, who is usually a scardy cat, solely saw it as silly and fun.
You also have to remember that, for the most part, she’s watching these movies for work at a matinee on a beautiful LA morning or afternoon which isn’t exactly spooky energy to get you in the immersive headspace either.
She doesn’t watch horror movies tho right? Like she prob never watched any Korean thrillers/horror. When she says horror she is probably talking about Scream and Jason Blum horror
Ehh most horror movies can be viewed as unintentional comedies, I don’t find them scary either. But I’m not immune to jump scares and extreme gore that still gets me.
I haven’t listened to this ep, but you get scared at horror movies? Like actually scared, not startled, or grossed out, or like “omg that’s fucked up” but like real fear? Shit, maybe I’m the weird one.
Although I was allowed to watch horror movies at like age 8 so maybe she got ruined like I did lol.
I definitely get scared in many horror movies but not in a traumatic way. I don’t lose sleep over it or anything like that. It’s kinda fun, especially in a group
Are horror movies boring to you then? If you never gets scared…
So like, you wouldn’t describe any part of her >!going down the second staircase!< as “scary?” The emotions are just “omg” and “startled?” I don’t say this to doubt you at all, I totally know people who don’t engage with horror in that way. But what I don’t get is not “getting” why others would experience fear there. It’s the whole reason I got the ticket.
Yea it’s more like the suspense of waits going to happen is fun. But what you are saying makes sense. I imagine people like haunted houses for the same reason.
Interesting. My wife and I watched for the first time recently ourselves and neither of us found it scary, and she's fairly scare-prone. Possession stuff usually does nothing for me because I know it's not real, but home invasion stuff like "The Strangers" can definitely raise my heart-rate a bit.
I think it's more the atmosphere it creates. Same with films like Rosemary’s Baby and The Omen.
They're light on genuinely gruesome shock-you-out-of-your-chair moments, but leave you wanting to draw the curtains and check the front door is locked.
She doesn't like horror, because she refuses to buy into them. Thinking they are ridiculous and unrealistic is her way of "not being scared". So it's self-sustaining. If she was invested she would be. But she doesn't engage, it's choice (probably subconscious).
But also, yeah, no way she hasn't been scared in a thriller or "elevated horror" that slipped through over the years. Some dramas too.
Edit: oh, I've just repeated what everyone thinks.
Dude, just because horror movies scare you, doesn't mean they're universally scary. I watch a good amount of horror, actually, and some of my favorite films are in that genre, but I don't find them scary. I think Green Room is the closest I've come to being scared by a horror film in the last few years and I'm not sure you could even call it horror as opposed to suspense/thriller.
That's not what I'm talking about, I think most people know a lot of the genre isn't particularly scary. If you don't open yourself up to it none of it is.
But what I'm saying is, I enjoy horror, I'm open to it, I can get immersed in the stories (if they're well written/acted), but I still don't get scared.
I’ve seen people bitch about Amanda before but I never listened to the pod so I kind of wrote it off. After a few go rounds I have no idea how anyone can tolerate her, she’s like a film critic in idiocracy. The low brow taste mixed with antagonistic condescension on anything that isn’t her stuff… how do u guys do it? Sean’s a good man and he doesn’t deserve this.
I watch a lot of horror. It’s my “comfort food,” ironically. I also don’t feel “scared” — as opposed to “startled,” which does happen — although I do feel a thrill in empathizing with scared characters and in feeling unnerved by dark creativity.
Perhaps the one movie that did legitimately come close to scaring me was Last House on Dead End Street, because it unravels in such an unhinged way. I’m not sure “scared” quite fits, but I did feel like it exposed a uniquely horrifying breakdown of order and I was kind of shaken by it (and thrilled) for days after. I would also never recommend it to anyone but the truly demented seekers of strange movies. It is an affront to sanity and taste.
I got to catch an advanced screening of *Talk to Me*, and there was a dude who was so frightened that he was YELL-ING like Jack Woltz waking up to Khartoum's head in his bed.
