Watching scary movies is a must during Halloween. There’s just something about the season that makes watching them a little creepier than watching them in the summer. I feel, though, some of the latest horror movies are slacking in their fear factor. Probably because most of it is unoriginal. There needs to be less remakes and some new and different ideas. And why are there so many disgusting scenes in movies nowadays? Maybe directors are starting to confuse the words gory with scary.

An obscene amount of blood and the view of intestines or brains being ripped out isn’t scary…it’s just gross. Movies are supposed to make you jump, scream or break the person’s hand next to you because you’re squeezing it too hard. Watching someone’s eye be burned out (like in Hostel) or some crazy doctor sewing people together (like in The Human Centipede) instead makes you turn your head away so you don’t vomit in your popcorn.

Sequel “The Human Centipede 2” obviously invokes the same reaction if not worse. The movie was banned in the UK by the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) and is unavailable to air in theaters, be sold on DVD’s or be downloaded in the UK. But then again, who would want to see it when the movie is about an insane man who gets aroused from seeing people tortured and mutilated? Movies like this don’t scare people; they sicken them. Just because a movie is graphically violent doesn’t make it scary.

When questioned about his favorite scary movie, senior marketing major Ryan McCool said, “The Shining because of the suspense, and it’s a well laid out movie compared to the new blood-and-gore-type movies.”

With the right sound effects, lighting and storyline, a movie can easily be made scary. The original Halloween, directed by John Carpenter in 1978, is better than the remake directed by Rob Zombie in 2007. Although special effects may have lacked in 1978, the original Halloween brought more terror than the remake primarily because of the iconic creepy theme song that played when Michael Meyers was coming.

The idea that we can relate to something or that it’s true also invokes fear in horror movies.

“Texas chainsaw massacre is my favorite scary movie because it’s based on a true story and actually happened,” said Sergio Vazquez freshman accounting major.

In The Strangers when the victim asks the killers at the end, “Why are you doing this?” the killers’ simple response, “Because you were home,” made me believe the story.

The Paranormal Activity movies are popular because their premise can happen to anyone. However, having just come out with its third installment, you can only have so many “paranormal activities” before you over do it like the Saw series.

The remakes need to slow down as well, especially in the recent phase of taking an original movie that was scary and turning it into a blood fest. I’m sure someone has a new, different and creative mind out there: one that can stop the horror genre from taking a possible plunge. I beg you: Please make your way to Hollywood. It’s not to say that all recent movies aren’t scary; that’s not true. But most of them are going in the wrong direction and missing the simple things that makes a movie great. One rule to remember: In horror, sometimes less is more.