Are horror movies just as scary with the lights on?

I think it depends on the movie. Some movies are just scary period. It's just the way the movie was done. The Grudge freaked me out and I saw it in the dark theatre first and then watched it with my partner later on during the day and it still made me jumpy. But some movies just don't bother me at all with the lights on or off.

Watching horror movies with lights out is really scary. It intensifies the horror effect. But when I am watching the movie with a lot of friends and the lights are off, I don't get that much scared. If a movie still scares you even with lights out, it should be a very good horror movie. But what scares me most is watching a horror movie alone, either lights on or off. Have a nice day!

At first i start to watch the movie with lights off, but later on when the scene is really scary, i turn on all the lights, and sometimes i turned the tv, and run to my bedroom and had nightmares, usually i don't watch horror movie alone, i see to it that my friends or cousin around me, and oh, sometimes i scream. sometimes my cousin make laugh at me when i scream.

i hate horror movies... period... lol... was never allowed to watch they when i was young, and now i still cannot watch juno... *shudder* but... if i will... i will want to be in an all dark room, with a loved one to cuddle during all the scary parts... oh...and earplugs as well... lol..

wow, you're that scared, huh? well, same thing here my friend. if i watch in the dark, i won't be able to look at the screen. i'd just rely on the music and audio. trick for me is to watch scary movies in broad daylight. i'll watch the whole thing if that's the case. =) i attempted to watch the exorcism of emily rose one night, but i was such a chicken that i just turned off the player and watched sesame street online. hehe.

I am, possibly, the biggest baby on the planet Earth. I'm PETRIFIED of scary movies and I have been known to just burst into tears lol. I prefer to have the lights on, it feels safer (even though I love the dark go figure)... but no one I watch movies with prefers it that way which means I'm stuck enjoying my scary movies in the dark. It's a natural prey instinct - if you can't see, you can't escape whatever is coming for you, and with your adrenaline all hyped up from a good scary movie it's common to find scary movies terrifying in the dark but less so in the light.

You know, I was very disappointed in The Ring. I thought it would be really scary, but it wasn't, at least to me. And I watched it in the dark. I don't know why, but horror movies don't usually freak me out. Unless of course they are based on true events. Then I get a little weirded out. I watched Scream with my sister years ago, and she insisted we finish it with the lights on, and them made me walk her to her car. And her car was in the driveway! Like 12 feet from the front door! I can get that girl scared easily!

well, try watching The Ring with the sound turned off. i guarantee you that you won't be afraid anymore. the sound effect is fantastically scary. i caught that show in the theatre and i was afraid for three months. when i watch it on tv again, i switched off the sound and found myself laughing when Sadako crawled out of the tv. lol...

Personally, I doN't find a lot of differences while watching horror movies with lights on, or off. However, I usually keep the lights on while watching movies because otherwise, the light of the screen will tire my eyes more quickly and it will cause a headache which I would never like to have. For this reason, most of the times I watch movies with lights on, not only horror movies but all genres. When it comes to horror movies, I don't feel any difference, I mean if you are really concentrated on the movie,then you will definetely be very scared in the scenes, whenever I feel very scared, I just look at the floor one second, or just try to lose my concentration a little. When you achieve that, or when you think it is only a movie and people probably laughed a lot while shooting those scenes on set, then you will not feel scared anymore and you can continue watching :)

Oh no, I could not watch a horror film in the day or with the lights on, I mean they are tradition to be watched in the dark. I have not watched a horror flick for years, I used to be addicted to them and would watch them all the time. I reckon if I watched one in the house I am in now it would totally freak me out because we get quite a lot of strange noises anyway without adding horror films into the mix!

I watch horror movies with lights on when I am alone. If I watch with my friends or family, then we watch without lights on. I am not brave enough to watch alone in the dark. I will imagine a lot things that will scare me. If I think the movie is really scary then I won't watch alone.

