Everyone experiences and feels things differently so ratings for any movie will always be subjective at best. Seeing something as “good” or “bad” is truly in the eye of the beholder. But when it comes to horror, there are certain qualities that consistently define what are commonly agreed to be the best movies in the genre.
The ratings system used throughout Nightmare Palace was created to account for these factors and provide movie ratings tweaked to perfection specifically for horror fans. Here’s how it works:
Popular Opinion
The perspective of any one person is simply that — one person’s opinion. But when there are thousands of people saying the same thing, there might be something to it. Our movie ratings algorithm is based on a weighted average of the movie ratings found on popular aggregate movie ratings sites like IMDb and Rotten Tomatoes.
Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)
With horror movies, there shouldn’t be any limitations on the director’s vision. Typically, good horror movies are rated R (or not rated at all). It’s a horror movie — it’s intended to be inappropriate and offensive. Our movie ratings algorithm rewards freedom of expression while punishing censorship.
Movie Runtime
The ideal horror movie is 90 minutes long. Most people don’t want to be kept suspended in a willingly-scared state of mind for too much longer than that! It can be done, but it definitely takes a master storyteller to do so. Our movie ratings algorithm gives full credit for a 90 minute runtime; points are deducted by the minute for longer or shorter movies.
Legacy
Throughout the horror genre, the people who did it first are deserving of respect for their vision, creativity and daring. Horror has always explored the limits of possibility and answered with new and innovative approaches to storytelling. Those movies then influence and inspire the movies that follow. For this reason, our movie ratings algorithm rewards movies for the time they have existed.