Monday, May 9, 2011 at 4:09AM 2011, Where's All The "Horror"?
Will Scream 4 be one of the selected few horror movies released in 2011?
Earlier this month, there was an article posted on Badass Digest that tackled the lack of horror films and I wish to elaborate on the statement that was made conerning this year's poor showing. One has to wonder why movie audiences haven't seen a truly traditional horror movie that has received large media attention or even had a successful box-office presence. I could list all the "horror films" that have been released this year but, they all utilized facets of the horror genre as part of the whole.
Early in January we had The Rite, which was neither successful nor scary. It did decently, with mediocre exposure and Anthony Hopkins "creepy old guy" persona he does best (most prominent coming from his days as "Hannibal Lecter"). He spouted some nasty and sexual remarks but, they never really felt explicit or merited the audacity it tried to imply. Let's be honest, I'm not trying to compare but, nothing will ever top the demon-possession in The Exorcist. Linda Blair owned the physically demanding role of demon possession in a child and Mercedes McCambridge provided the iconic Demon voice that will forever remain prominent in our nightmares. All this to say that a true horror film is no longer what it used to be.
Rarely do we see a film grounded in horror that isn't influenced by science-fiction, fantasy, gore, vampires and so-on. We've lately been given, what I hope doesn't become, "The Apathetic Gore Treatment". Year after year I see films that are only variations on the futuristic-apocalyptic film. Over these last few years there's been Resident Evil (and its sequels), Saw (with exception of the first film), Hostel, Legion, Daybreakers, Book of Eli, the numerous "... Of The Dead" remakes and continuations and Priest (the new release coming this Friday). They all lack a very important thing: heart and soul.
What I mean by "heart and soul" is that there's no one you can truly root for, no one that plays surrogate for audiences. It seems that we live in an apathetic world where we couldn't care about the human condition or the relevancy in today's social construct, which strangely enough is what I honestly believe the original Saw (the exception to the rule) tried to state for this new generation. Saw is certainly one of those films that some would say revolutionized and simultaneously allowed the "gore-horror genre" to take prominence.
Some of you may be wondering what does this have to do with the lack of horror films in 2011? Well, the point im trying to make is that even the new gore-horror genre has subsided into this strange portrayal of our (possible) future: bleak, soulless and a pessimistic worldview. How long before audiences' tire of the same old vision of a future we no longer wish to come into fruition? I'm just about tired of it.
Some would say that Insidious and Scream 4 were prominent for 2011 but, they neither struck box-office success or wide release media buzz. Although, they did provide a freshness that was seriously lacking in the releases so far this year. Looking forward into 2011 we will have the Guillermo del Toro presented Don't Be Afraid of the Dark, with an inventive look to a recently released poster over at Fangoria and a truly scary trailer:
The problem being that it mostly likely won't garner much prominence nationwide, even though the internet buzz around the film has been building on message boards and it's always shifting release date will surely put a damper in its box-office success. Hopefully, the pedigree of Guillermo del Toro, Guy Pearce and Katie Holmes will change those perceptions.
I'm sure that I've overlooked some possibilities and therefore, I want to open up the discussion to readers here at Get The Big Picture in asking (albeit ironically as is the name of this website): Do you think there will be any other prominent releases in 2011 that will be rooted in the more traditional aspect of the horror genre?
Reader Comments (5)
Actually, I'd argue that Scre4m got a ton of media exposure & hype (and like most horror sequels, opened weakly, then crashed & burned after) while Insidious was a big moneymaker, considering it's already made $50 million domestically on a less than $2 million budget. But yeah, I'd agree that they aren't huge blockbuster films by any means.
We're in a transition stage at this point for the horror genre. We're fresh off the "torture porn" stage, since the Saw flicks started losing revenue. The last big blockbuster hit for the genre was the first Paranormal Activity which is why we're starting to get more of those found footage type, low-budget horror flicks (obviously the sequels to Paranormal as well as Area 51 among others).
All of the other films you've mentioned are being made because they're successful (if only modestly so). It's only until these films reach a saturation point that we'll stop seeing them. I have no idea what kind of "horror film" will come after that, however.
The only horror movie I'm interested in is Silent House.
American remake or UK version.
I agree with Vince that "Scream 4" received quite a lot of media exposure and that "Insidious" became a significant word-of-mouth box-office hit. When you look at "Insidious"' box-office take relative to its budget, it is undoubtedly a "Saw" level success. Both cost between $1-2 million to make and both grossed between $50-$60 million at the domestic box-office. I do agree, though, that 2011 has been light on "pure" horror releases.
Yes, Insidious is a box-office hit when compared to its very small budget but, its not a massive hit nor is its reception resounding in the media. I agree its one of the few standouts so far this year but, it hasn't achieved the notoriety that Paranormal Activity did a few years ago. I'm basing this on assessing word-of-mouth, publicity and not on the amount of $$$ it actually made. It presence is very quiet as compared to Saw (when it was first released), it still had more media attention than Insidious has received.
Over the last decade several trends in horror have played out - the 'zombie revival', 'torture porn'. J-horror (or Asian horror) and the American remakes of those movies, 70's era horror movie remakes, vampires, and more recently the "found footage" trend. The "traditional" horror movie is - what? Slasher movies? Exorcism movies? Those medieval torture/exploitation movies from the early 70's? Ghost stories? The old Universal studio monsters Frankenstein, Dracula and the Wolfman? Giant bug/monster/creature movies? I mean what're you talking about - "traditional"? They've always moved in trends and sub-genres. Horror movies are the purest "popcorn movie" genre. They're the the most sure-fire audience movie MADE SOLELY to entertain. What's happened is the AUDIENCE HAS CHANGED and the "traditional" taboos that horror movies disturb for the audience, no longer are effective so the movies are CHASING the audience instead of LEADING them through a spook-house ride. I tend to think right now two trends are emerging - one is the very low-budget route as we see with the "found footage" trend. Really many of the horror movies at least try to keep the budgets VERY low and the production very sparse as we see with "Insidious" and "Devil". The other trend I see is what Del Torro wanted to do with "In the Mountains of Madness" and what Ridley Scott is doing with "Prometheus" - and THAT I think harkens back to "Alien" in which you have a dark STORY - one that, while it has those things that goose the audience as horror movies do in their pop-cinema way - they also stand up to repeat viewings, well after one has become accustomed to the scares and shocks, and allow one to further explore the story and characters. So they reach for a little more than the usual audience-movie. Ultimately this genre keeps pace with the audience and the 21st century audience is not the "traditional' audience anymore.