My gripe with modern horror from 2000+
 

Has the horror genre lost its touch in the last 10 years or is it me? I mean, sure the 80s & 90s put out some off the wall horror titles and some were goofy but... I no longer see isles & isles of horror with interesting coverart & kids begging their parents to let them watch some insane gorefest. I myself as a child would gaze & wonder what on earth a movie could be about just by box art.When I finally saw these I was more then satisfied.

But now we get interesting concepts that are shot to hell by piss poor characters and a crappy attempt at suspense by dragging out moments to unnecessary lengths. Then theres movies like The Ruins that just disregarded so much... The plants could have been so much but they seemed so underused.

So what do you think about this?

Examples -
-The Ruins
-Touristas
-Hostel & Hostel 2
etc etc

We get a "what the hell has happened to horror" thread every 10 days or so. Sure, there's plenty of crap out there- but there has been since at least the 80s, IMO. I don't think this is endemic to the horror genre by any means... there's a lot of crap movies of every conceivable type.

When the accountants took over the studios it was the beginning of the end. Every film today is run through so many different type of mills to make sure it will appeal to as wide an audience as possible. That's all that matters these days- the bottom line.

That said, I think there are plenty of gems out there if you go looking for them. Do some deep reading in this forum- you'll find an amazing array of films from the 2000s that pleased a lot of fans here. Stop expecting your local megaplex to bring genius to you. It's not their purpose. Check DVD releases, look on cable- on the indie channels. If you have any indie theatres nearby, check what they're showing. Likewise and film fest that might be happening.

There are great horror films being made today.

Yes, neverending is right; there are plenty of great horror movies, you just need to do a little digging.

It's funny, I was going over my Top Horror Movies Year By Year Thread, and the 2000s had 49 films I recommended as opposed to 26 for the 70s, 22 for the 80s, and 14 for the 90s.

'Damn - Hollywood has ruined horror with all these sequals. They really ran the Dracula and Frankenstein series into the ground with those 'House of'. They've ran out of ideas and just threw all the monsters together...'

- My Grandfather (65 years ago)

:-)

^^ :D

neverending nailed it with his post but I do hear what you're saying in regards to cover art and thought the films you mentioned were average as fuck.

There's always a handful of films each year that blow me away each year but you've just got to dig deeper to find them. 90% of major studios output is bland garbage and nothing special.

There are a lot of good independent ones springing up now and then. Masters of horror tends to put out a gem or two.

It's where you look and what you look for. super low budged HI-8 movies can be great as well, even if it is only for a cheap laugh.

Understand but diagree
 

I understand the point you are trying to make. However there are still a lot of good horror flicks out there. With a site like this one you will never run out of ideas or suggestions for a movie. For example try "Suicide" a german movie from 2004. Its a nasty one but very intriguing. Cheers

Thanks for your input guys but my concerns were more that it was getting boring - rather then worse.

I like some newer Horrors such as The Collector, but I'm starting to see a trend of extreme padding - Hours where nothing happens at all.

I really enjoyed The Ruins, Hostel, and Hostel 2. Were these films examples of extreme padding?

I can't tell you how many movies I get via Net flix, VOD I even have a membership of a store in Hollywood that specializes in Horror and underground movies, that I watch the first half hour and shut it off.. I really haven't seen anything that I can say, I truly enjoyed watching since last year's "Drag me to Hell". I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings so please remember THIS IS JUST MY OPINION, but the movies today lack any creativeness and originality, to me all I see is a boring overload of computerized gore and a lame TnA show.

Such hatred. We aren't exactly living ina golden age of horror, but it's been pretty good. Of course most films suck, regardless of genre, but some wonderful, original horror films are being made these days, if you are willing to look for them and grow with them.

As for the "boring" comments, sure, some films never deliver and some films are a little boring. But there are brilliant films like LET THE RIGHT ONE IN or ROMAN or GRACE or FROZEN or BEHIND THE MASK: THE RISE OF LESLIE VERNON or INSIDE or MARTYRS or (non horor but still horrific) THE ROAD in which things develop slowly, but are more beautiful for the pacing.

Seek these films out and you'll be rewarded. Rent SyFy DINOCROC shit or the recent slate of remakes (with the exception of THE CRAZIES which exceeds the original) or one of the ten thousand dumb-ass, lazy fucking Zombie flicks made each year and you'll be left wanting

If you don't like character development then I have nothing to say to you other than grow up and grow an attention span. Feature films are not youtube clips.

Whoa, character development is fine. Here I'll get into specifics, and yes its all my opinion on certain movie trends these days.

My example (Sorry Wickerfan) will be the Ruins...
It had a lot of suspense but no plot. It didn't build up to anything, or reveal anything or bring the characters any further as characters. Everyone was flat, boring, useless characters that I could not care for - sure they had a little 'drama' as in they were banging each other but I had more sympathy for the Mayans then these fools.

Hostel had A LOT of padding, but I can say the end bits were entertaining. Hostel 2 was horrible, downright horrible - It was the same thing but with flat uninteresting characters - almost unwatchable.

As I said though, there are exceptions - very few in my opinion. But Ias I said, I enjoyed The Collector, & Saw 3-5. But only because there was a element of mystery and dying to see whats next. I also liked the CUBE series.

