Question - Does Anything Really Scare People Anymore?

Does anything really scare people anymore?

Have we all become so jaded by popular media that next to nothing will give us a fright?

I've been giving consideration to what is scary in movies, TV and books, mostly due to watching the X Files after work. Knowing that the X Files were inspired by Kolchak The Night Stalker TV series that was in turn inspired by older horror stories, I began to wonder what scenarios were left that could possibly scare anyone now a days.

I was thinking about movies and books that actually did frighten me when I first watched or read them and how now that I've been saturated by these different scare tactics, these stories wouldn't even give me goose bumps today. I was thinking about how tame the old horror movies are by today's standards of fright. Classics like Lugosi as Dracula, Karloff as Frankenstein's monster, Chaney as the werewolf, these movies actually scared people when they were released, they even paid to see these movies, while I'm more amused by the nostalgia of their presentation.

In current media like game play, there is the "jump scare" that might induce an adrenaline rush, but that is fleeting and not all that intense, mostly because it is expected to happen at some point. Slasher gore has come and gone. What is left that could possibly give anyone a good fright and leave them with nightmares for a week?

Horror is based on primal fears, the fear of death being one of the best fears to use to induce horror, but that doesn't seem to be working anymore, at least for me. If I had a real experience that should by my own instinctual human nature frighten me and I'm not afraid, can I blame my exposure to popular media for that? Is this effect of reducing my instinct for "fight or flight" response a part of a planned outcome due to some agenda to pacify the masses?

Perhaps I'm just too jaded to enjoy a good horror flick anymore, or I'm being manipulated into being passive and defenseless by dulling my instincts.

a reply to: MichiganSwampBuck

There are a few things which still scare me, most of which are AI related, specifically variations on Roko's Basilisk theory and aspects of transhumanism

www.businessinsider.com...#:~:text=A%20thought%20experiment%20called%20%22Roko's,them%20come%20into%20existence%20s ooner.

a reply to: MichiganSwampBuck

I'm scared some unhinged wack job is gonna shoot up a place I happen to be in.

But other than that pretty desensitized to most.

perhaps a movie depicting the dystopian society we will all live in after the asshole democrats get all that they want. But I suppose that scenario has been played out a few times now.

originally posted by: Macenroe82
a reply to: MichiganSwampBuck

I'm scared some unhinged wack job is gonna shoot up a place I happen to be in.

But other than that pretty desensitized to most.

Desensitized, a good descriptive term for this, thanks.

I hear so much gun fire and explosions in my woods that I doubt if an active shooter at my work place would sink in quickly enough. It's something I consider if I go to Detroit, that I wouldn't react to shots fired because I hear them daily and am (as you said) desensitized.

a reply to: MichiganSwampBuck

Yes, the unknown what brings in tomorrow.

originally posted by: network dude
perhaps a movie depicting the dystopian society we will all live in after the asshole democrats get all that they want. But I suppose that scenario has been played out a few times now.

Yes, they've done that one to death like the atomic war threat. The made for TV movie "The Day After" frightened me when it aired, it even got President Reagan's attention at the time. I believe it inspired some treaties with Russia even. I watched that movie again recently, it seems lame to me now compared to contemporary horror.

a reply to: MichiganSwampBuck

I’m a big o’ scaredy-cat. A few years back I wanted my kids to watch nightmare on elm street, as I remember that
Scared me so much.

They were cracking up so bad they were crying. They really didn’t believe that could scare anyone.


What scares people now…
Having to work 8hr, 5 days a week.
Pay for their own food.
Take care of their own kids.

a reply to: MichiganSwampBuck

My ex wives. Both of them. Sorry..(door closing)

When the movies "Jaws" and "The Exorcist" came out, they had induced some pretty good horror in me at the time, while now they are really quite tame. There were some older horror movies that did that to me as well, now those are almost humorous.

originally posted by: JAGStorm
a reply to: MichiganSwampBuck

I’m a big o’ scaredy-cat. A few years back I wanted my kids to watch nightmare on elm street, as I remember that
Scared me so much.

They were cracking up so bad they were crying. They really didn’t believe that could scare anyone.


What scares people now…
Having to work 8hr, 5 days a week.
Pay for their own food.
Take care of their own kids.

Excellent observation with the younger generation that supports my contention, thanks.

originally posted by: network dude
perhaps a movie depicting the dystopian society we will all live in after the asshole democrats get all that they want. But I suppose that scenario has been played out a few times now.

Soylent Green and Brave New World spring to mind.

Both of which are becoming more plausible by the day.

a reply to: MichiganSwampBuck

The D is where im from. lol

originally posted by: MichiganSwampBuck
When the movies "Jaws" and "The Exorcist" came out, they had induced some pretty good horror in me at the time, while now they are really quite tame. There were some older horror movies that did that to me as well, now those are almost humorous.

The exorcist book was so scary I had to stop reading it and throw it away!

Again another one that my kids said isn’t that bad.

a reply to: MichiganSwampBuck

The only horror movie that ever messed with my mind was the blair witch project, I guess setting up a beamer in the middle of the woods in the night and watching it was a failed attempt to cope with the initial trauma...

a reply to: JAGStorm

Books. I was thinking that because when you are reading a book, you can be inside the head of the protagonist and a good writer will set the mood as well and that it can engage you more and produce more horror. In any media though, we're insulated from threat as it is just a story.

On the other hand, like Terpene pointed out, the Blair Witch Project induced the horror reaction for him and I believe that was due to the realism that was portrayed in a documentary format. The more believable and realistic the story is makes it scarier.

I get scared driving within city limits. It has become complete anarchy since traffic laws are no longer enforced and in a rare instance that they are enforced drivers are no longer required to pull over because... ???

originally posted by: Cymru

originally posted by: network dude
perhaps a movie depicting the dystopian society we will all live in after the asshole democrats get all that they want. But I suppose that scenario has been played out a few times now.

Soylent Green and Brave New World spring to mind.

Both of which are becoming more plausible by the day.

Soylent Green had a long build up, one where the viewer had to make deductions like the main character did. Finally is the climax, the iconic scene when Heston shouts, "Soylent green is made out of people!" Quite shocking at the time, not so much now.

originally posted by: seattlerat
I get scared driving within city limits. It has become complete anarchy since traffic laws are no longer enforced and in a rare instance that they are enforced drivers are no longer required to pull over because... ???

Oh that’s a good one.

For me, I wouldn’t say it’s full out fear as much as a new awareness slight anxiety.

I went to the mall for the first time in a while. There has been some crime there.
I was very cognizant of my surrounding and actually thinking of what I would do if there were an active shooter….

a reply to: MichiganSwampBuck


Every time Biden has a press conference, his beady little squinting eyes scares the bejesus out of me.

Even people with teardrop tattoos are more trustworthy imo!