I myself like to cuddle up to my fiance if I do watch a horror movie so that if it gets to scary I can retreat to the comfort of his armpit and whisper "Tell me when this part is over." Although I think twice if I am with our friends doing this, as they are all guys and as guys are "this movie doesn't scare me" type people! lol! I remember watching the movie about the tooth fairy... a scary one, I can't remember the name of the movie but know it was the name of a town. I watched this before I met my fiance, and remember staying up all night looking at the corner of the room before I finally fell asleep. My room just happened to be the darkest with black trash bags covering the windows. Now if it's a movie that I've watched a thousand times, such as the Jason movies, neh, I could watch that with the lights out... providing no one tried to scare me!

I turn the lights off to get the full experience. I think I watched The Ring and right after my phone rang, I had to peel myself off the ceiling before I answered it. You should find a dingy basement and watch a horror flick that way, or have somebody lead you blind folded to an unknown location so after its over your mind can play tricks on you, now thats a real horror experiment. Boooooooo!

If I'm watching horror movies in the daytime, it's okay. If it's at night, whether it's with the lights on or off, I still get the frights! At night, I've to watch these shows with my hubby; else I would seem to 'hear' every single sound in the house, or start seeing 'shadows'. (active imagination at work! ) The Ring is not so bad; try the Grudge or any of these Japanese/Korean movies - they really made my skin tingle!

I think scary movies are less frightening with the lights on...usually. Some movies are just disturbing no matter when or how you watch them. However, I find that these same scary movies are not nearly as scary with the volume turned way down. It is the suspenseful creepy music that makes us freak out. Give it a try and you will find I am right!

We always watch them with the lights out. I've always liked horror movies though even when I was a kid. I would watch them at home when I was by myself. I still get scared but I like them. LOL I just think they are better and more scarier with the lights out so that's why we don't turn the lights on.

Let me tell you how I was before I got freaked out. When i was little i used to watch all horrors movies that i could, mostly i was alone and in the dark but I wasn't scared at all. Maybe in those days the movies weren't so scary, still at that age it is something. So time passes and i keep watching like this, but I was getting disappointed because the movies were getting lame and boring. I watched the Ring too at night and day and it didn't scare me (though the girl's eyes were creepy), but I loved it. A few years later "The Grudge" was released i was so excited to watch it. My cousin downloaded for me, i was so happy but I was going to watch it alone because he and his sister fell asleep before we even started to watch so I turned off the lights (it was night, very late) and I watched it with great joy. In all my life "The Grudge" was the first movie who ever scared me like hell. That movie (the american version) took away 5 years of my life and I was so frightened that I even crouched and closed my eyes and some themes (ironic my moves were too slow and i still ended up seeing the scary scences). I watched it all, it took me three nights to get used to my bed sheet and 1 week to get used to the darkness. It as the first time i ever got that chicken. Thank God I didn't had any nightmares. Now I'm still watching horror movies but i make sure to not be alone of to watch it at day light, I simply not get scared because of the last movie, of course only the best horror movies now can freeze my blood, the lame ones no. You get scared if you watch the movies at night alone. To reduce their scaryness you have to make these choices: you can watch it at daytime this will even let you watch it very close to the screen or you can watch it at night time with lights on but still being alone and at nightfall you will prefer to watch it on the coach. Another choice is to watch it at night, with lights off BUT with somebody (a relative or a friend) this way you can still fully enjoy the movie but you have less heart attacks. By the way I' searching for someone who wants to watch with mew the movie "Quarantine" (it trailers really scared me). Oh and there's another thing horror movies with serial killers who are just humans don't scare me at all. Seeing people being killed in the most brutal and sadistic way by a normal person (well not normal mentally) aren't scary at all. I'm also "immune" to horror movies with zombies and vampires (well maybe there are some good ones which might change this idea, but I haven't seen them yet)

I don't like horror movies since my childhood days, when I used to scared after watching these movies. For me, they are scary with lights on and scariest after lights are off.

Horror movies are scary whether the lights are on or off. I need to have somethign to hide behind or I tend to watch them during the day so that by the time I go to bed I wont have nightmares. Im a big wuss when it comes to horror movies.

I actually prefer having the lights off when watching a horror movie. Why? It's much more scary to me. The only movie I won't watch with the lights off is The Exorcist. The first time I watched it, the lights were off and I was alone. In the movie, the bed shakes. So, when the movie ended, I did not want to get off of the bed.... that's how scared I was. LOL