The other day, I was scanning through our forums, looking to see what others have written in the hot topics and looking for something to write in. When I came to the conclusion that all the topics were old and nothing was interesting, I started looking at our forum members. Then, this thought/question came to me – “I wonder what type of horror fans these people are?” I went deeper with that question and wonder what subgenre fan they considered themselves in horror. I can tell most of the time just from looking at their user name and their posts they create what kind of a fan they are.
Then, I went further with this thought/question and made a post with a poll. I want to see, and I’m sure you might want to as well to fill some kind of bored curiousity, what kind of fan you are and which field we have most here at HYB. There are six fields that I believe are the biggest and broadest for everyone to be placed in one. Like our difference human nature and behavior, what we like in our genre is vastly different among us all.
A description of each of the six fields are underneath the poll. Read them carefully, make a decision on which best describes you and then vote. Simple as that.
Analytical: You’ve been to too many film classes to sit yourself down and to completely enjoy a horror movie without criticizing it. You try to break it down, discovering all the good and the bad qualities just to be snotty to those who think highly of a film for all the wrong reasons. You have a deep appreciation for realism – especially in dialogue, make up, special effects. You pre-judge films based on director, screenwriter, cast and, most of the time, production company.
Subgenre: You love horror but you’re seriously stuck and hung up on a subgenre. You call it home whether it is the slasher, zombie, supernatural, werewolf, etc. subgenre. You could care less about other subgenres and only give them a distant appreciation for being in the same genre. You own more of one than the other and you watch that one more than the others. Your loyalty runs deep and you can’t see it changing anytime soon.
Gorehound: You’re a blood, guts and gore fiend. Anything that deals with buckets of blood can satisfy you. Your library consists of films like Hostel, Faces of Death, Nekromantik, and other similar bloody and torture porn-ish films. You and others like you probably and most of the time listen to metal, thrash, or hard rock music or albums. You go for the strong R to unrated rating and take a crap on anything that puts PG-13 and horror on the same DVD cover.
Frightened: You love a good scare. You thrive off being thrilled and chilled. You appreciate the fake and the actual scares just as long as they make you jump in your soiled seat. If you’re not sitting in a dark room in the middle of the night than you’re not watching a horror movie. Most of the time, you can’t watch a horror movie alone and need someone there to hold your hand. This field usually associates itself with women but if you’re a dude, you won’t be judged – sissy boy!
Mainstreamer: You usually stick with the most popular horror icons that the whole world recognizes. You’re a fan of franchises. For example, you would rather watch the Halloween, Hellraiser, Friday the 13, or Alien series rather than glue your eyes to more stand-a-lone cult classics like Cannibal Holocaust or Slime City. Those who usually associate with this field are those who are 25 years of age or younger. You wish not to expand your collective and want to stick with what you know.
Indie: You stick your nose up to mainstreamers. You like mainstream horror but you want to diversify and see what else is out there. You dig and appreciate films like Murder-Set-Pieces even though it is a piece of crap but it is an indie piece of crap. You are more prone to buy movies based on their lesser known studios like Brain Damage and IFC. You might attend more festivals than cinema theaters just in hopes to see what upcoming budget horror flicks are around the corner.
These are the best fields that represent horror fans. If I’m missing one, please comment below and we’ll discuss it further.
I am a huge fan of all things horror, but my true love are slasher movies. I own twice as many slasher movies as any other subgenre. I’m also a big fan of indie horror, and do often thumb my nose at what plays in theaters.
I’m glad my descriptions were on the nose. -Steven ( I can only write comments under Wil’s name…)
I went with analytical but that\’s because you forgot my \"type\" – the classicist; a person who believes that all great horror was made in a previous decade (which decade depends on the individual, usually the decade when he/she was a child/young teen) and all modern horror is CRAP except for the films that pay homage to (ie; slavishly ape) classics of the era when horror RULED (which, by the way, was the late 60\’s-early 70\’s).
As much as I agree with you that modern horror is utter crap, I believe the 80’s to be a combination of the 60’s and 70’s and modern horror. It has the style sets the tone of atmosphere and killers with more than a sluggish ape like personality along with the more modern effects.
Yeah, you have your own type as a classicists (or a decade fan) and that is one I forgot but you’ve picked the best out that closely resembles. — Steven
I’m an analytical indie gorehound.
FUCK YES!!!!!
It seems that of the choices, I’m an INDIE horror fan. Though I do enjoy GORE and FRIGHTS, while tending to be a little ANALYTICAL at times. I watch almost any kind of horror film so SUBGENRE isn’t a big deal. While critical of most MAINSTREAM movies, I’ll still watch.