What makes a good horror movie

Horror movies are jam packed with suspense, gore, the supernatural and hit every type of fear out there to tingle all the senses. They’re designed to terrify you in the best possible way whilst having a good time. But what really does make a good horror movie?

The pace - When it comes to a horror movie, you don’t want all the scary bits all at once nor do you want them to be spaced too far out, there has to be the right amount of balance. You want to create a buildup that shocks the audience when you hit a climactic point. If it’s too slow the audience will get bored but if the pace is too fast then it’s a bit over the top.

The Dark - Since childhood, we are afraid of the dark - not the dark itself but what’s hidden within it. That when a horror movie uses darkness as a fear tactic, it can really enhance all of the senses and put you on edge. It can also add to the fear factor when you watch the movie in the dark.

Suspense - The best horror movies are packed with suspense. Suspense involves creating anticipation that something bad will happen but not knowing when it will occur. A lot of good horror movies create anticipation but then violate the audiences’ expectations.

Spooky music - Music can really add something to any mood, especially in horror movies. It’s used in horrors to add creepiness and accentuate actions seen on screen.

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5 of the World’s Scariest Travel Destinations

Love travelling and mystery? Then why not combine the two with these five destinations which are known to be the scariest in the world.

Sleepy Hollow, New York

If you love Washington Irving’s classic tale of the Headless Horseman who is searching for his lost head, then be sure to give the town of Tarrytown, New York, a visit. Just over one hour from NYC in the Hudson Valley, you can visit the church’s burial ground and listen to the story read aloud inside the church itself. You can take a lantern tour of the Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, where Irving is buried, but be careful, you might even run into the horseman himself!

Transylvania

When visiting Romania, a stop in Transylvania cannot be missed. Bran Castle, or Dracula’s Castle, obviously has a connection to the real-life prince Vlad the Impaler, and hosts an annual Halloween party for those not afraid of the legend. Other impressive castles linked with the prince include Poenari Fortress and Corvin Castle.

London

Even though it’s an international capital, London can be eerie with its mist and fog. You can take a tour of Jack the Ripper’s trail through Whitechapel, then visit The Ten Bells pub where his victims passed time before meeting their fate. Then, on the banks of the Thames River, you can explore the Tower of London where many royal beheadings took place including Henry VIII’s wife Anne Boleyn. They say spirits of the executed still walk the grounds. In northern London’s Highgate Cemetery there have been sightings of phantoms, and even a vampire, wandering among the tombstones.

New Orleans

New Orleans is named the most haunted city in America, with its Voodoo, vampires and ghosts just about everywhere. It has been the location for many movies including Interview with the Vampire, True Blood, and American Horror Story, and you can take a ghost tour to hear about the atrocities which took place at the LaLaurie mansion. When in the French Quarter, visit the haunted bars and pubs, take a peek inside a voodoo shop, and take a walk through St. Louis Cemetery No. 1 which is the burial place of “voodoo queen” Marie Laveau.

La Isla de las Muñecas (Island of the Dolls), Mexico

If you are visiting Mexico City and the UNESCO World Heritage site of Xochimilco, don’t forget to check out this creepy destination. Apparently the Island of the Dolls is home to the spirit of a young girl who drowned offshore, and a recluse who lived on the island believed collecting filthy dolls and missing body parts would appease her spirit. Visitors to the island have actually said the dolls move, blink their eyes, and even whisper. Now how scary is that?

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Two young adult horror novels worth checking out

Although many horror tales can be pretty graphic and gruesome, they are by no means a no-go area for young adults. As books like that the Twilight series have shown, there is an appetite for good young adult horror novels. Here are two worth checking out.

Half-Resurrection Blues by Daniel Jose Older

In a futuristic New York city, the living and the dead mingle and it is up to the New York Council of the Dead to regulate it all. Carlos Delacruz is one of the council’s agents, but he is the living embodiment of the very entities he is pursuing. Carlos himself is a half-dead inbetweener with a sketchy memory about how he came to walk that fine line. He doesn’t remember suffering or how he came to have a foot in both camps. That all changes, though, when he meets another inbetweener, although one with sinister motives.

This half-dead sorcerer wants to throw open the gateway between the living dead and has already assembled an army of undead which he plans to overrun the city with. Carlos’s job is to stop him, but in trying to, he discovers something about himself.

Minion by LA Banks

Damali Richards is one of the prize artists for Warriors of Light Records. She is Spoken Word star, but hides a dark, nocturnal secret. When she’s not wowing audiences or recording new tracks, Damali is out hunting vampires and other creatures of the underworld. However, her worlds start to collide when a series of killings seemingly carried out by vampires targets other Warriors of the Light artists. Soon, she realises she is not dealing with any ordinary vampire here and Damali quickly learns that she too is on their hitlist. Can she battle these dark forces and save her own soul before it’s too late?

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Horror fiction: How the genre rose from the dead

Book stores are reporting a spike in sales of horror books in the last few years and it appears that nostalgia has a big part to play in this recent resurgence of the genre.

The public’s appetite for this kind of nostalgic horror has been whetted, it seems by TV shows and movies.

The huge success of Netflix TV show Stranger Things is being credited with reawakening readers’ interest in horror fiction. The show is set in the 1980s and features a group of kids encounter, well, strange things, such as supernatural episodes, aliens and other pretty creepy stuff.

Similarly, the remake of IT, a movie based on a Stephen King novel, has led a whole new generation to discover the work of the godfather of horror writing.

British book chain Waterstones reported that they had seen a 33% growth in their sales of horror fiction. In a report in the Daily Telegraph, Waterstones horror buyer Kate McHale credits Stranger Things with that surge, saying that the show has “tapped into that 80s horror nostalgia and created an incredible reader resurgence in the genre.”

The remake of IT grossed over $700million, which is another indication that the genre is in rude health and that King’s work has an enduring appeal.

The appetite for the more supernatural style of horror thriller is certainly reflected in the popularity of books such as The Loney by Andrew Michael Hurley, which was named book of the year in 2016 at the British Book Awards.

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Best zombie and vampire movies on Netflix right now

When it comes to monster movies, it is undeniable that they make some of the best horror movies out there. Not humans possessed by demons or psychopaths coming to kill, but humans changed by dark forces into beasts that threaten to wipe out the rest of the human race. Here’s our run down of the best zombie and vampire monster movies on Netflix in January.

Shaun of the Dead

Part of the cornetto trilogy, Shaun of the Dead sees a man (Simon Pegg) waking up one morning to discover that zombies have taken over and he has to save his mum, best friend and girlfriend (but not his step-father) from being turned into zombies. The best way he can think of doing that – heading to the pub.

From Dusk till Dawn

Before his rise to fame thanks to films such as Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction and Kill Bill, Quentin Tarantino wrote From Dusk til Dawn. A strange but ultimately brilliant movie about two thieves that end up at a strip club that’s open from Dusk till Dawn with a family of three. Though it seems to be a crime thriller, you soon discover that the strip club is full of vampires.

Train to Busan

Zombies on a train could have been the title of this movie. As the zombie apocalypse begins in South Korea, a group of strangers are trapped on a train and end up fighting against the zombies. Simple as it sounds; this movie is elegant, exciting and surprising. The characters are easy to fall in love with and it is easily one of the greatest zombie movies ever made.

To find out more about what’s on Netflix this January, check out www.vidicus.com where you’ll find out more.