Anyway.
The older I get, the more I know about movies, the more movies I see, I would say the less overall scared I am, even from fairly effective horror pictures, but, to say I NEVER get scared watching anything anymore is ridiculous.
Amanda is either lying or a a deranged sociopath. Maybe both.
There's a difference between being startled at a jump scare or even disturbed by certain subject matter, and being genuinely scared. I don't think I've been actually \*scared\* at a movie as an adult either.
I scare easily but my partner is like Amanda. Doesn’t get scared by anything in a movie for the same reasons as her. Like Sean said on the episode, people who get absorbed in the story more will get scared, but there are people who don’t.
I like Amanda generally too, but I’ve learned that the whole “Horror movies aren’t scary, they’re so stupid and actually funny” is a defense mechanism from people who are actually afraid of getting scared.
Sean addresses this in a pretty kind way right after she talks about it. She just hasn’t gotten to the point yet where she’s able to let her guard down and get immersed in the experience.
I completely agree
I'm going to kind of disagree.... I generally have a hard time buying in to most of them but when I do they get me. But if you don't buy in it can just feel ridiculous and they are funny.
Yeah I’m not trying to say all horror movies are good and scary. I’m just saying people who don’t believe _any_ horror movies are scary sounds like they’re putting up defense mechanisms to me.
I used to be scared of every movie ever as a kid but now that I'm older and have gotten more into film and filmmaking I would say I fall into the no horror movies really scare me anymore.
iirc she didn’t say she didn’t believe any horror movies *are* scary, she just said she doesn’t get scared in them.
It's certainly possible that it's just a defense mechanism, but I know I haven't been scared by a horror movie since I saw Paranormal Activity in high-school. I can't play horror video games at all due to how terrifying I find them, but movies don't phase me a bit anymore.
Idk I kinda have it. I don’t really get the tension from most types of horror movies, or thriller movies in general to be honest. Only thing that gets me that way is torture porn and gore movies. Shocking gross shit. You’re typical horror, even like the good atmospheric shit doesn’t get much of that reaction from me. I also don’t cry at movies, never done it in my entire life. I think it’s a similar thing and a level of emotional connection you can get to to something thats fake. I don’t really get “immersed” in anything.
Wish I had this defence mechanism. I find even the lamest ones terrifying
I couldn’t watch horror movies as a kid until I developed this defense mechanism, and then I just thought they were stupid. Eventually, I let my guard down and now love them
Nah they’re just dreadfully boring to me 95% of the time and genuinely not scary unless I’m on shrooms
Whenever I think about watching a horror movie I always think to myself, “nah. I’m not 13 anymore; nothing in a movie is actually gonna scare me.” Then 10 minutes after it ends, I’m like “cool. I gotta sleep with the lights on for a month…”
I think, at least for me, it’s just that to be scared by a scary movie you have to buy-in and be emotionally invested. And if you don’t enjoy those movies, that’s not gonna happen.
Ummm, wasn’t she mad last year at Sean for making her watch Soeak No Evil? Which btw - was the scariest crazy movie I’ve seen in years - highly recommend.
It's understandable, given she was a new mother (or very soon to be one at that point?) and the subject matter of the movie. Especially that ending.
Agreed - but she also went on about how insanely frightening it was, so clearly she has been scared by a movie in her adult life. 🤷🏼♀️
I can’t remember ever feeling scared in a horror movie, including as a child. I’ve certainly been startled by a jump scare or anxious about what might be about to happen to a character, but never genuine fear.
That’s 100% experience you’re supposed to have. If you’re actually afraid and it deeply bothers you then you probably shouldn’t watch horror movies. But if you put your defenses down and just watch the movie instead of putting a “I don’t get scared by horror movies this is all stupid” guard up, then getting anxious and worried about a character or getting startled by a jump scare is the fun of horror movies.
Yeah. I think some of the argument about whether horror films are scary or not comes from people defining scary differently. Some people would describe being anxious for the characters and invested in what's happening on screen as being scared by the film while others would only say a film is scary if they feared for their own personal wellbeing, which is rare for adults I think.
