The Future Of Horror

niallon

This thread may seem slightly redundant as it focuses on a topic talked about here so often but here goes. Horror, mainly USA and UK, through the years has generally had a direction.

- In the 60s, particularly towards the end of the decade, there was a political twang to many horrors, Night Of The Living Dead an obvious example.

- Come the 70s the world was opening up to free thinking and people like John Carpenter and Tobe Hooper were seemingly punishing these promiscuous teen rebels by slaughtering them without hesitation.

- Along then comes the eighties and the acceptance of heightened gore á la the Hellraiser movies and Friday The 13th series.

- The 90s then saw the likes of Seven and Silence Of The Lambs maturing the genre with real life, realistic serial killers.

- Come the post-Scream 00s we have been smacked in the face with a wave of cheap slashers and the resurrection of the zombie genre.

We now are on the brink of the 10s and horror is seemingly left without a direction. Are we starting a decade of a few little gems cropping up in the genre with no apparent trend? Or is there another sub-genre waiting in the wings to show its face? I know many reading this post will argue of the strength of the indie and foreign cinema areas as regards this argument but my debate is focused mainly on mainstream(ish) USA and UK cinema. I've just finished watching Mark Gattis' excellent History of Horror and it has me thinking of this issue, that we are left without a message for this new decade.

Personally, I would love to see horror return to the forefront of the minds of high brow directors such as Richard Donner and William Friedkin in the 70s. Once upon a time horror was respected and horror was, though still a cash cow, treated with the proper respect by studios and directors alike. Nowadays horror with potential cinema release is usually a remake and is relegated to second rate music video directors. Sam Raimi returning to the genre with Drag Me To Hell gave me hope for a while but unfortunately that was a blip and no more. What does everyone think, is horror now forever going to linger in the Direct-To-DVD territory it currently occupies with the odd remake making it into the cinema?

Mits

I think 3D movies will revive Horror movies.

niallon

Mits wrote: »

I think 3D movies will revive Horror movies.

I'm not anti 3D nor its biggest fan but I had really hoped this would happen, My Bloody Valentine was really great as a 3D horror feature and gave me the feeling of what I imagine the old 3D horrors felt like at the theatre. Unfortunately this doesn't seem to have taken off, so far there's only been sequels and remakes still that have made use of 3D

People are constantly moaning about the death of horror of how it's been cheapened by direct to DVD releases but I say bollocks, direct to DVD was the best thing to ever happen to horror. For year direct to video was a stigma which meant the film was a piece of crap that not even the guys behind Halloween 5 would release theatrically.

This changed substantially when studios recognised that content made specifically for DVD could make them a fortune. THere are hundreds of absolutely fantastic horror films now being made to fill that niche. Many of my favourite films in the last decade have bypassed theatres all together. Films such as the Burrowers, House of the Dead, Undead or Alive, The Last Winter, I Sell the Dead, Repo: the Genetic Opera, Laid to Rest, Heartless, The Hills Run Red, The Breed, The Horde, Black Death, Pontypool, etc, etc.

Don't write off modern horror just yet, if you have yet to watch all the films I listed then I really cannot recommend them enough though be warned, I've been repeatedly told that Undead or Alive is dreadful but honestly I rewatched it this morning and still love it, a western about zombies, what's not to love.

mike65

niallon wrote: »

Personally, I would love to see horror return to the forefront of the minds of high brow directors such as Richard Donner and William Friedkin in the 70s. Once upon a time horror was respected and horror was, though still a cash cow, treated with the proper respect by studios and directors alike. Nowadays horror with potential cinema release is usually a remake and is relegated to second rate music video directors. Sam Raimi returning to the genre with Drag Me To Hell gave me hope for a while but unfortunately that was a blip and no more. What does everyone think, is horror now forever going to linger in the Direct-To-DVD territory it currently occupies with the odd remake making it into the cinema?

+1 to this, when the big studios treat horror with some respect the results can be both satisfying and profitable. You can trace a line from The Innocents (1961) to Alien (1979) or maybe The Thing (1982) at a push, where studios spent decent money on well made films that were strongly marketed, made loads (the Thing flopped alas) and have survived the test of time. However the success of Halloween followed quickly by Friday 13th showed that cheap 'disposable' horror product was hugely profitable and thats been the template largely since then. No stars, little established talent behind the cameras, identikit shock scenes. Almost all forgotton within a few weeks of release.

I wonder could you get say Michael Douglas or Harrison Ford to do a dead straight well produced horror movie in the way Max Von Sydow and Gregory Peck signed on for the Exorcist and the Omen?

niallon

Deleted User wrote: »

People are constantly moaning about the death of horror of how it's been cheapened by direct to DVD releases but I say bollocks, direct to DVD was the best thing to ever happen to horror. For year direct to video was a stigma which meant the film was a piece of crap that not even the guys behind Halloween 5 would release theatrically.

No I don't disagree with you there Darko, what annoys me more is that there is only this now and the studio interest in respectable mainstream horror such as the aforementioned The Exorcist and The Omen has disappeared. Maybe it's just the times we now live in and the way the Hollywood machine is going, quite evident when films such as The Mist get studio backing and big character actors onboard but then lose studio support on distribution, same for Grindhouse.

As for the films you've listed, again, these have been some of the only recent stand-outs for me, DTV treats like Laid To Rest, admittedly I've not watched the majority but I am wrking my way through them happilly, I just wish that we could have yet another Golden Age of horror rather than people sitting complacent with the Saw series.

Otis Driftwood

I reckon that horror is on the cusp of something special but it wont be from studios or with big budgets,it will come from the Underground.

There are alot of talented companies releasing stuff.Toetag Pictures new film Sella Turcica is currently winning its way towards me,Morbidvision Films Blood Pigs is now available to buy on ebay,Ryan Nicholson has completed Star Vehicle and has his finger in a number of different pies,Andrey Iskanov is working away at pace.There are movies like The Poughkeepsie Tapes crying out for a decent release.

Horror is as alive and well as its been since the early to mid 80s IMO,you just have to dig a little deeper for it.

mbv

Agree with Ned there. Horror now reminds me of when I first got into horrors. reading about forbidden fruit like Guinea Pig series, faces of death, in a glass cage, nekromantik and the like. I got really bored of the genre in the 90's thanks to a lot of crap sequels and heavily censored movies and discovering various underground nasties(August underground, fetus, Philosopy of a knife) got me interested again.
You only have to look at the commercial success of the Saw franchise to see that people want to see nasty stuff again. Whether we like them or not there are a lot of big budget horrors frequenting screens now.
My biggest problem is the remake phenomena. Its putting bums on seats so it will continue but so many of them are useless and obviously catering for the younger, easily pleased by loud bangs and cgi gore, crowd.