As BoBo once told me, "the glazed doughnut effect". Where the mass is very slimy/wet looking. Some of DH's older skins are a great example, as is Sectaurs' sphincter-ish avatar. It kind of invokes a slime/waste/rot reflex in me, and I gag a little.
Though I find that motion has more of an impact on me than visuals of the monster. When monsters/ghosts/characters move in that creepy ass stop-motion type of animation, it scares the shit out of me.
Something unexpected, and contrary to what we've been conditioned to think is scary. (expression, color, yadda dooba da)
I really think you have to let the viewers' Brain fill in their own gaps, and make them slowly realize its creepy, rather than have it BLURT out. "Hey look!, I'm freaky!!"
Vassago's Icon is freaky. What is with that thin toungue or piece of skin under the tongue on that guy? and his mouth is so wierd looking in that still. Its freakin me out. :P Now if he had a red lizzard tounge sticking out and glowing eyes, that wouldn't do it for me.
I think it's how far removed something is from humanity. The icky 'donut' vibe is creepy, but clean/hard things can work as well: insects and the like, deep sea creatures, things with freaky exoskeletons, etc. Aspects like extra eyes, extra limbs, unnatural textures, anything really alien can do the trick. Zombies with icky, rotting flesh aren't really that scary. Lovecraftian horrors with icky, rotting flesh... those creep me out.
I have to say, probably the only creature to really freak me out in the last 10 years, was the Pale Man from Pan's Labyrinth. Traditional monsters, things with big teeth and claws, aren't as scary to me as something like that.
Edit: I think what it comes down to for me is, with most monsters, I see it and say, "wow, that's going to do X, Y & Z to me." Things that really scare me, I see and say, "WOW! I have no idea what the fuck that thing is going to do to me, but I know it's bad."
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I think it's how far removed something is from humanity. The icky 'donut' vibe is creepy, but clean/hard things can work as well: insects and the like, deep sea creatures, things with freaky exoskeletons, etc. Aspects like extra eyes, extra limbs, unnatural textures, anything really alien can do the trick. Zombies with icky, rotting flesh aren't really that scary. Lovecraftian horrors with icky, rotting flesh... those creep me out.
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nah, its the human parts of something utterly revolting and disgusting that make it truly creepy.
I think its hard to nail down what makes something creepy, its different for each person. For me, my favorite is and probably always will be the xenomorph from "Alien." Its just a huge, ridiculously freaky cockroach that has an incredibly awesome second mouth. Plus, to agree with Vassago, it is always covered in slime and stuff. But, truly I think what makes something creepy is context. Anything can be creepy or scary depending on how its presented. Great white sharks are my favorite animals on Earth, but I wouldn't be scared of one unless I was in the water.
For me I find the mystery of a creature is what makes it scary. It doesn't have to overtly threatening with sharp teeth and claws, it just needs to provoke that part of my brain that wants to run away when it sees something unusual that defies explanation.
I recently got a really awesome book called "The Deep" which contains a bunch of high-resolution photos of deep sea creatures such as squid and jellyfish, and a lot of them are far scarier than anything I've seen in any monster movie, simply because they're just so odd looking. You don't know what they're capable of so anything is possible, and that is very unsettling indeed.
I like to use what I call the "clown factor." The more a creature resembles a clown, the freakier it is. Obviously, a 100% pure clown is the freakiest, so you can use a simple mathematical formula to calculate "freakiness" from there:
This has been asked a number of times, the answers so far are about par for the course.
If you are talking about looking creepy you're going to get about 6 billion different answers as to what visually freaks someone out.
One thing that will usually get people visually is to take some human part or parts, and integrate them in a way that is unnatural, yet familiar. the implication that this could have once been human tends to creep people out.
Take a look at doom monsters for this. Used a lot in doom 3.
Of course things look less creepy when they're still and you can look at them.
Much of what makes something creepy is the setting it appears in.
Show the penis when it really isn't needed.... or better yet multiple penises!
Actually locomotion tends to really sell the creepiness of a character to me. I can make a scary grotesque character but it never truly comes off as creepy until it moves. The Grudge is a good example of creepy locomotion with nothing more than a human with pale skin. Standing still sort of creepy moving all fucked up creepy as hell.
I have to honestly say that slime and gore isn't actually that freaky. In terms of a real life situation it would make you crap your pants of course, but in terms of media we're basically desensitized. When I was a kid the Thriller video, or Army of Darkness, scared me shitless, but I've seen so much of that stuff by now that I watch both and think it's just good clean fun.
