are classic better than new horror films?

[gyoung_33]

Im asking the question are old horror films better than the modern special effects horrors of today. (this is for my university essay, the more feedback i get the better. tell your friends)

[neverending]

Some older films are better than some newer films.
Some newer films are better than some older films.

This is not the answer you want, but it's the bare truth.

[Doc Faustus]

On average and as a body of work? I think horror films used to be better.

[Bastet]

Originally Posted by Doc Faustus

On average and as a body of work? I think horror films used to be better.

Maybe thats because directors had less technology to work with and as a result worked harder to create more with less.

[Doc Faustus]

I think also there were fewer expectations and fewer conventions.

[Bastet]

Originally Posted by Doc Faustus

I think also there were fewer expectations and fewer conventions.

I agree, film making was still young and audiences were naive in their tastes. But do feel there was more emphasis on story telling than shocking them and as a result, the films we have are very rich stories rather than just to shock or repulse. Love James whale. I do have a soft spot for the old films and think that being in black and white ads to the atmosphere. The most frightening film I have eve seen, which I still can't watch on my own is 'The Spiral Staircase.
:eek:

[Doc Faustus]

I don't think I've seen Spiral Staircase. I hear great things of course. Vampyr chilled me to the bone the first few times I saw it, but now I'm just spellbound and in a meditative state when I watch it. I think terrible vintage horror also has much more charm than terrible contemporary horror. As halfassed as Monogram and Republic movies were, I still love them. My upcoming book Jimmy Plush, Teddy Bear Detective has a lot of Monogram mystery elements and references. There's something wonderful about people with pretty much nothing but their imaginations and a need to put food in their bellies making movies. Any artist can identify with that. I only wish today's microbudget productions were as atmospheric and cool. But expectations and conventions came into play and though the conventions might have come from brilliant gamechanging indie features they're trotted out ad nauseum by derivative ignorami thinking they're in an easy genre.

[neverending]

Along these lines I think some indie or low-budget filmmakers today look at bad horror films from the past and think "These guys got away with it, so I'm not even going to try and make a good film- I'll just make it campy."

But Ed Wood and his ilk were doing their best to make the best films they could. You can't create camp- it has to happen organically.

[Doc Faustus]

They also don't seem to understand that for camp to work, you have to at least on some level take it seriously.

[milktoaste]

The problem is in the question, 'better' is not a unit of measurement thus there is no definite answer. Even as an opinion I couldn't decide; besides a 'classic' can be born at any time-they're timeless.