It Follows legitimately scared the fuck out of me.
Tall guy walking through the door made me piss my pants
Scary moment but also very funny moment. I couldn’t stop thinking about how it reminded me of a college party and a random 6’6” dude would enter the room
I'm not really into actual horror movies. I can enjoy some slashers like Scream, zombie stuff like Train to Busan or some comedy horror like Tucker and Dale. But I fucking loved It Follows. I thought it was such an original premise executed perfectly. The direction and vibe were just amazing, with the music, camera shots and weird timeperiod. It felt more like a thriller type horror to me then actual horrific sequences. Any recommendations for me that are more of the thriller vibe horror stuff?
Idk even as somebody who loves horror movies I'm kind of with her like 90% of the time. The only stuff that scares me in horror movies is like realistically/gorily rendered violence because violence/blood is real and you can imagine it happening to you and even then that's not scared as much as it is being squeamish. The ghosts/monsters/curses/haunted houses/etc almost never scare me in movies pretty much for her exact reason, I know its not real (on the levels of movies are never real and that I don't think those things are real irl). Even in slasher movies like Halloween with no supernatural elements, it's not scary to me because it's Mike Meyers or because I'm afraid of serial killers, its that getting stabbed looks like it hurts.
Any time I see the diner scene at the beginning of Mulholland dr I am terrified. The fear in the guy is just contagious. I am not ashamed.
The bum reveal is all-time. You know what it is, you know it's right there but gets me so good.
Right. He tells the viewer exactly what is going to happen, so you even know the first time. I’m not sure why it works so well.
Have you considered that you’re just a scaredy-cat?
Haha maybe I am. But I think some people want to act tough and fake that they never get scared
I am scared all the time, just not from horror movies.
What if there was a stickied post that's just for complaining about Amanda?
Yes corral them please
I definitely get scared most by some of the more existential horror movies (Carnival of Souls being a recentish one I watched as an example) but I think Amanda is more talking about the modern blockbuster horror experience, which is all she ever really has because she’s not seeking out the weird stuff that can push certain buttons more. And for that, I believe her. Things like Evil Dead Rise or the latest Insidious were good/fine but they’re so….. exactly what you would expect? That seeing a deadite eat the wine glass or threaten a kid or whatever is just kind of a flat thrill. And sometimes people just really don’t gel with a movie. I found Barbarian pretty gross and scary at points but my wife, who is usually a scardy cat, solely saw it as silly and fun. You also have to remember that, for the most part, she’s watching these movies for work at a matinee on a beautiful LA morning or afternoon which isn’t exactly spooky energy to get you in the immersive headspace either.
She doesn’t watch horror movies tho right? Like she prob never watched any Korean thrillers/horror. When she says horror she is probably talking about Scream and Jason Blum horror
Ehh most horror movies can be viewed as unintentional comedies, I don’t find them scary either. But I’m not immune to jump scares and extreme gore that still gets me.
I haven’t listened to this ep, but you get scared at horror movies? Like actually scared, not startled, or grossed out, or like “omg that’s fucked up” but like real fear? Shit, maybe I’m the weird one. Although I was allowed to watch horror movies at like age 8 so maybe she got ruined like I did lol.
I definitely get scared in many horror movies but not in a traumatic way. I don’t lose sleep over it or anything like that. It’s kinda fun, especially in a group Are horror movies boring to you then? If you never gets scared…
No, I enjoy plenty of horror movies. Barbarian was cool, because it’s like “wtf is going on” and the mystery/intrigue is really fun.
So like, you wouldn’t describe any part of her >!going down the second staircase!< as “scary?” The emotions are just “omg” and “startled?” I don’t say this to doubt you at all, I totally know people who don’t engage with horror in that way. But what I don’t get is not “getting” why others would experience fear there. It’s the whole reason I got the ticket.
