Revisiting Horror Movies

[Vakanai]

I like horror movies, but I almost never watch one a second time. I always figure, why bother? I know where all the scares are going to be this time. The only exceptions are certain franchise or character movies, because I like the characters. To me Dracula and Frankenstein are as familiar and nostalgic as Batman, Godzilla, and Scooby Doo, so I rewatch those a lot. But otherwise, if the whole point is it's a scary movie, well, what do you do when you've already seen those particular scares? Does anyone rewatch horror movies, and if so, can you explain why?

[Hypestyle]

with certain films I enjoy in general, sure.
But there's a lot of horror movies I don't get to see. Growing up, I wasn't allowed to see rated R stuff before I turned 17. And I didn't have cable or a VCR at home. So I ended up discovering a lot of horror films whenever they got syndicated on regular TV. Time went on, eventually basic cable came into play, and VCRs/DVD players. some films I enjoy, some I don't. For those I enjoy for the story, it's not a huge deal that the scares have 'already happened', I guess.

[XPac]

I like horror movies, but I almost never watch one a second time. I always figure, why bother? I know where all the scares are going to be this time. The only exceptions are certain franchise or character movies, because I like the characters. To me Dracula and Frankenstein are as familiar and nostalgic as Batman, Godzilla, and Scooby Doo, so I rewatch those a lot. But otherwise, if the whole point is it's a scary movie, well, what do you do when you've already seen those particular scares? Does anyone rewatch horror movies, and if so, can you explain why?

In part we have to define what qualifies as a horror movie. Is Jurassic park a horror movie? I rewatched that a million times. It was a really fun movie. The Faculty is sort of a mix between teen drama, sci-fi, and horror. Saw that a bunch of times too.

In theory a good movie is a good movie. Scares aside, if there are good performances and a solid story it should be as rewatchable as any other movie. But I do understand that certain genres, horror and comedies in particuar, are less impactful the second time around. You lose that immediate reaction.

[Jim Kelly]

I see people broadly thinking that a piece of entertainment just serves up some feeling and that's all it's for. But this is a pretty simplistic view of how we interact with a piece of entertainment. I've been at concerts with people who know a lot more about music than I do and they are clearly getting something from the experience that I'm not getting, because they understand things like technique and musical composition. In the same way, you can look at a movie as just something that produces feelings and that's all it's for. But if you admire horror movies, then you know how they work to do these things and you can go back to them time and again, because you admire the technique and appreciate the craft. And that's another kind of entertainment, that depends on you bringing knowledge to the work, so you are satisfied with discovering and understanding these elements.

[GOLGO 13]

In part we have to define what qualifies as a horror movie. Is Jurassic park a horror movie? I rewatched that a million times. It was a really fun movie. The Faculty is sort of a mix between teen drama, sci-fi, and horror. Saw that a bunch of times too.

In theory a good movie is a good movie. Scares aside, if there are good performances and a solid story it should be as rewatchable as any other movie. But I do understand that certain genres, horror and comedies in particuar, are less impactful the second time around. You lose that immediate reaction.

For me it's about the spectacle/CGI VS Jason/Mike/Freddie in a mask stabbing/chasing half naked kids making one-liners through the movie. Something like Jurassic has a metric ton of stuff going on all at once so repeated viewings might be helpful.

[cadet]

If there's a twist, it's interesting to rewatch to see all the foreshadowing.

[Jim Kelly]

Funny thing is there's a jump scare in PSYCHO, with Martin Balsam's character, that gets me every time. I know it's coming, but there's something about the camera angles and the music that always provokes a response.

[Vakanai]

In part we have to define what qualifies as a horror movie. Is Jurassic park a horror movie? I rewatched that a million times. It was a really fun movie. The Faculty is sort of a mix between teen drama, sci-fi, and horror. Saw that a bunch of times too.

In theory a good movie is a good movie. Scares aside, if there are good performances and a solid story it should be as rewatchable as any other movie. But I do understand that certain genres, horror and comedies in particuar, are less impactful the second time around. You lose that immediate reaction.

Good point, I've watched the various Jurassic Park films multiple times. I guess it's because I don't really consider it horror. It has horror elements, but it feels more action adventure with dinosaurs to me. I rewatch things like Aliens and Predator, but a lot of that is because I love creature and monster designs and effects, so they have more of a connection to my interest than other horror movies. I guess it depends on what you like to latch on to.

[Scott Taylor]

This is really a test of whether a horror film relies on gimmicks like jump scares or not. To some degree. A film like Paranormal Activity, to me, is watchable only once because it uses gimmicks to generate scares. Once I saw it, I appreciated it, but its not going to work on me twice.

But on the other hand a film like Cabin in the Woods is completely refreshing and rewatchable to me because its got so many nuanced plays on the horror genre. Plus one of the best mass slaughter scenes ever.

The older Hammer horror movies and classic Dracula movies can be pretty good for rewatching, too. They are up front with the monsters, there is no hiding with them, rather they sneak around and try and out-think all the innocents and good guys out there.

[C_Miller]

In the same boat as a lot of people here. I rarely watch horror movies to be scared. In fact, I can't remember the last time I was truly scared by a horror movie. Movies just don't scare me. But if a film has strong performances, exceptional writing, interesting direction, creative cinematography, innovative design work, etc., there is value in it. So truth be told, I tend to view good horror movies as simply good movies and I can rewatch as much as I would any other type of movie. The Shining, Halloween, Rosemary's Baby, many of the Universal Monster movies (specifically ones featuring Frankenstein). I'm also really enjoying the rise of boutique horror movies such as Get Out, The Babadook, The Witch, It Follows, It Comes at Night and Hereditary.

[numberthirty]

While this is in reference to a pretty specific point in time, films from back in the "Cable And You Might Not Have A VCR Tape Handy..." films are certainly thing I have gone back to after seeing them in pieces that way.

There are also films that my memory might be a bit murky on as I get older. There was actually an entire chunk of one film that wasn't there in my memory of it at all.

So, yeah. Depends, but it does happen.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

I can watch the old school Universal Studios horror films (Dracula, Frankenstein, The Wolf Man, The Mummy) over and over and they never fail to delight me. I've also watched Ringu numerous times, and it always chills me, so much that I never watch it with the lights off, the scene at the end when Sadako crawls out of the TV always leaves me cold. Then there's perhaps the most famous jump scene at the end of the original Carrie, you know it's coming and it still freaks you out. Every. Single. Time.

[Michael Watkins]

I average a horror movie (or tv show) per day. and a lot of those are rewatchs. I like the mood(s) that they put me in.

[Copper Rain]

30 Days of Night had some cool action in it.. The Howling, An American Werewolf in London feel so dated. Seeing how society has changed since then kinda gets me to watch the whole thing again whenever it happens to be on tv.