On the death of horror as a genre

[nightbreed]

I just read this killer article in cinifantastic (sp?) where the topic of horror as a genre discussed by a couple famous directors. Go check it out it really made me think.
Personally I'm absolutly fucking sick of seeing this "WB" horror shit these days. Dont get me wrong there have been some good flicks lately, but looking at the genre as a whole, right now is a pretty sad time. This whole, remake, VS., thing is really getting to me. For chists sake Im tired of seeing pop singers on the screen. My favorite movie are movies like the original Haunting, that movie was scary as fuck, and it never even showed the ghosts. When i go to a movie i dont want to see anything even resembling Boyonce Noles or bullet time. And whats with all the cheesed out one liners? It seems to me that this industry has turned into more camp and satire than actual story telling. Just look at jason X, WTF was that? Any thoughts?

[Amelie]

Horror will never die! :D

I haven't read the article yet, but I think that whenever a genre becomes popular with mainstream, you're bound to be flooded with formula-driven watered-down stuff. Big movie corporations want to put people in theater seats more than they want to make meaningful/interesting movies. That's their job - to make money.

That said, there's still good independent horror happening. Indie directors have way more freedom because they aren't under intense pressure from huge budgets. They can be wild, get crazy, cast talented unknown actors, cuss, be sexy, be bloody, be controversial.

In a roundabout way, I think that blockbuster horror movies are actually a good thing because they create more horror fans. Kids will go see, say, "Scream" with their friends. They'll decide they like that kind of movie, then start reading about horror online, in zines, or talking about it with friends. They'll find "Evil Dead", then maybe happen upon Dario Argento or Lucio Fulci, and their world will open up.

Fads come and go. I think that even when the big studios have moved on to the next big thing, horror will still be kicking.

[Sick_As_Fuck]

I haven't read the article either, but by what you posted I'd probably disagree with it. Times change. We have to face it. Major horror films just aren't serious anymore. If anyone has Showtime, I was watching a documentary entitled "Masters of Horror". They interviewed such greats like Tooper, Craven, and Carpenter. Basically they talked about what you're talking about, how horror really isn't horror anymore, and no one takes it serious anymore. Hopefully a new director will come in and bring us back to the "seriousness".

[Krzychu]

I agree with nightbreed. I have not seen good horror movies which made in 90's or late. Directros are controled by big corporation made comercial films without involved. I agree with Amelia who said why big corporations do that - for money of course. Anybody know good film which has made for ten years? I do not know any good new directors! Old in this buisness such as J. Carpenter burned out!! Why?? Maybe money killed them?? Maybe pressure?? - like said Amelia.

Any way. If you want watch good horror you must become interested in directors such as L. Fulci, G.A. Romero and many more who created their "sympony of horror" in 70's or late.

[nightbreed]

and really that question is "What consistutes a horror film?" I mean I've seen a lot of "darker" movies in the last 10 yrs that i loved but I'm not sure if they're horror. Movies like Frailty, Se7en, The Ring, hell even The Sixth Sense (IMO). But I'm not sure if I could call these movies Horror.
I was talking to a fellow zombie dork the other day about the Savini Day Of... remake thats due for 05. And just like me hes really excited, and he asked me how i think it will turn out. And i thought about it and i said that it couldnt be a whole lot like the original b/c the MPAA wont allow that kind of splatter on the big screen. And having said that i realize how much it depresses me. Im a firm believer that Night of the living dead 90 was THE definative remake. And I believe that Savini/ Romero can do it again with Dawn, but I wonder how much they will have to cut....

[Amelie]

Theoretically, Savini/Romero could just say "Screw the MPAA rating" and make as gory a movie as they want to. But if they did that, it would totally limit where the movie could be shown/seen. It's a tough choice - do you make the movie you want to make and have it basically go direct to DVD, or do you cut the movie to MPAA guidelines so it can get in theaters - even if the cutting hurts the movie?

If I were a director, I don't know what choice I'd make - especially with something like the Day of the Dead remake. That'd be tough.

What you could do - what some do - is cut the movie to get it in theaters, then released the unrated director's cut to DVD. That would force fans to pay twice to see the movie, which sucks, but at least people would have a chance to see the movie as the director wanted it seen.

[Ritualistic]

There is great horror out there being made today ... I have read a lot of posts here at this site and I repeatly see movies like friday the 13th, Nightmare of Elm street, Halloween, Leprechaun, etc... BUT there is other horror out there besides this stuff. Just becuase something is not a blockbuster it doesnt mean it is not good.. Horror is always been something more of the underground... Yeah there has been a couple of movies that were blockbusters but no more than that..Horror is underground and always will be and whoever wrote this dumb article is stupid and needs to be spit in the face because as long as horror freaks like us live they will always be horror......

[nightbreed]

i would recommend is since it includes the opinions of Rob Zombie which is as far as im concerned (opinions on his film aside) is the pablo escabar of horror freaks. the man buys every movie he sees for fucks sake. anyways the article wasnt so much on the death of the genre but really more of the problems with it today...

