Gory stuff can be shocking but it doesnโt really scare me. Iโd say the kind of stuff that gets under my skin is the unknown. You hear a knock behind a wall and you donโt know what it is. Is there something there or not?
Oren PeliBy trade, I am a software programmer, so I never really had any experience with movies before. I started out with 'Paranormal Activity.
Oren PeliReally it's always things that scare me like loss of control, dealing with the unknown and the unseen... Something that's not supposed to be there and you don't know where it came from, or what it wants from you, or how to defend yourself against it. That's the root of the things I find scary.
Oren PeliPersonally I like the slow burn; I don't think there is anything wrong with it. When I think about the movies that were most effective on me as a viewer I think of the original Haunting and the Exorcist, Rosemary's Baby, the Sixth Sense, the Others. These movies are not over the top at all, they are movies that rely on good story telling, good acting, good premise, good exposition and I want to stay true to that in future projects.
Oren Peli