Horror Sequels: Why so ‘not’ Scary?

The most terrifying things are usually those we conjure up in our minds. The monster under the bed, the shadow in the corner of the bedroom, the rustling of leaves that could be the footsteps of some unseen monster. Everything is always scarier when we imagine what it could be, the suspense of knowing something is maybe there, but not being entirely sure. This, for me, is what real horror is about.

(Before I get going with this point, let me first say that I am not discounting any horror films that are very visual, because they use horror in a different way, which I may explore at a later date…)

Anyone knows that the thrill of watching horror comes from the fear and suspense, what does the monster look like? When will it appear? Is it even real? All of those things keep up constantly second-guessing, but what happens when we see the threat in its full form?

It is pretty much the best thing about most classic horror films, what makes them so iconic, is that the thing that is scary is rarely seen, or that it is only seen at the end of the movie. In Jaws, the shark is only seen in full, 80 minutes into the film. In Alien, again, we don’t see the Xenomorph in full until the end, we can catch glimpses of it in the ship if you look hard enough. So what happens when the suspense is gone and we see the monster?

For me, the fear dulls dramatically, I sit there taking the whole thing in, thinking…well, that isn’t as bad as I thought now, is it? I can only liken it to anxiety in a way. I know for a fact that I build things up so much in my head, like making a simple phone call, I think of all the terrible things that could happen over and over, and then when I eventually plucked up the courage to do it, it isn’t as bad as I made out.

This tends to happen in most horror sequels. We have already had an entire film of tension, and seeing the big bad, so how can the same tension be built in a sequel? Well, the first solution is, have a new source of fear, this was accomplished in The Conjuring 2 which featured a new demon, Valek in the form of a terrifying nun instead of the demon spirit of the witch, Bathsheba. Or the film could take a whole new direction, as with Aliens, the tension felt by the singular Xenomorph skulking around the Nostromo is replaced by a hoard of them attacking a human colony; which still has its fair share of frights, but is more of an action/horror than a pure horror, and it is this that helps some horror sequels on their way.

But with each sequel, it is only about time when they feel the audience is getting bored. Now, this is what happened with the Paranormal Activity franchise. 1-3 are decent films, 4 goes a bit off the rails, but still has its fair share of jumpy moments. The fifth and sixth instalments, however, take the series down a spiral of ridiculousness in an effort to shed light on the mystery of the demon from the first few films.

The first film in the series follows Katie Featherston and Micah Sloat who decide to film their everyday lives after Katie believes she is being haunted by a demon. The film is found-footage and every one of the series afterwards followed this format, becoming less believable with each film, with the excuses for why the characters have a camera rolling constantly being less and less and something that we as viewers have to just accept.

However the first couple of films have most of the filming taking place of cameras that have been placed around the house, the first film makes more of a point of having Micah hold the camera, however, it is cleverly worked into the dialogue, with Katie becoming increasingly annoyed at him having a camera in his hand constantly. The camera captures the spooky goings-on that we might not have seen on the first watch, we sometimes live through the fear of the characters when the footage is then replayed.  Paranormal Activity rarely shows anything, we hear noises, see footsteps in the flour that has been placed on the floor, the fear really ramps up when invisible forces drag Katie out of bed. The first film gives subtle hints about the nature of the being that is tormenting the couple, we know that is is a demon that has haunted Katie since childhood, this is it.

It is only with the second film that we discover that the demon is connected to a coven of witches who promised their firstborn son to the demon in return they become rich. But still, we don’t see what it really looks like, we know it may be animalistic, but we only see the possessed faces of Katie and Christie.

For the most part, the first four films seem quite realistic, as we don’t see the demon. We only see the effect it is having on the people, and the effects are well done. However the fifth film The Marked Ones takes some amount of the far away as it begins to bring in the fantastical, showing the viewer effects that are obviously not real. With people being flung high into the air with pretty bad special effects, which for me ruins what made the first few films so scary.

Now it is the sixth film, The Ghost Dimension that completely destroys any of the tension that was built up in the original films. The final straw is that they pretty much show the demon in its full form. But also create this bizarre different dimension narrative. Showing the demon, for me completely takes the mystery out of the film that made it so scary in the first place.

The same fate is bestowed upon The Blair Witch Project, as in the 2016 sequel, Blair Witch, we catch a glimpse of the form of the witch in the end scene. In some ways, I feel that this is worse, because of the nature of the original. We literally see no trace of the ‘ghost’ we only see stone formations, stick figures in the trees, and hear children’s voices. For all we know the ghost of the witch could have very well been sadistic murderers, the constant guessing creates the suspense and makes the film so much fun, to begin with. Showing the witch just completely rips the fun out of watching a horror like the Blair Witch.

(I went into this in more detail on a previous post on The Blair Witch, you can read it here: https://siobhanaisling.wordpress.com/2018/08/02/the-blair-witch-project-beyond-the-increasing/)

It is either, come up with something new and interesting to create fear, or don’t even bother, it appears that some makers of these sequels think that we want the mystery to be solved, but this is entirely not the point, it gets to the point where the churning out of horror sequels gets tiresome, because it is so obvious that they give what made the original films so scary no credit!

What are your thoughts? Do you like getting answers to the mystery? Or do you feel the same! Drop a comment below!

By Siobhan Eardley.

GIF Credit:

Jaws: http://folderolsoup.tumblr.com/post/155881588238/jaws-1975

Paranormal Activity: https://gfycat.com/gifs/detail/RepulsiveFakeCattle

Blair Witch: https://tenor.com/view/blair-witch-mockumentary-withhunt-scary-horro-gif-7783447