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Atmosphere
I felt the desire to discuss my personal favorite element in horror. I am a fan of lovecraft, and the Alien series, and Romero's Dead movies, and the Doom and Quake game families, and if there is one common thread between all of them, it is atmosphere.
The setting and build up are integral to creating fear. One of the creepeist scenes in any movie is in Fallen where Denzel Washington is on the street and the demon is jumping from person to person, taunting him. That scene happens in broad daylight.
Gore can play a part in atmosphere if it is PART of it, not the focus. The video game industry has been using this for years now. Half-Life and FEAR used a combination of the occasional messy dead body, but mostly just blood stains and signs of struggle to ramp up the creepyness.
And the dream sequences in FEAR.... I have a hard time playing any of them alone. Never has a little girl been so threatening....
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