What makes scary movies so scary?

[Cicero]

So what is it about them? What makes them freak you/someone out? What do they do to the body other than raise heart rate?

[Silicate Wielder]

scary movies use the tactics of suspense and suprise from my understanding.
they may have the villian pop up out of nowhere in a dark, misty environment, or will show a hand holding a blood covered knife and then switch to show the guy walking up behind some unspespecting person with dramatic music and then cut off the scene. i'm not really good with this kind of stuff.

some people react to fear differently than others. some might get goose-bumps some may get shaky, or some just have the hair on their necks raised.

Some kid in my english class today was dressed up as the Screamer, he started dancing to music my teacher had playing and was badly singing to, that was scary.

[Iron Man]

I would say, the music makes scary movies scarier. Watch a scary movie on mute, see if it becomes less frightening.

[workingatperfect]

Pretty much what Burrito said, they play on surprise and suspense. Dark rooms, creepy music getting louder and faster, things popping up. They also use the characters' fear to instill fear in the watcher. You see a character scared out of their wits and you pick up on that and share their fear of what will happen next. And of course, they use your own fears. Take the movie Mirrors. People that already find mirrors creepy and spooky will be freaked out by that movie more than an average person, because it's actualizing their fear life fear. Finally, they make it seem real. They take average people, put them in an average situation, and make something terrible happen. It's a similar effect as when someone you know, maybe someone young, dies and suddenly "that would never happen to someone like me" isn't true anymore.

As for what it does to your body.. Basically heart rate, jumpiness, goosebumps, the stuff michael just said.

[Bath]

OP Request lock.

:locked2: