The Psychological Horror Media Megathread

[Cappy]

I've liked horror since quite awhile ago, and I try to feed my appetite for scary/creepy/eerie things by scouring around for the various works and pieces that can catch me somewhat. Honestly speaking, few games have really gotten my horrorboner going, and even fewer movies have even caught my interest for the duration of my viewing them, I got most of my horror miles reading through creepypasta and bits of literature here and there. Manga has probably been my second most successful endeavor, though not really scaring me, various works (ESPECIALLY JUNJI ITO) have been eerie and interesting enough that I simply can't look away. I haven't had a chance to read anything truly scary or creepy bookwise, although I did try and fail to get into one or Steven King books (I don't like his writing all that much, and damn can he be long winded) but I have always wanted to explore more books in the horror genre and possibly even the more tense thrillers with horror elements.

So the purpose of this thread is for everyone to share their cherished finds, their favourite horror stuffs, whatever they may be. It doesn't HAVE to be psychological horror, but I would certainly prefer it personally. I don't know how many of you folks here even like the creepystuffs, but if you do then let me start off by recommending probably one of my favourites and one of the most obvious of suggestions: Junji Ito's

You must be registered to see the links

. This ain't your standard every day spooky skeleton campfire story, it's rather... twisted. Enjoy.

 

[Hopeyouguess62]

Re: The Psychological Horror Media Megathread

I know you didn't enjoy his writing, but I'm curious which Stephen King book you tried--his books are how I got into horror. I started with Pet Sematary in high school, and that book kept me up nights. I also found The Shining pretty damned scary (the book, not the film, though Jack Nicholson's performance is hard to fault).

With that said, though, I'm not really into horror so much these days.

 

[Cappy]

Re: The Psychological Horror Media Megathread

Tried reading IT and Kujo, never really gave him much of a chance after those because it just didn't interest me. So much set up for characters whom I find dis-interesting and unengaging. Then again, it has been a few years.

 

[Ryka]

Re: The Psychological Horror Media Megathread

I probably read wrong, but I misread that Silent Hill actually bases its horrors on questions you answer at the start of the game to PROFESSIONALLY scare you.

I like concepts like that and I wonder that, if I really did misread, that any other game does this.

 

[Cappy]

Re: The Psychological Horror Media Megathread

Only Silent Hill: Shattered Memories does that. The idea originated from Silent Hill 2's thematic base in the main character. All of the enemies and creatures are based around the backstory and psyche of the main character and his guiltboners, it's pretty rad. Somebody basically said, "What if the main character was actually a self-insert of the player and we pushed themes that they selected unconsciously?" then tried to push that idea as far as they could.

It's pretty rad but the idea has it's limits and it also doesn't say anything particularly flattering about the main character, who is by then admittedly just a hollow shell which the player is supposed to crawl into like some kind of brain-parasite for fleshlings without personalities. But still a pretty rad idea. I don't know of any other games that do that, horror games are still pretty niche even with their sudden influx of niche popularity.

 

[noman]

Re: The Psychological Horror Media Megathread

What about Dreadhalls?

You must be registered to see the links

 

[AceofWind]

Re: The Psychological Horror Media Megathread

Shadow Man has some psychological horror elements. You play as a man named Michael LeRoi who dons a mask that gives him supernatural abilities and he journey's through a hellish Haitian voodoo underworld to find his deceased younger brother. A long the way, he also has to prevent an apocalypse from being brought about the world, battling his way through the dead, demons and various serial killers, including a very famous one.

Eventually you're going to come across an area with this music playing that's very unnerving to listen to.

You must be registered to see the links

It's highly recommended that you play the N64 version of this game

 

[Cappy]

Re: The Psychological Horror Media Megathread

In case any of you haven't actually heard of or played them yet, Five Nights at Freddy's 1 & 2 are quite good in their own right. I wouldn't say that they're perfect, they have flaws, but I often facepalm when people say that they're only cheap jumpscares.

That's not strictly true, the series forces tension very well with the atmosphere and lighting, the fact that it forces you to switch between cameras and keep watch on the animatronics is a small piece of genius. The first one had the problem of being a little bit heavy handed and un-immersive with the security doors obviously being a FUK-U to the animatrons, and security are generally not hired to stand by uselessly in a safe room while watching people rob the place.

The second one improves on that by making it more of a stealth thing, using a flashlight to ward away certain animatrons whilst disguising yourself to their facial recognition technology with a mask. This is way better in terms of immersion, and the handcrank jack-in-the-box is also great in it's own way, but inherently unsuiting because it takes away so much time from camera-hopping on your security ipad, but is also great in how it interacts with the tension.

You must be registered to see the links

You must be registered to see the links

 

[Celerityx]

Re: The Psychological Horror Media Megathread

Try some of this captain

You must be registered to see the links

 

[Cappy]

Re: The Psychological Horror Media Megathread

I've always been highly interested in the survival horror genre, and we've had some truly great games of the genre both in the past and in the present (Albeit less so in the present), but I can't handle bullshit puzzles that are there only to turn you around and wander while backtracking all over the place, I understand that it adds to challenge of finding the solution whilst keeping track of limited resources, but there's really got to be a better way.

Some of the shit is so fucking stupid, and the puzzles, if you can even call them that, despite being moronically simple in design 97% of the time, can still hold you up for what could potentially be hours. I just can't handle that in my life, horror-buff or not. Here is a video that helps to illustrate my

You must be registered to see the links

.