Yea it’s more like the suspense of waits going to happen is fun. But what you are saying makes sense. I imagine people like haunted houses for the same reason.
I watched The Exorcist for the first time recently while my partner was out for the weekend. I had to sleep with a light on.
Interesting. My wife and I watched for the first time recently ourselves and neither of us found it scary, and she's fairly scare-prone. Possession stuff usually does nothing for me because I know it's not real, but home invasion stuff like "The Strangers" can definitely raise my heart-rate a bit.
I think it's more the atmosphere it creates. Same with films like Rosemary’s Baby and The Omen. They're light on genuinely gruesome shock-you-out-of-your-chair moments, but leave you wanting to draw the curtains and check the front door is locked.
This is weird, guys
She doesn't like horror, because she refuses to buy into them. Thinking they are ridiculous and unrealistic is her way of "not being scared". So it's self-sustaining. If she was invested she would be. But she doesn't engage, it's choice (probably subconscious). But also, yeah, no way she hasn't been scared in a thriller or "elevated horror" that slipped through over the years. Some dramas too. Edit: oh, I've just repeated what everyone thinks.
Dude, just because horror movies scare you, doesn't mean they're universally scary. I watch a good amount of horror, actually, and some of my favorite films are in that genre, but I don't find them scary. I think Green Room is the closest I've come to being scared by a horror film in the last few years and I'm not sure you could even call it horror as opposed to suspense/thriller.
That's not what I'm talking about, I think most people know a lot of the genre isn't particularly scary. If you don't open yourself up to it none of it is.
But what I'm saying is, I enjoy horror, I'm open to it, I can get immersed in the stories (if they're well written/acted), but I still don't get scared.
Big tough guy. You sometimes do yeah? That's what Amanda is not open to, I think I'm being pretty clear.
I sometimes do what?
No wait until you hear her take on any film that's animated. Poor baby Knox.
What's her take? CR is the one who doesn't like animation.
I’ve seen people bitch about Amanda before but I never listened to the pod so I kind of wrote it off. After a few go rounds I have no idea how anyone can tolerate her, she’s like a film critic in idiocracy. The low brow taste mixed with antagonistic condescension on anything that isn’t her stuff… how do u guys do it? Sean’s a good man and he doesn’t deserve this.
I love Amanda, but it’s a little grating that they had her on for the haunted house ep when she couldn’t be more uninterested in the spectral realm.
I hate how she talks about ALOT of movies. Mainly every movie that isn’t a rom com.
I watch a lot of horror. It’s my “comfort food,” ironically. I also don’t feel “scared” — as opposed to “startled,” which does happen — although I do feel a thrill in empathizing with scared characters and in feeling unnerved by dark creativity. Perhaps the one movie that did legitimately come close to scaring me was Last House on Dead End Street, because it unravels in such an unhinged way. I’m not sure “scared” quite fits, but I did feel like it exposed a uniquely horrifying breakdown of order and I was kind of shaken by it (and thrilled) for days after. I would also never recommend it to anyone but the truly demented seekers of strange movies. It is an affront to sanity and taste.
This is an honest question, does she like any other genre than rom-com?
This is not an honest question if you have listened to 2 pods.
If Nancy meyers made a horror movie she would be good and scared. Otherwise she has no time for it.
I got to catch an advanced screening of *Talk to Me*, and there was a dude who was so frightened that he was YELL-ING like Jack Woltz waking up to Khartoum's head in his bed. Anyway. The older I get, the more I know about movies, the more movies I see, I would say the less overall scared I am, even from fairly effective horror pictures, but, to say I NEVER get scared watching anything anymore is ridiculous. Amanda is either lying or a a deranged sociopath. Maybe both.
Can someone post the list ?
Horror movies are not scary
Y’all are weird. Some people just don’t have that reaction to them, and that’s okay. It’s nice to have differing perspectives in criticism.
There's a difference between being startled at a jump scare or even disturbed by certain subject matter, and being genuinely scared. I don't think I've been actually \*scared\* at a movie as an adult either.