[Mile]

Ok, I expect most everyone to disagree with me on this but regardless I still think I'm right and I wonder if there is anyone who agrees with me or has a good argument why I'm wrong.

To me horror damn near died in 1995 because of the movie Scream (and Tales from the Crypt going off air the next year). After Scream came out just about every mainstream horror movie copied it, if any of you remember I Know What You Did Last Summer or a slew of vhs/dvd covers at your video stores (late 90s-early 2000s) that looked like a Backstreet Boys album cover.

Scream was a teeny bopper movie. if any of you remember a show called Beverly Hills 90210, a teeny bopper show in the early 90s, Scream was BH90210 with a killer. It was in no way shape or form made for your at the time slasher audience, it was made to appeal to 15yo girls and very successful because of it. I hated it from back then and still do. I remember people in my neighborhood who absolutely hated horror but loved Scream.
Scream and it's influence completely killed atmosphere in horror. The whole, here's the rules of a horror movie, to me completely killed the movie. When I watch movies, I try to get into it, like it's real and that in and of itself is like a big reminder to the audience- It's not real, don't be scared. I really don't want that. In my opinion with a few edits to Scream it could've been put out by Disney. I have the same opinion for all its sequels and movies that ripped it off.

There was a few really good movies in the late 90s but they weren't in the mainstream and even a lot of underground flicks at the time were Scream rip-offs or less gritty and more teenager friendly. To me horror didn't make a comeback in the mainstream until Saw, Hostel and House of a 1000 Corpses. I was really excited for the torture porn and retro genres to emerge because for years I was starved for real horror.

For those of you that are a lot younger than me, just think 80s horror/slashers and the early 90s continuation of that, blood, gore, tits- very masculine. Scream and its influence neutered horror for a few years with a big dose of estrogen filled teeny bop dialogue. Take a look at the dramatic parts of Scream and tell me it wasn't straight out of teeny bopper shows. The main character has a lot of emotional parts, feelings etc that horror was completely devoid of before that.


I can see people saying, appealing to a broader, younger and more female audience, mainstream etc. And you'd be right about that but when you turn your back on your base, to me that's never good. Just imagine that you love a genre exactly the way it is and then it takes a 180 on you.