Is the genre dying?

[_____V_____]

In my reply to one of the other threads, I mentioned about recent horror movies not being scary. Now a horror movie is supposed to scare, but honestly saying in recent times, which movie has had that effect?

The Ring and Ju-On maybe...but those are japanese offerings...hence the intrusion of japanese horror into mainstream cinema and acceptance of em by the horror-movie-starved people like us...

But look at the bigger picture. Most supposedly masters of horror movie-making have either hit a dead end or are waning...Each movie and each movie-maker is a fine example (choose anyone)...

Jason and Freddy managed to scare portions of the teenage audience, but when combined together in a movie, they lost that scary touch...the main reason being they gunning for each other's throats...same with Aliens vs Predator...the whole "versus" thing maybe good for the box-office and commercialisation of horror icons...but in terms of scares, a big downslide...

I remember the original Alien...the long dark silhouetted spaceship, brooding gloomy corridors, terrified crew, and an unknown creature aboard which could be anywhere, even over your head, the howling wind on the Alien planet...now AvP, where the audience isnt scared of the Alien anymore...

The Shining, Exorcist, TCM, Halloween, Friday the 13th...all nerve-janglers, all making you jump outta your seats...*sigh*...

If the makers are hellbent on killing the genre, then they are doing a fine job of it. Tobe Hooper went down, John Carpenter followed, and people like James Cameron, Ridley Scott and Quentin Tarantino wont even touch horror (I loved "From Dusk Till Dawn").

New movie makers arent scared of experimenting, like the recent "Jeepers Creepers", "Saw" and "Silent Hill" (although its a movie adapted from a game but still scary in parts)...but movies like the Blade series (which made vampires look like lame cattle fodder), Underworld (vampires vs werewolves, yet nothing scary about it), remakes of old horror classics which dont scare enough like the originals...makes me wonder when is the next full-fledged horror movie coming out which will make it into the top 10 of every ardent horror fan like me out there?

I feel like sitting beside the comatose body of "The Horror Genre" at an ICU, thinking if it can be revived back or should we resign and call the coffin-makers and the church for funeral services?

[urgeok]

in all fairness i think the average horro fan who's been around is pretty jaded and desensitized. You scare people by suprising them, jumping out and shocking - with the help of the music score.
once you've seen 10 horror films you've seen just about every trick in the book .. we know what to expect.

i abandoned the idea of being scred over 20 years ago and just enjoy a film (if it's well made) for the other offerings (decent story, good performances, fin FX, cinematography..etc)

occasionally something will be well done enough to make me jump ... but scared - not a chance.

Thats why you see mainly young kids or people new to the genre who can still get scared in a horror film, even though most of us think its crap... and good for them - enjoy it while it lasts.

its not a macho thing - not being scared - its just overexposure and getting to the unfortunate point where you are never again able to lose the concious awareness that 'its only a movie - with actors - on sets'

[_____V_____]

Maybe thats one of the reasons why the horror movies have lost their "jump-outta-chairs" touch. Hardcore horror fans have watched so many flicks with all the variations of stories the human minds can cook, that each new movie is unconsciously compared to the ones gone by, and similarities between them dampen the enthusiasm. Add to it incompetency of the script-writers, bad directors, shoddy lighting and sound effects, and you got a suckass movie.

"That one didnt make me feel scared"
"I didnt jump off my chair"
"I have seen that sequence in another movie"
"story is much like this other one I had seen awhile back".....

common lines now for the horror movie buff who's been to the theaters for the past 25-30 years, watching movies and more movies...now in the privacy of the home with cable and CDs and DVDs available at the call...

Is there anything left in the tank? Or has it been used up so much that now its just running on fumes? Exploited over and over again to the extent that nothing except a dry,shrivelled and ugly piece remains of what once was a fresh, bright and ripe genre...

[Yellow Jacket]

I never go into a horror movie looking to be scared. There have only been two movies that have scared me (not including Son of the Mask, because that's for different reasons), and they are The Omen and The Exorcist. Sure, I jolt every now and then when a "boo" scare, as I like to call them, comes out in a movie. But, that's just because of the loud sound it portrays. So, technically, I'm not scared. I've said this my whole three years of horror watching, and I don't have a problem saying it again and again.

[Miss Olivia]

Yeah, I'd say the next horror movie that has any chance at all of scaring me is Cthulu with Tori Spelling.....unfortunately I'll be afraid for all the wrong reasons....:(

[_____V_____]

So many movies in recent times have held promise but failed to captivate the thinking fan. We all still stick to old favs, although some new ones might signal the revival of the genre again. Its imperative that new horror icons are established. The Creeper, Jigsaw, Pyramid Head etc. can be frontrunners...

Hopefully Cthulhu will be another...

[Yellow Jacket]

Originally posted by _____V_____
So many movies in recent times have held promise but failed to captivate the thinking fan.

Sounds like The Ring to me.

[The_Return]

Originally posted by Yellow Jacket
Sounds like The Ring to me.

What kind of promise did that have? The premise is right up there with a bad 80's slasher, the actors are awful...blah. I havent bothered to see the original just because of the terrible plot. Promise? It promised to be terrible.

[ItsAlive75]

I think the world's a much scarier place than it used to be. Old horror is "better" because the audience that watched it wasn't as desensitized to seeing horrible things on a daily basis.

For God's sake, we can watch beheadings of real people on the fucking internet. A kid can see that any time he or she wants. How's a guy in make-up with a knife gonna compete with the thousands out there that are really doing it?

I dunno, we're all pretty jaded now. That's why movies are aimed at the Mtv crowd, the 14 year old babysitters who don't watch the news or read the newspaper... "When a Stranger Calls", "Darkness"... all those kinds of movies that provide scares for kids that can still be frightened. The rest of us... we're all just looking for a good movie.

[urgeok]

Originally posted by ItsAlive75
I think the world's a much scarier place than it used to be. Old horror is "better" because the audience that watched it wasn't as desensitized to seeing horrible things on a daily basis.

thats one of the biggest things ..

the evening news is far more terrifying than any creature feature any day.