What Makes Horror Movies Good?

Meh released a poll recently on "What makes a movie worth watching?" and he brought up independant movie makers. I think a good movie, indie or otherwise, is determined by how much a filmmaker puts in to it. A filmmaker who is passionate about their movie really shines through. We can look at films like the remake of Pulse, and compare that to The Descent. What was the difference? More money? It cost 20 Million to make pulse and 3.5 Million pounds (roughly 9 Million bucks) to make The Descent. Pulse had a bigger budget, and yet doesn't come close to the great reviews that The Descent got. The Descent pulled in 25 Million (US) and Pulse pulled in 19 mIllion. Pulse didn't break even, while The Descent doubled their money at least. I think truly, it had to do with the passion of the people behind the films.

Of course things like cinematography, FX, Acting all count towards it, there have been a lot of films with horrible marks in all three that were REALLY well done. Look at Night of the living dead - the cinematography was limited by technology, the acting was 1960's style over-drama, and the FX were very very limited. And yet it is a GREAT movie. The director did a fantastic job of bringing the story to life, and the story was unique (for its time, that is). Look at the Blair Witch Project - Horrible cheesy crappy cinematography, there was no score (unless you count the chick constantly screaming) there were no special effects, no gore, not really any writing to speak of, and the acting was OK, but not great. But it was a huge success - costing 35,000 to make and grossing 140 MILLION.

Being able to reach an audience and touch them in some way, is in my opinion, the single most necessary difference between a bad movie and a good movie. Films that were just put together to try to glean money are obvious (Pulse) they don't reach their audience because there is no heart in it, and the audience can tell. Films that are made because the makers want to showcase their work, want to give the world their baby, so to speak, shine out, touch the audience, and make them fall in love. So my answer? None of the above - a movie needs to be made with Spirit to be successful, regardless of the other components.

Don't agree? Think I'm an idiot? Don't have a clue what I am talking about? Go to the  horror forums here and comment about it, or at least make a choice.