(PCM) Halloween is rapidly approaching, and many will spend the month of October watching some scary flicks. Even though people eagerly scour through movies to find that perfect film for the night, everyone has a different opinion on what makes the best horror movie. There are key differences between watching a gory horror movie and picking out a psychological thriller for the evening.
Scariness and Realism
While plenty of people do believe in ghosts, there’s still a handful who don’t. For this group, watching a scary movie with ghosts is missing one factor. They don’t believe that the situation could actually ever happen, so they aren’t watching their backs for the rest of the week. Putting a psychological thriller in the DVD player can often be more chilling because these situations are ones that could potentially happen in real life.
Making You Think
On top of thinking about how the situation might really happen, psychological thrillers have another effect that’s different from bloody horror movies. Usually, movies filled with gore don’t make you think too much about what’s going on, and they often don’t require you to solve a puzzle or put together some evidence. As you can see, the type of movie you should watch tonight depends on how much detective work you’d like to do.
Consider the Audience
When the movie was in production, the director and the rest of the production team probably put a lot of energy into considering the audience and figuring out what the best fit for the movie. You should be doing the same when deciding what to watch tonight. If you have a group of friends coming over who are generally not into a great deal of violence, don’t pick a movie with lots of graphic killings. You should also think about whether or not children are going to be watching the film as well.
‘Tis the Season
Halloween is coming soon so consider that when making your choice. Any time there is holiday, you can try and incorporate a film with a similar theme. Remember, plenty of people dress as ghosts and witches for the season, but they don’t necessarily dress up as characters from psychological thrillers. Those movies tend to be more appropriate at all times of the year while you might want to get your fix for true Halloween slasher movies now. If you’re a person who loves to be seasonally appropriate and keep in tune with the time of the year, then you might want to lean a little bit more toward those classic Halloween films that people have been watching for decades.
Going through all of your scary movies, you probably realize that you have a great deal of options from which to choose. While it’s great that you’re not pushed into a corner with your movie selections, you probably don’t know which ones you want to watch. These tips will help you to decide if a gory classic or a psychological thriller is best for the occasion.
Jacklyn Rodriguez writes about all things related to pop culture and psychology. Her recent work is on the Top 10 Best Online Masters in Psychology Degree Programs.