Since we are entering Horror Film season, I decided to suggest a Horror Film Criteria in order to rate a horror film. Horror films work on several levels—I’m not talking about metaphors or psychology—I’m talking about what makes a film a good horror film. No matter how artsy or exploitive the film, unless it delivers the horror, the film fails, as a horror film at least. But horror is not just scary, several other emotions are involved that culminate in the horror, the horror. I broke it down into five aspects of horror, rate each aspect, then take an average and the result is the horror film rating.
Each item receives one to five stars, with five being the highest rating. How good a horror film is depends on how close it gets to 25 stars. The nearer, the better.
The other idea is that some horror films succeed because they rate high on some of these aspects, but lower in others. For example, I might argue that Dracula films rate low on 1 (scary), yet high on 2 (creepy). How Dracula rate on the other items depends on the specific Dracula. See, a horror film can be a good horror film even though the frights are lower than the creeps. Likewise, a film like Twilight will rank low on all five criteria, hence is not a good horror film, but it still a good movie, pretty good at least. So this is a Limited Perspective Rating System to be used only for Horror Films.
The other idea is that some horror films succeed because they rate high on some of these aspects, but lower in others. For example, I might argue that Dracula films rate low on 1 (scary), yet high on 2 (creepy). How Dracula rate on the other items depends on the specific Dracula. See, a horror film can be a good horror film even though the frights are lower than the creeps. Likewise, a film like Twilight will rank low on all five criteria, hence is not a good horror film, but it still a good movie, pretty good at least. So this is a Limited Perspective Rating System to be used only for Horror Films.
The Criteria:
1) Scary: Is this film scary? Does it inspire fright?
2) Creepy: Does this film sustain an unnerving atmosphere, creating a world where you’re prone to fear what happens next?
3) Suspense: Is it unpredictable? are you in the moment watching the action unfold?
4) Jolts: Does stuff happen that genuinely startles, shocks, causes a flinch?
5) Believable: Is the story credible within the context of the world the film creates?
4) Jolts: Does stuff happen that genuinely startles, shocks, causes a flinch?
5) Believable: Is the story credible within the context of the world the film creates?
Each line item aspect receives 1-5 stars, which stand for this rating:
***** Great**** Good*** Above Average** Average* Below Average
***** Great**** Good*** Above Average** Average* Below Average
I preferred using Great instead of Classic because Classic is quite subjective and prefer classic to be an overall estimation of a film, not a specific genre rating.
Add up the stars, then divide by five. The result is the Horror Film Rating for a specific film. Foolproof!
I could have used cross-bones instead of stars, but that would be cutesy. I don't mind cute, hate cutesy!
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