I don't know. I can't quantify why certain things completely squick me and others don't. It's not really a rational thing. Or maybe it's a cutting and slashing thing.
It is difficult to quantify isn't it? Much like it is hard to quantify which comedies will make me roar with laughter and which will make me cringe. It's not always rational.
Dismemberment doesn't really bother me - but I can't watch the Saw films and could not handle the dismemberment episodes on Angel for some reason (I Fall To Pieces was unwatchable but not because of dismemberment). Slashing and cutting doesn't bother me necessarily...but I can't watch Nightmare on Elm Street, Friday the 13th, or numerous horror films. Yet, have no problems with The Halloween films or the Scream films (go figure).
I think for me - it's not the slice and dice, but why the slice and dice is happening or something else involved. I can't watch the first "Alien" film or for that matter any of the Alien films that followed, except for Aliens - by James Cameron, that film didn't bother me. Alien did.
Serial killer films don't necessarily bother me (more bored of the trope than horrified to be honest). But, I can't deal with the Torture Porn - couldn't watch Hostile, Saw, or any of those films.
The X-Files and Fringe - feel more realistic to me or fall into the category of realistic horror, while True Blood, Supernatural, Smallville, Being Human, Buffy and Angel fall into camp or unrealistic horror. But Nightmare on Elm Street kept me awake at night...a film I should never have watched. The whole idea of a killer coming at you in your dreams...
Like you - horror novels don't scare or bother me that much. Or make me squeamish. Not sure why. I'm guessing it's less real or maybe it's just how I process information? Because I've read a lot of Stephen King - and the film versions of his books bothered me more than the actual books ever did.
Hard to pin-point what makes me cringe and why...and it does appear to vary from show to show. In regards to Fringe? I think it's the idea of not being in control of your body - of having someone change it. A perfect example is the Farscape episode, DNA Mad Scientist, which always makes me cringe - I find it difficult to watch and cringe throughout - and no, not because it's cheesy ;-). I also have never been able to watch the Star Trek Next Gen episode De-evolution (where a disease causes the crew to de-evolve...one guy becomes a spider). And I can't watch the William Hurt classic Altred States, or Jeff Goldblum's The Fly. Fringe has a lot of that type of horror. As did the X-files. Also parasites and bugs - bother the heck out of me. (The bug guy in Buffy's What's My Line - was possibly the only villian that I couldn't handle.)
I know they aren't real, but part of me..thinks, what if I'm wrong. It's not rational, obviously. But my fear of spiders isn't either. ;-)
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branchandroot
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Date: 2010-09-27 09:52 pm (UTC)It is difficult to quantify isn't it? Much like it is hard to quantify which comedies will make me roar with laughter and which will make me cringe. It's not always rational.
Dismemberment doesn't really bother me - but I can't watch the Saw films and could not handle the dismemberment episodes on Angel for some reason (I Fall To Pieces was unwatchable but not because of dismemberment). Slashing and cutting doesn't bother me necessarily...but I can't watch Nightmare on Elm Street, Friday the 13th, or numerous horror films. Yet, have no problems with The Halloween films or the Scream films (go figure).
I think for me - it's not the slice and dice, but why the slice and dice is happening or something else involved. I can't watch the first "Alien" film or for that matter any of the Alien films that followed, except for Aliens - by James Cameron, that film didn't bother me. Alien did.
Serial killer films don't necessarily bother me (more bored of the trope than horrified to be honest). But, I can't deal with the Torture Porn - couldn't watch Hostile, Saw, or any of those films.
The X-Files and Fringe - feel more realistic to me or fall into the category of realistic horror, while True Blood, Supernatural,
Smallville, Being Human, Buffy and Angel fall into camp or unrealistic horror. But Nightmare on Elm Street kept me awake at night...a film I should never have watched. The whole idea of a killer coming at you in your dreams...
Like you - horror novels don't scare or bother me that much. Or make me squeamish. Not sure why. I'm guessing it's less real or maybe it's just how I process information? Because I've read a lot of Stephen King - and the film versions of his books bothered me more than the actual books ever did.
Hard to pin-point what makes me cringe and why...and it does appear to vary from show to show. In regards to Fringe? I think
it's the idea of not being in control of your body - of having someone change it. A perfect example is the Farscape episode, DNA Mad Scientist, which always makes me cringe - I find it difficult to watch and cringe throughout - and no, not because it's cheesy ;-). I also have never been able to watch the Star Trek Next Gen episode De-evolution (where a disease causes the crew to de-evolve...one guy becomes a spider). And I can't watch the William Hurt classic Altred States, or Jeff Goldblum's The Fly. Fringe has a lot of that type of horror. As did the X-files.
Also parasites and bugs - bother the heck out of me. (The bug guy in Buffy's What's My Line - was possibly the only villian that I couldn't handle.)
I know they aren't real, but part of me..thinks, what if I'm wrong. It's not rational, obviously. But my fear of spiders isn't either. ;-)