Now, if I saw some dude turn into a werewolf in front of me, or a skeleton come at me with a sword, I'd certainly be scared, but the effect is greatly diminished when I already know it's just a movie.
Gore, slime, skeletal bits, rotting parts, and other similar visual cues are basically the unimaginative standbys when it comes to making things scary, similar to how showing too much skin is the preferred way to make a character sexy, or making a character meatfaced is the way to show that they're masculine. (I'm looking at you epic)
Yes, they're rooted in reality, but through overuse they've become cliches, and cliches lack punch.
What I find effective is a distortion of facial features almost, but not quite beyond the point of familiarity. Good examples are all the plethora of creepy as hell deep sea creatures that have eyes and a mouth, but arranged in such ways that you can't help but be a little freaked out. When that's combined with fitting movements it can be very creepy.
But really, you don't even need the twisted faces. Look at Christopher Walken, he can be freaky with just his voice and mannerisms.
Too desensitized by media really too find most things in videogames/movies/tv to be creepy. Only in real life, and then its when people act in a manner that goes against what you'd expect or that could cause immediate harm to you in some way. Like a little kid who looks sadistic enough to push you in front of train to see what its like, or a guy walking down the street arguing and getting violent with himself.
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Everything in any of the silent hill games.
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Actually I saw an interview with the creature designer for the 3rd Silent Hill (he may have been the same guy for all of them, I dunno) and he was saying that he took the approach of making all the monsters some deformed version of humanity. He said that he tried to stay away from claws and tentacles and found the really deformed limbs and weird out of whack proportions were really more disturbing. I think its that if there is some identifiable amount of humanity to it, the revulsion level gets jack up as well as a kind of empathy you'd never feel for a big bug, or a tentacle monster. Hence the collectors in Bioshock were little girls and not sea slugs as had been originally planned.
she surely knows how make very creepy and disturbing looking creatures. Like some guys said, deformed humans, if done right will create very disturbing reactions
the understated always freaks me out more than in your face stuff.
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Yeah I could imagine these being quite scary, I know even in anime they often have characters that dont seem so scary or strange at first but later you begin to realise...oh man that is messed up! and thats when its horribly scary.
Like that guy who seemed nice in full metal alchemist and his daughter and dog that you start to really like for a few episodes. then he went and combined his daughter with his dog in an experiment just so he could get a research grant...freaky stuff. I guess its the context that makes it so horrifying.
I've always been more afraid of things that are small.
I'm more paranoid that a spider is going to bite me in my sleep, or some kind of parasite is going to get me rather than a bear breaking open my door and mauling me.
Subtlety is more frightening, in my opinion. I've never really feared a robot choking me to death;
More so tiny ones that invade the body. Also diseases, insanity, and pure human cruelty. In the "Pierott Le fou" episode of Cowboy Bebop, i found the blimp dude kind of scary.
And i'm also agreed with the distortions of reality thing;
Werewolfs are just big dogs with snarly teeth. Zombies are just dead people, what gets me is things you can't fathom, H.P. Lovecraft style, with beings that operate beneath human perception, and pull the strings of human life.
At the last CA.org workshop El Coro had a seminar on creating nasty creatures, and one of his best points about making a creature nasty is whether or not you would pet the creature. If you look at the creature and think it's pet-able, then its not freaky enough.
Replies
Though I find that motion has more of an impact on me than visuals of the monster. When monsters/ghosts/characters move in that creepy ass stop-motion type of animation, it scares the shit out of me.
I really think you have to let the viewers' Brain fill in their own gaps, and make them slowly realize its creepy, rather than have it BLURT out. "Hey look!, I'm freaky!!"
Vassago's Icon is freaky. What is with that thin toungue or piece of skin under the tongue on that guy? and his mouth is so wierd looking in that still. Its freakin me out. :P Now if he had a red lizzard tounge sticking out and glowing eyes, that wouldn't do it for me.
Edit: I think what it comes down to for me is, with most monsters, I see it and say, "wow, that's going to do X, Y & Z to me." Things that really scare me, I see and say, "WOW! I have no idea what the fuck that thing is going to do to me, but I know it's bad."
I think it's how far removed something is from humanity. The icky 'donut' vibe is creepy, but clean/hard things can work as well: insects and the like, deep sea creatures, things with freaky exoskeletons, etc. Aspects like extra eyes, extra limbs, unnatural textures, anything really alien can do the trick. Zombies with icky, rotting flesh aren't really that scary. Lovecraftian horrors with icky, rotting flesh... those creep me out.
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nah, its the human parts of something utterly revolting and disgusting that make it truly creepy.
