Clockwise from top left: Halloween (Photo: Fotos International/Getty Images); Psycho (Photo: Sunset Boulevard/Corbis/Getty Images); The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (Photo: LMPC/Getty Images); The Exorcist (Photo: Warner Bros./Getty Images) Graphic: Baraka Kaseko
Most people use the terms “horror movie” and “scary movie” interchangeably. But that raises a question: Does a horror film really have to be scary? And are some scares better or more valuable than others? On this week’s episode of Film Club, critics A.A. Dowd and Katie Rife discuss these questions, as well as the horror genre’s regular tactics for getting under an audience’s skin. They then confess which movies frighten them the most.