gaming horror movies vs horror games, which is better?

[~Sole~ 852]

I've been playing horror games for a while now, and I've loved them. But I really like watching horror movies too, I grew up watching the classics. But since I've started to play games like slender, scp, and stairwell, I haven't had a movie even make me flinch. And it got me wondering if I'm too use to playing the games that movies no longer scare me. In my opinion, games are way more intense, they're so immersive and fun! What do you guys think?

[Koori 156]

Both can be quite unpredictable and intense in their own ways so I'll answer by thinking about originality and ideas.

 

Horror movies can have very good ideas. Such ones that will scare the viewer big time with their originality and even classic ones can still raise some hairs up like Resident Evil [the movie], which I think kinda revived the zombie genre. Not to mention movies like Alien, The Thing, IT, etc.

 

Now the games... the games in turn can have very original ideas like just escaping the danger without having any weapons (like Amnesia, Slenderman and Penumbra), which can have very intense and scary moments. This idea has already been used so much that it's actually getting old though, but it still works. Even RPG genre has had horror elements in them (like The Witch's House and Mad Father) recently.

 

What separates these two is that in the games it is the player him/herself who feels like been chased, been in danger and can get scared pretty easily. Amnesia is the perfect example of this, because the player has to survive without any weapons while keeping his sanity fine. Panic and you're dead. In other words, you'll feel like you're in the game which makes it intense.

 

So yeah... with this mind, I'd say the horror games are better than horror movies even though the movies can be very intense too.

[Blue Moon 6,341]

Games tend to be scarier as your put into the shoes of whoever the horror story is happening too which amplifies the scariness factor by quite a bit. So in my opinion, games tend to be scarier.

 

However, movies can be more memorable and if they do manage to scare, they often do it very well. And there are some things you can only have in horror movies that don't exist in games.

 

This is a hard choice, but I think I'll have to go with saying that horror games are better.

[Tenshinohana 264]

I've never been the type who'd get scared of horror movies. But horror games just... Aaaa, I just can't play them!  I just get so nervous while playing them, because I hate surprises and games that need a fast reaction if there comes a moment where you need to react (that's why I don't really like FPS-games).

 

But I have to admit that I have a love/hate relationship to horror games, so I have to say games.

 

Mainly because you're the one who has to survive, and the things happen to you. In horror movies it's just so easy to see what happens next and analyze the characters... (I tend to do that, and that's why movies never hit me. They tend to have the same pattern in every single one of them.)

Edited June 16, 2013 by Tenshinohana

[Crystallize 279]

When I was young I loved horror games and how much they scared me but now I just don't find any that scary. And I don't understand why Slenderman is that scary. People have said it scared them sh*tless and they couldn't sleep for weeks. Horror movies still give me thrills and chills so I prefer that.

[Just some guy 1,070]

Horror games for me.It's much easier for me to get immersed into a video game than a movie and I usually get super scared easily while playing horror games.Hell,I can barely play through ten minutes of one without getting stressed and breathing heavily.

 

Horror movies,on the other hand,do nothing to me in the way of fear.They're rather quite comedic for me,and there's no suspense since most horror films seem to be predictable to me.

Edited June 16, 2013 by CaptainBlue808

[Party Cannon 876]

It depends on the movie, it depends on the game. I think it's not accurate to compare them side by side because they are different enough. It is like comparing apples to oranges, in the sense that they are both fruit (media), are sweet (scary), and grow on trees (have similar sources, design, construction, and elements).

 

With that said, I don't think a Dead Space movie would be as scary as the game, but I don't think an Exorcist game would be as scary as the movie. Plus, it depends on what scares you: the "jump scares," the gore, or even that fact that it is something that could happen in reality, like Silence of the Lambs and the like.

 

So yes and no. At the end of the day, it's mainly what scares you, not quite how it is presented.

[Tenshinohana 264]

And I don't understand why Slenderman is that scary. People have said it scared them sh*tless and they couldn't sleep for weeks.

Yeah, I kinda see it as the same thing too. I don't see it as creepy or scary, it's just one big jumpscare.

 

There's a difference in being jumpscared and scared. You can surprise anyone, but really getting them scared and almost fear the game (fear's a little bit too strong, but I think you catch my drift) is what makes a horror game so good.

 

In movies there tend to be just so many jumpscares, and they are all pretty predictable. That's why I don't really care about them anymore.

Edited June 16, 2013 by Tenshinohana

[RarityYeon02 0]

To me, movies.In games you have to figure out how to continue the storyline and all that.Some may find it a major turn off. But movies are way too predictable

[Beyonder 46]

Both can be absolutely terrifying, given the right conditions. In all honesty, I'd say it's pretty much a tie, with a slight edge for games.

[YALL ARE FUCKING GAY 505]

id have to say horror games because yore playing as the character i find horror games to be more fun than horror movies any way

[Darker 1,351]

Old horror movies are great, but most horror games are incredibly good. Silent Hill and Resident Evil come to mind.