Are Smartphones Ever a Viable Way to Watch Horror?
VisibleHorrorFan
The question of whether it’s okay to view serious films on smartphones is as old as smartphones themselves. Diehards, including serious filmmakers like David Lynch, have derided the experience, calling the very act “such a sadness”. Of course, technology doesn’t remain stagnant, and not all films and viewing methods are the same.
While we might exaggerate to say that watching a low-quality rip of a horror movie entirely using a flip-screen phone is morally repugnant, this isn't the only way to engage. Modern tech offers options that can provide huge flexibility and high-quality playback, and here we want to explore how.
Quality and Engagement Before we look at how we can engage with modern movies on smartphones, it’s important to first explore a baseline of how the home viewing experience used to operate. For this, we’re going to turn back the clock to look at an approach many of us grew up with, in watching VHS tapes on old CRTs in the 1990s. Yes, we’re that old.
Due to their bulk and price, CRT TVs were much smaller than the LCD panels we’ll generally have today, and much heavier. For reference, one of the biggest CRTs created, the Sony Trinitron KX-45ED1, features a 43-inch visible display, weighing over 200 kg. A modern LCD screen of the same size can weigh less than 6 kg.
The point here is that most TVs were small, the audio and visual quality from a VHS wasn’t great, and at typical viewing distances, watching is something most modern users wouldn’t tolerate. Yet, thanks to changing standards, these methods were never seen as ‘sad’ ways to watch classic films.
The Modern Smartphone as an Alternative To be clear, we’re not arguing that everyone needs to or should switch to watching horror films on smartphones, more that it’s a viable alternative to existing options. It’s a lot how we’ve engaged with other media making similar leaps, perhaps best illustrated in the online casino landscape. Playing online bingo UK rooms like Cheap Thrills and Prize Rush are prime examples, just as playable on smartphones as they are on tablets, desktops, and laptops. The same is true for using social media, and the same can be true for horror content.
If you’re still not convinced, let’s take a look at how this viewing could play out. First, hold your smartphone up at regular viewing distance, and compare the space it takes up to what you’d experience with an old CRT TV at its regular viewing distance. Now compare the quality of the video you’d get on a smartphone screen and a high-quality stream to a VHS tape. Finally, consider the audio you’d receive from a pair of high-quality headphones connected via Bluetooth. Combine these with watching a horror movie under the covers at night, and viewing this way doesn’t seem so absurd.
You don’t have to watch horror this way, but we would like to see more users open to movie viewing as a viable form of engagement. This approach is better than ever, and with the arrival of folding and tri-fold phones, what limits remain in viewing space are quickly going the way of the dodo. Of course, this won’t approach the cinema experience, but that’s another conversation entirely.
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The question of whether it’s okay to view serious films on smartphones is as old as smartphones themselves. Diehards, including serious filmmakers like David Lynch, have derided the experience, calling the very act “such a sadness”. Of course, technology doesn’t remain stagnant, and not all films and viewing methods are the same.
While we might exaggerate to say that watching a low-quality rip of a horror movie entirely using a flip-screen phone is morally repugnant, this isn't the only way to engage. Modern tech offers options that can provide huge flexibility and high-quality playback, and here we want to explore how.
Quality and Engagement
Before we look at how we can engage with modern movies on smartphones, it’s important to first explore a baseline of how the home viewing experience used to operate. For this, we’re going to turn back the clock to look at an approach many of us grew up with, in watching VHS tapes on old CRTs in the 1990s. Yes, we’re that old.
Due to their bulk and price, CRT TVs were much smaller than the LCD panels we’ll generally have today, and much heavier. For reference, one of the biggest CRTs created, the Sony Trinitron KX-45ED1, features a 43-inch visible display, weighing over 200 kg. A modern LCD screen of the same size can weigh less than 6 kg.
The point here is that most TVs were small, the audio and visual quality from a VHS wasn’t great, and at typical viewing distances, watching is something most modern users wouldn’t tolerate. Yet, thanks to changing standards, these methods were never seen as ‘sad’ ways to watch classic films.
The Modern Smartphone as an Alternative
To be clear, we’re not arguing that everyone needs to or should switch to watching horror films on smartphones, more that it’s a viable alternative to existing options. It’s a lot how we’ve engaged with other media making similar leaps, perhaps best illustrated in the online casino landscape. Playing online bingo UK rooms like Cheap Thrills and Prize Rush are prime examples, just as playable on smartphones as they are on tablets, desktops, and laptops. The same is true for using social media, and the same can be true for horror content.
If you’re still not convinced, let’s take a look at how this viewing could play out. First, hold your smartphone up at regular viewing distance, and compare the space it takes up to what you’d experience with an old CRT TV at its regular viewing distance. Now compare the quality of the video you’d get on a smartphone screen and a high-quality stream to a VHS tape. Finally, consider the audio you’d receive from a pair of high-quality headphones connected via Bluetooth. Combine these with watching a horror movie under the covers at night, and viewing this way doesn’t seem so absurd.
You don’t have to watch horror this way, but we would like to see more users open to movie viewing as a viable form of engagement. This approach is better than ever, and with the arrival of folding and tri-fold phones, what limits remain in viewing space are quickly going the way of the dodo. Of course, this won’t approach the cinema experience, but that’s another conversation entirely.