10 Subtle Tricks Horror Movies Use To Scare You

One of the more common tricks featured here, mostly because it can be effectively utilised by many genres as well as horror, long takes are a useful tool for building tension in an unexpected way.

Although long takes are often associated with a slow, meditative pace and boring lack of action, particularly if they remain static for the duration of the entire sequence, the opposite reaction can also be observed in a lot of audiences. Many long takes build an intense sense of tension as viewers become convinced that something is vaguely, ineffably wrong.

Just look at the films of David Lynch, and in particular 2017's Twin Peaks: The Return, to see this principle in intense, unsettling action.

Viewers who have consumed hundreds of hours of media have a subconscious idea of how a "normal" film should look, sound, and feel. It's why even casual viewers tend to notice technical mistakes in films, as there is a subconscious expectation which hasn't been fulfilled when a scene fails to hit its marks.

In horror, a scene stretching out longer than necessary leads a viewer to wonder what's going to happen, why it feels so slow, and what inevitable bang will come at the end of this long silence.