SEE WHAT I MEAN???? POST YOUR OPINION AND SOME LAME KNOW IT ALL WHO SITS BEHIND A COMPUTER ALL DAY WILL TELL YOU THINGS LIKE "grow up and grow an attention span" BECAUSE HE DOES NOT AGREE WITH THE OPINION BEFORE. IF THIS IS THE ONLY PLACE YOU HAVE TO FEEL IMPORTANT OR TRY TO FEEL BETTER ABOUT YOURSELF BY BEING A DISRESPECTFUL WISE ASS TO OTHER PEOPLE THEN MORE POWER TO YOU!! YOU CAN HAVE IT! I ENJOY TALKING TO PEOPLE ONLINE ABOUT WHAT I LOVE; MONSTERS AND HORROR FILMS, I RESPECT EVERYONE'S OPINION, I LEAVE BEING DISRESPECTFUL TO PEOPLE WHO DESERVE IT, IN PERSON FACE TO FACE. NOT OVER A COMPUTER.

So you're saying you don't like character development, right?

I'm one of those oddballs who actually liked HOSTEL 2 better than the original. Although it lacked the socio-political impact of the first film, it wandered into uncomfortable and odd territory by guiding us into the hollow desparation of the type of person who needs the thrill-kill to validate his life.

Never said that, but I know enough to know, FOR ME when I think something is garbage! LIKE I SAID BEFORE THAT's JUST ME!! I play music, have since I was 13 and have played everywhere, I can care less who likes what I play and who doesn't for whatever reason! you know what they say about opinions.....

To address the original post and to echo what some have said already, there are really good movies out there if you look for them.
I've been a horror fan since I was a little kid, and to the chagrin of my wife, it's still what I mainly like to watch.
Some comedies once in a while are OK, but horror does it for me. I like things that my friends think sucks. Castle Freak is a favorite of mine, as is Trilogy Of Terror...just a made for TV flick.
But it got to me. That's what I like.

I won't go into plot and character development and all, I like what gets to me. A subscription to NetFlix was one of the best gifts I've ever given myself. The reviews are good(most of the time) and I'm rarely let down with what I've rented.
And even if I am, in two days I have another movie to check out.

Just saying, don't give up and think that horror today is boring or is all bad. For every not so good recent movie I've seen, I've seen two or three pretty good ones.

[QUOTE=Monster Dave;866892]I can't tell you how many movies... that I watch the first half hour and shut it off. [QUOTE]

Just asking - not attacking, as you seem to think - have you seen LET THE RIGHT ONE IN or ROMAN or GRACE or FROZEN or BEHIND THE MASK: THE RISE OF LESLIE VERNON or INSIDE or MARTYRS?

And if so, are these the films you turn off before finishing?

Once again, a question, not an attack... so relax.

Ha ha ha That's funny now you act like you're innocent and you have no clue what I'm talking about... Dude I have no desire to speak with you further. I don't care if I get tossed off this site, but let me say you are a joke in my eyes and not the type of person I would ever have anything to do with in "real life" or here. Enough said.

Endo,
I do see movies here and there that I like but the percentage is extremely low. I am too, a netflix junkie! The selection is what sold me, as a matter of fact I have a group of friends twice a month we have a double horror feature night, tomorrow night is my choice "Dead Alive" from my collection and "EvilSpeak" Via netflix. Who the hell has EvilSpeak? I haven't seen that since the theater when I was a young punk!! I don't think I would have even remembered it if not for netflix!!

That was a good part of the movie, to be honest - If the movie explored this a little more rather then focus on the female versions of the first movies - I'd of liked it more. But it was made by Eli Roth, he has his... ways with movies

I guess I don't feel it's necessary to have deep characters in a horror movie every single time; as long as the characters aren't really obnoxious (which does happen sometimes) I'm okay with having a suspense driven film.

I can't recall anyone in the 3 films mentioned that really got on my nerves or that did anything really frustratingly stupid, and that's good enough for me with this type of film.

My list of films I enjoyed from 2000-present (I'll exclude The Ruins and Hostel):

Battle Royale
Uzumaki
Final Destination
The Cell
The Devil's Backbone
The Others
Session 9
Jeepers Creepers
Frailty
Joy Ride
Signs
The Ring
28 Days Later
Cabin Fever
Ju-On The Grudge
Dark Water
The Eye
Phone
The Mothman Prophecies
Open Water
Identity
Saw
R Point
Shutter
Incident At Loch Ness
The Devil's Rejects
Wolf Creek
The Descent
The Booth
Skeleton Key
The Host
Behind The Mask The Rise Of Leslie Vernon
Lady In The Water:o
Planet Terror
The Orphanage
Joshua
Paranormal Activity
The Mist
1408
Let The Right One In
Cloverfield
The Happening:o
Quarantine
Trick R Treat
Eden Lake
Drag Me To Hell
The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo

Interesting discussions
 

I just stumbled across the postings and I thought I might try to offer an opinion.

I have always loved horror films of all shapes sizes and sub genres. Character development is usually not the top priority in a lot of horror films
being made now. However character devlopment can (at times)ruin a movie.
The remake of Halloween is a good example.

IMO there are pieces from all of points made which are quite valid (IMO)

One last thing:

Signs, The Ring,Mothman, Lady in the Water, 1408, Drag Me to Hell,

really?

Yeah, really.:D

Moth Man & Drag me to Hell are awesome movies!!!