[Ritualistic]

Originally posted by nightbreed
i would recommend is since it includes the opinions of Rob Zombie which is as far as im concerned (opinions on his film aside) is the pablo escabar of horror freaks. the man buys every movie he sees for fucks sake. anyways the article wasnt so much on the death of the genre but really more of the problems with it today...
well wouldnt you buy every horror movie you see if you could afford it..?? I know I spend all my extra bucks on horror..

[avenger00soul]

My cinema history teacher is fond of saying "90 percent of everything made is crap." That is very true. But that 10 percent of greatness will always live on.

Horror will never die. I don't think any genre of film will "die" but there are others that are in more trouble than horror. Think about Westerns. Not too many westerns are made these days. The last good westerns were in the early 90's (Unforgiven and Tombstone).

[Ritualistic]

yeah westerns sux anyways... but your right horror will never die...

[Amelie]

Originally posted by Ritualistic
There is great horror out there being made today ... I have read a lot of posts here at this site and I repeatly see movies like friday the 13th, Nightmare of Elm street, Halloween, Leprechaun, etc... BUT there is other horror out there besides this stuff. Just becuase something is not a blockbuster it doesnt mean it is not good.. Horror is always been something more of the underground...

Exactly.

As far as westerns go, I think the reason westerns died out is that they're very era-specific. Suburban kids today don't get into the whole cowboy thing. Science fiction & fantasy, I think, fills the space for our generation that the whole western thing did for our grandparents.

Horror isn't as specific a genre as westerns. Horror's all about scary stuff. This means that the subjects of horror movies change as what people think is scary changes...but since people (being people) will always be scared of somethin, there will always be horror. Thankfully. :D

[avenger00soul]

Originally posted by Amelie
Exactly.

As far as westerns go, I think the reason westerns died out is that they're very era-specific. Suburban kids today don't get into the whole cowboy thing. Science fiction & fantasy, I think, fills the space for our generation that the whole western thing did for our grandparents.

Horror isn't as specific a genre as westerns. Horror's all about scary stuff. This means that the subjects of horror movies change as what people think is scary changes...but since people (being people) will always be scared of somethin, there will always be horror. Thankfully. :D

Great post. I'm totally agreeing with you.

[roguesblight]

Absolute agreement here! Even hundreds of years from now there will be something that people will be afraid of. Even if it's not all blood and gore like we like now. Fear is what makes horror horror! That's why I pray for more fear driven movies. They need to cut back on the language and cut out the sex, just scare the p*ss out of me and I'm happy.

[Ritualistic]

Originally posted by roguesblight
Absolute agreement here! Even hundreds of years from now there will be something that people will be afraid of. Even if it's not all blood and gore like we like now. Fear is what makes horror horror! That's why I pray for more fear driven movies. They need to cut back on the language and cut out the sex, just scare the p*ss out of me and I'm happy.

yeah what is scary to some people maybe be dumb to others but as long as people are scared there will always be horror.. I mean look at the age of the atomic bomb .... tons of creature features were made.... so today it is more of the supernatural and apocalyptic movies being made, this is what mostly scares people today.. who knows what it will be 20 years from now...

[Amelie]

Yeah, totally. I've never been scared by bug horror movies. Big spiders, slugs, earthworms - they've always been more silly to me than scary...but I know people who are scared shitless by that stuff. To each his own.

[lilangel_66071]

in my opinion on the subject, horro will never die. I mean u have to have an open mind if you are true horror fan there are so many different fields of horror out there, bugs ,birds, Slashers,MEntal ,hell satanic. I mean i have seen as many horror movies in my life time I love them all even the one's who suck becuase someone made an effort. I love the corny ones too like pumkin head,chucky,even the 80's ones like slumber party massacre and even the original phyco nothing like it so i say screw the person who wrote this article. Fear will always be apart of peoples lifes, and if thats the case it will always be intresting to people and there are the freaks out there who decide to make it into a movie, and things like ed gains will be around forever , there will always be weirdo's out there to make movies about ha

[Zero]

so i was trolling around in the HDC archives and ran across this thread and thought it wsa funny that we seem to be in an era when horror has become a bit more popular. sort of on an upswing. with success for films like The Strangers, Quarantine and the influx of foreign directors, etc. it seems like we are in one of the horror upswings that the HDC folks back in 2003 were hoping for.

or are we?? discuss.

[hacelikewhoa]

horror will never die out

[neverending]

I think you're right, Zero... there's always a lot of drek, but as we've said in many similar threads, a lot of interesting horror films have been coming out. Particularly indie and foreign.

Two very well done, scary & creepy movies I've seen this year are Out of the Blue, an indie film from New Zealand and Home Movie. Others will be able to name quite a few great recent horror films as well. Many have said The Mist is the best Stephen King adaptation in a long time.

[fortunato]

Horror, like pretty much everything else, will ebb and flow. It's all about our collective mindset and perception of the world at any given time. Generally, times in which things seemed grim (for example, say World Wars I & II) have seen increased output for horror due to the generally dark or fearful mood. This is such a time in the world right now, so according to the trends of the past, we should be seeing a high point in the genre (and, like you said, it seems we are getting there).

And, sure enough, sometime in the future it's all going to suck again.