Meh, maybe not. Different things scare different people. Extreme gore and violence doesn't scare me, just kinda grosses me out/makes me laugh.
Truly scary things for me are disturbing images and the supernatural, although it's more of a fascination than fright. That "Cigarette Burns" episode was pretty cool...not very scary at all but really interesting. Extreme suspense is more unnerving than gore and violence for me. I think the scariest movie of all time is the original Night of the Living Dead, honestly. I'm eagerly awaiting for someone to up the ante.
Indeed suspense makes the best horror, but it's even better for me with the slightest bit of gore for the gross out factor, i.e. The Thing, Alien, Dawn of the Dead. Now those are scary.
The gore in House by the Cemetery isn't particularly memorable, compared to other Fulci films, but it shines because I think they nail the suspense of "there's an evil creature in the basement," and then during the final scenes it is an absolute
nightmare.
On the other end you get the snoozefest J-horrors which try their hardest to make it all suspense, with no payoff, or if they do its when something finally appears at the end. Along these same line, is the 70s horror classic, Don't Look Now, which I'd say suffers from the same problem. People love it though, and claim its terrifying, so its worth a try. The ending is frightening, sure, but completely hilarious at the same time. I won't spoil it, but I just find it
too funny.
I am all for hidden, unspeakable horrors, Lovecraft style, but the thing is if the writing can't pull that off, it just doesn't work. This is why in film adaptations of Lovecraft's works, I'd dare say the payoff of showing a creature is mandatory. Carpenter and Gordon made masterworks of this combination of film artistry and Lovecraftian horror. This reminds me that the episode of Master of Horror, "Dreams in the Witch House," is particularly well done, though not at all frightening.
I forget from the thread a while ago where we talked about [REC], but have you seen that film? I'd say its probably the closest thing we've had in a while to a modern day Night of the Living Dead.