I recently got a really awesome book called "The Deep" which contains a bunch of high-resolution photos of deep sea creatures such as squid and jellyfish, and a lot of them are far scarier than anything I've seen in any monster movie, simply because they're just so odd looking. You don't know what they're capable of so anything is possible, and that is very unsettling indeed.
.a x clown = freaky/a
If you are talking about looking creepy you're going to get about 6 billion different answers as to what visually freaks someone out.
One thing that will usually get people visually is to take some human part or parts, and integrate them in a way that is unnatural, yet familiar. the implication that this could have once been human tends to creep people out.
Take a look at doom monsters for this. Used a lot in doom 3.
Of course things look less creepy when they're still and you can look at them.
Much of what makes something creepy is the setting it appears in.
the understated always freaks me out more than in your face stuff.
Actually locomotion tends to really sell the creepiness of a character to me. I can make a scary grotesque character but it never truly comes off as creepy until it moves. The Grudge is a good example of creepy locomotion with nothing more than a human with pale skin. Standing still sort of creepy moving all fucked up creepy as hell.
- BoBo
Now, if I saw some dude turn into a werewolf in front of me, or a skeleton come at me with a sword, I'd certainly be scared, but the effect is greatly diminished when I already know it's just a movie.
Gore, slime, skeletal bits, rotting parts, and other similar visual cues are basically the unimaginative standbys when it comes to making things scary, similar to how showing too much skin is the preferred way to make a character sexy, or making a character meatfaced is the way to show that they're masculine. (I'm looking at you epic)
Yes, they're rooted in reality, but through overuse they've become cliches, and cliches lack punch.
What I find effective is a distortion of facial features almost, but not quite beyond the point of familiarity. Good examples are all the plethora of creepy as hell deep sea creatures that have eyes and a mouth, but arranged in such ways that you can't help but be a little freaked out. When that's combined with fitting movements it can be very creepy.
But really, you don't even need the twisted faces. Look at Christopher Walken, he can be freaky with just his voice and mannerisms.
vaginas
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to me, it's anything that can portray unstable thoughts within a character; self destructive tension, primal rage, etc.
the approaches are endless.
Or anything with really carved up, intertwined surfaces.
Too desensitized by media really too find most things in videogames/movies/tv to be creepy. Only in real life, and then its when people act in a manner that goes against what you'd expect or that could cause immediate harm to you in some way. Like a little kid who looks sadistic enough to push you in front of train to see what its like, or a guy walking down the street arguing and getting violent with himself.
Everything in any of the silent hill games.
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Actually I saw an interview with the creature designer for the 3rd Silent Hill (he may have been the same guy for all of them, I dunno) and he was saying that he took the approach of making all the monsters some deformed version of humanity. He said that he tried to stay away from claws and tentacles and found the really deformed limbs and weird out of whack proportions were really more disturbing. I think its that if there is some identifiable amount of humanity to it, the revulsion level gets jack up as well as a kind of empathy you'd never feel for a big bug, or a tentacle monster. Hence the collectors in Bioshock were little girls and not sea slugs as had been originally planned.
Try to study this artists work, www.patriciapiccinini.net
she surely knows how make very creepy and disturbing looking creatures. Like some guys said, deformed humans, if done right will create very disturbing reactions
yah, that'd do it
Watch some Japanese horror movies.
the understated always freaks me out more than in your face stuff.
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Yeah I could imagine these being quite scary, I know even in anime they often have characters that dont seem so scary or strange at first but later you begin to realise...oh man that is messed up! and thats when its horribly scary.
Like that guy who seemed nice in full metal alchemist and his daughter and dog that you start to really like for a few episodes. then he went and combined his daughter with his dog in an experiment just so he could get a research grant...freaky stuff. I guess its the context that makes it so horrifying.
I'm more paranoid that a spider is going to bite me in my sleep, or some kind of parasite is going to get me rather than a bear breaking open my door and mauling me.
Subtlety is more frightening, in my opinion. I've never really feared a robot choking me to death;
More so tiny ones that invade the body. Also diseases, insanity, and pure human cruelty. In the "Pierott Le fou" episode of Cowboy Bebop, i found the blimp dude kind of scary.
And i'm also agreed with the distortions of reality thing;
Werewolfs are just big dogs with snarly teeth. Zombies are just dead people, what gets me is things you can't fathom, H.P. Lovecraft style, with beings that operate beneath human perception, and pull the strings of human life.
now that is amazingly awesome. awesome site Needles!
along that lady's line.
these creatures are 1 part animal 2 part human.
both are freaky.