Horror films

Listen to Mel talking about why she loves horror films and which ones she prefers.

Do the preparation task first. Then listen to the audio and do the exercises.

Preparation

Transcript

I want to talk about, erm, horror films and why I like them and what my favourite types are.

When I was young, I watched the classic horror films like Nightmare on Elm Street and Friday the 13th. My mum told me that when I was about six, she came downstairs in the middle of the night because there was a noise, and it was me watching The Omen on TV in the dark, on my own. So I guess I've always liked horror films.

I really like what are called 'slasher films' – the really gory, bloody, violent films like Final Destination and The Hills Have Eyes. I just find them quite funny and I like the special effects. I don't really find them scary at all. I think the scariest sort of films are the ones that are very tense, like Hitchcock films. I think the scariest one for me is The Birds because it's just very sinister the way that the birds come and sit and look at the people. And you know that it's going to be really bad very soon.

But I think my favourite, favourite sort of horror films are zombie movies. I've watched loads of zombie movies and I really like them. Again, I don't really think they're very scary. Dawn of the Dead is my absolute favourite horror film, I think. It's a film where people just wake up one morning and there are zombies everywhere. If a zombie bites you, you turn into a zombie. And the survivors end up in a shopping mall ... in a shopping centre and they're surrounded by zombies. And it does not have a happy ending.

There's a British comedy horror film called Shaun of the Dead, which is a bit of a joke on the idea of the Dawn of the Dead, which is also really great. The most recent one I watched was a New Zealand film called Black Sheep, which is about zombie sheep. That was pretty funny as well.

The most recent horror film I watched was on a plane last time I went back to the UK. It was a Stephen King film, it was based on a Stephen King book – I think a short story – and it was called The Mist. It was about people who lived in a small town in America and there was a hurricane, or typhoon, as we call them here. And after the typhoon, they wanted to go into town to get some supplies to fix up the house. And it started to get misty or foggy. It was quite a strange mist – it didn't look normal. And these people ended up in a hardware store in the town, all trapped together because there were sort of monsters in the mist – these unrealistic giant creatures that were in the mist that were killing people. There was quite a lot of blood and guts and people died in horrible ways, which is what I like about horror films. I would recommend it if you like horror films as much as I do.

Task 1

Audio zone: Horror films – 1

Task 2

Audio zone: Horror films – 2

Discussion

Do you like horror films?

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Language level

B2 - Upper intermediate

Topics

entertainment

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I loved it! I like cinema and also I like horror film, specially zombies film because they make you think about your humanity in that kind of situation, how would you respond to that situation in order to survive? would you a good person or it bring up your dark side?. I don't know when this audio was recorded but for me the best zombie movie that i have seen is "TRAIN TO BUSAN" the Korean zombie horror movie (2016) which is totally unpredictable that's why I like it so much.

I really love the cinema and going to the movies is a real special entertainment and a chance to meet friends and go out with. There are eminent and great directors who have dealt with this kind of cinema, creating the great cinematic art we all know and admire.Truly speaking and without meaning to be rude, I've never understood, what kind of art are all these ''zobies film'' and how they can make a normal and sensitive human to feel they've got something important seeing it except of disgusting blooding guts.I'm afraid this answer is more of a psychoanalyst's job.

I stopped watching horror movies more than five years ago. In my opinion from each movie you have to pick up information which can be useful. For me it's impossible to understand which kind of useful information you can find in horror movies. Also I don't like violation's scenes.

me too

Yes I like horror films, although most of them are not really scary, some of the movies like "Sow" are disgusting instead of being scary. When I was a child I was scared of these movies. Everytime I watched these kind of movies I was so frightened , I was even afraid of entering in an empty room for a week after I watched those movies. Sometimes I made horror stories in my mind for example I started thinking that my mom was not really her ,I thought She was just some wikide person who pretended she was my mom. Now when I watch those movies they seemed really ridiculous. There is nothing to affraid of, but I believe these kind of movies affect on your mind unconsciously. I remember the time when I 've been watching horror movies every night . I didn't afraid of them when I watched, but after a while I started feeling bad at nights . I suddenly remembred horror movies scenes and I didn't feel comfortable . Though I think it is not bad if you sometimes watch horro films, but it's not ok to watch it every day . It harm you gradually.