What makes a good horror film?

What makes a good horror film? Well it's a rhetorical question, there is no clear answer. And if there was there would be no such thing as a bad horror film, just look at the Friday the 13th, or Halloween, or even A Nightmare on Elm Street. All hallmark horror films with iconic characters. But lets be honest they are not the most intriguing horror films. Relying on overused, outdated gimmicks and clichés such as, teen sex, blood, guts and gore. And lets not forget "the trip", it happens in every single time. The protagonist is running away from the pursuing villain and they always seem to fall over, whether it be a tree branch or nothing at all. And surprisingly in every film, they never get up, they crawl forward a couple of feet and are then swiftly captured, meeting there expected demise. What I'm getting at is, I don't want my film to be like all these other predictable and cliché films, so in order to do this there needs to be thorough research and advice from my peers.

The thing is with horror films, most of them seem to be picked from the same barrel of clichés and tropes, and once you start seeing the seams, it's not hard to notice them in each horror you watch. And the thing that annoys me is that these clichés are used over and over and over again, I really can't remember the last horror film that actually shocked me, and didn't just rely on jump scares or something lurking at the edge of the frame. And in the past ten years the found footage genre has taken off. Most people would say it started, or gained notoriety with the release of 'The Blair Witch Project'. And when this first came out it was a fairly original concept. It had the classic screams and odd jump scare, but it did not need blood, guts, sex and gore to shock the audience. It just relied on the constant tension, silence, forest setting, and most importantly the documentary style footage, giving the impression that it actually happened. But it is now 2015, and the found footage genre is slowly becoming predictable and outdated. Though I still believe that this is the most effective way to scare / shock my audience. It is not possible to come up with something completely original, but I think the best way to create a great film, (or trailer), is to make it un-predictable. You could have the worst plot in the world with bad actors, but if you make it un-predictable you can still produce a shocking and good film. Steer clear of overused clichés and tropes. A film that I really enjoyed was 'The Cabin in the Woods', I think it is one of the smartest horror films to date, because it was one, scary, but two, original. It starts with the cliché, 5 stereotypical teens on their way to stay in a cabin in the woods. Upon entering they all instantly have a "bad feeling", having second thoughts about their choice. Then surprise-surprise, they all start drinking and having sex, with zombies rising from the dead and approaching the house. But the big twist comes when we find out that these zombies are being controlled by a company who sacrifice a small group of humans in order to save the human race from an unseen god. So this movie plays on classic clichés and stereotypes, but in a way mocks them and turns a crappy cliché horror flick into an un-predictable sci-fi horror.

There is no clear answer to what makes a good horror film. My thoughts are keep it original, keep it un-predictable. Only then will you have total attention and control over your audience.