I think it does for a lot of people as well. Otherwise horror and dark-fantasy movies wouldn't do nearly as well, and there is a large following for scary or disturbing photographs around the internet.
Personally, the most eye-catching pictures, to me, in this genre are the ones that are subtly creepy, that depict a scene where something odd is happening. It's the strangeness, the unknowing of the whole story behind the image, that makes it scarier.
It works with movies, too. In "A Nightmare on Elm Street," Freddy Krueger is a terrifying boogeyman, haunting the dreams of teenagers and slicing them up for seemingly no reason other than just having a great time with it (I'm sure many can relate, considering one of the kids was Johnny Depp). But the moment you find out who Freddy was-how he was a child-murderer who was himself murdered, and is coming back for revenge-he becomes a bit less frightening. Sure, he's still a major threat and can slice you to ribbons, but knowledge of what he is now gives the main character an edge. Knowledge makes the monsters disappear.
With photographs, that comfort of knowing what the monster is, or what is actually going on, is never going to be given to you. You can only speculate, and let your imagination run wild. And that, boys and girls, is what true fear comes from; imagination of the unknown.
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| Really? I mean, really? |
To me, this is such a picture. I have a habit of peeking into old, abandoned buildings to see what I can find. Sometimes I can get inside with a friend of mine (examples I will show on a later date), but most of the time I can only get a glimpse inside through a window or something. This is one of those moments.
There's an old, rotting house that's been abandoned for years near my girlfriend's place, and I desperately wanted to take pictures of her inside it. Unfortunately, the place was falling apart and boarded up, making me feel a bit uncomfortable bashing my way in with my significant other in naught but a cocktail dress. Luckily, there was a little hole in the boarded-up doorway, and to my surprise, this is what I saw when I peeked in.
I don't know about you, but babies, and baby dolls, creep the absolute shit out of me, and right in what was once a living room were both a doll (which, as you can see, had legs crocked out in unnatural ways) and a damn rocking-crib...thing, both facing not only away from me, but right against the wall. With the light and the shadows in such a perfect place, all it took was a border and a texture overlay to make this one of my creepiest creations to date.
The questions that come with this picture are what really gets me. Why were these toys and cribs left behind all those years ago? Why are they set up like they are? Hell, for that matter, if I turned that baby doll around to face me, how messed up would its face look?
It's these questions, and the fact that they will probably go unanswered, that make this image, and that house in general, very creepy to me. I hope that I displayed that same feeling to you through this photograph.
Otherwise, it kind of failed its purpose.
Edit: Before this gets misconstrued, let me say that when I said babies creep me out, I meant baby imagery, such as abandoned nurseries and the like. Don't worry, if someone brings their newborn around me, my first reaction isn't to scream and run to the nearest corner to wet myself.
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