76
votes
Did any actor ever win an Oscar for their work in a horror movie?
Of course they did:
Rosemary's Baby: Ruth Gordon won for Best Supporting Actress
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931): "Fredric March’s performance as the title character(s) earned the film a Best Leading ...
38
votes
Accepted
Why are dolls, teddy bears, etc. used as horror objects in horror films?
This great source provides some answers given by people related to horror genre (filmmakers, writers and experts).
Below are some quotes from their answers to the question Why are dolls and clowns, ...
36
votes
Is there a term referring to the transgression that often begins a horror film?
It's not specific to horror movies, but the event or action that kicks off the plot of a movie is typically called it's inciting incident.
This is a literary term that applies to almost anything with ...
28
votes
Horror movie set in an arctic research station
That sounds like John Carpenter's remake of The Thing, (1982).
Scientists in the Antarctic are confronted by a shape-shifting alien
that assumes the appearance of the people that it kills.
...
27
votes
Is there a specific name for a character that is a sacrificial "example"?
As @BrettFromLA mentioned is the comments, I would suggest this character is called the:
Red Shirt
Warning! TV Tropes Link!
The trope name come from Stark Trek: The Original Series where the new ...
27
votes
Accepted
Horror/sci-fi alien attack found-footage movie
This is Cloverfield (2008) and the smaller creatures you are referring to are called Parasites
The monster was covered in 2,000 Parasites that are roughly the same weight and height as a dog. They ...
22
votes
Did any actor ever win an Oscar for their work in a horror movie?
Ruth Gordon won Best Supporting Actress in Rosemary's Baby.
This article lists 14 horror films "noticed" by the Academy, including Misery and Silence of the Lambs. Whether these two can be classified ...
18
votes
Accepted
Man tries to kill a group of people with complex traps
This is Mindhunters from 2004 with Jonny Lee Miller and Christian Slater:
On a remote island, the FBI has a training program for their psychological profiling division, called "Mindhunters", used ...
17
votes
Accepted
An innocent man kills his family because there was no hope
This is definitely the Mist: best ending to a horror movie ever.
Tom Jane, who is fantastic in it, insisted the ending not be changed or he wouldn't complete the movie. He was a big supporter of it.
...
17
votes
Accepted
TV episode about patient who has revenge on plastic surgeon who botched his/her surgery
Yes, that does ring a bell. There were a number of pretty good series that basically emulated the Twilight Zone in format and style.
One of those was the HBO-created series called The Hitchhiker (...
14
votes
Movie where contestants have to kill one another for money
Probably House of Nine. The lead is Kelly Brook.
The description you provided matches the plot in the wiki page.
Nine strangers have been abducted and locked inside a house. A
mysterious voice ...
14
votes
Accepted
Horror movie about psychopath murderer parents who raise daughter to be perfect until little boy helps her out
Is it People Under the Stairs (1991)?
The plot seems very similar. Plus here are a few quotes that look like a good match:
The Robesons, who are believed to be a married couple, call themselves ...
13
votes
Is there a specific name for a character that is a sacrificial "example"?
In literature what you're looking for is called the 'sacrificial lamb'. A character whose sole purpose is to die so as to give the protagonist a reason to act. It also can be used to show just how '...
13
votes
Accepted
Movie about a bridge accident, people dying horribly and premonition
This is Final Destination 5 (2011)
Sam Lawton is on his way to a company retreat with his colleagues. While their bus crosses the North Bay Bridge, Sam has a ...
13
votes
Accepted
Does a horror movie have to have supernatural elements?
No
Horror does not require supernatural elements. The Horror genre is defined by the deliberate attempt to invoke a phychological reaction of terror, fear, shock and revulsion in the audience. It is ...
12
votes
Accepted
Horror movie about a mask that turned people into demons
This is the Dario Argento produced film Demons (1985) about a group of people invited to a free movie screening who are then infected and turn to demons. This starts when one character named Rosemary:
...
12
votes
Accepted
Do sound effects, specially in horror movies, use emotion initiating frequencies?
Rather than specific frequencies it is more about musical intervals. It is pretty well accepted that specific chords and scales have associations with particular emotions for example music in a minor ...
12
votes
Accepted
A horror movie about witch in the attic
It's a TV episode, not a movie, What you probably saw was Dreams in the Witch-House:
H. P. Lovecraft's Dreams in the Witch House is the second episode of the first season of Masters of Horror, ...
12
votes
Accepted
Movie about a girl who wishes or writes in a book for things to happen to people?
This is Devil's Diary from 2007 that aired on Lifetime.
When two friends, Dominique and Ursula, uncover an ancient book in a graveyard one night, they discover that the book has the supernatural ...
11
votes
Accepted
Movie about a girl who had another different life when she dreamed
This is the plot of Dark Corners from 2006 with Thora Birch.
Birch plays two characters, alternating between them each time she falls asleep, each of whom believes that the other is a dream. The ...
11
votes
Accepted
Post Apocalyptic and disturbing Anime from my childhood
Akira (1988)
A secret military project endangers Neo-Tokyo when it turns a biker
gang member into a rampaging psychic psychopath that only two
teenagers and a group of psychics can stop.
Here ...
10
votes
Accepted
Please identify this horror movie about ghosts that only attack in the dark
You're describing The Darkness from 2002 with Anna Paquin and Lena Olin.
Forty years after an unfinished occult ritual resulted in the disappearance of six children, an American family has moved ...
10
votes
Accepted
Is there a criterion to differentiate "thriller" from "horror"?
Your observation is correct: "thriller" and "horror" are often thinly separated in the already vague world of film taxonomy. There isn't really One True criterion for distinguishing the two.
That ...
10
votes
Accepted
Name of horror film about train and reality shift in tunnels?
I did some quick digging, and found that this from Season 2, episode 19 of "Tales From the Darkside" called "The Last Car".
There's a full synopsis at http://talesfromthedarkside.wikia.com/wiki/...
9
votes
Accepted
Which movie ended with the male protagonist's mother in the body of his girlfriend?
You're looking for Severed Ties from 1992.
Severed Ties is a 1992 comedy horror film directed by Damon Santostefano. It was released to video by Columbia TriStar Home Video. A regeneration ...
9
votes
Why are dolls, teddy bears, etc. used as horror objects in horror films?
I think the reason why is because they portray innocence. It is easier for nobody to suspect anything and therefore fear related things are hidden in them. Nobody would willingly hold a knife or gun. ...
9
votes
Accepted
What was that horror movie where a priest is chopping a chocolate bar?
You're looking for the horror film Catacombs (AKA Curse IV: The Ultimate Sacrifice) from 1988. From Wikipedia:
In the 17th century, an order of monks in Italy capture and entomb a demon that has ...
8
votes
Accepted
Exceptions to horror genre and female sexuality tropes?
Buffy was conceptualized by Joss Whedon specifically as a twist to this trope albeit in a simpler way.
There are two ways to view this trope. The first is that in a group one of the first to die is ...
8
votes
Movie with a man who lives in the wall and a home invasion
Housebound from 2014, though I think the psychiatrist is more of a social worker.
Kylie Bucknell is forced to return to the house she grew up in when the court places her on home detention. However,...
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