The original, and many adaptations, use morality to show the horror.nthere is no abject and outright scary shit except for the ghost of Marley who was deliberately scary to Scrooge. But even Marley was soon shown to be a miser in chains who is more grumpy than scary and there’s no way to fix that because he’s a ghost who has to tell Scrooge what’s happening. Michael Myers and Jason Vorhees are scary because they say nothing. Having a ghost give a message instantly undercuts the terror.
I disagree about your last point. Talking ghosts can absolutely be scary if it’s done right. The Exorcist ghost for example is pretty famous for both frightening people and never shutting up.
The original, and many adaptations, use morality to show the horror.nthere is no abject and outright scary shit except for the ghost of Marley who was deliberately scary to Scrooge. But even Marley was soon shown to be a miser in chains who is more grumpy than scary and there’s no way to fix that because he’s a ghost who has to tell Scrooge what’s happening. Michael Myers and Jason Vorhees are scary because they say nothing. Having a ghost give a message instantly undercuts the terror.
I disagree about your last point. Talking ghosts can absolutely be scary if it’s done right. The Exorcist ghost for example is pretty famous for both frightening people and never shutting up.