Horror has changed, but is that ok?
Hey all, Stephen here.
I don't necessarily think I'm some kind of major authoritative figure on the matter of horror media in terms of movies, games, books etc. BUT I am someone who eats, sleeps, and drinks all things horror, I have from a VERY early age. Some of my earliest memories are watching the hold black and white movies from Universal, to my obsession of finding the “One of the Great Lost Films”, London after Midnight with Lon Chaney Sr. (even casual horror fans I’m sure know his son Jr. was The Wolfman for Universal, but Sr. was a legend in his own right before and during the heyday of the Universal Films).
What I'm hoping to address here is the common opinion that horror of the “golden age” of Universal (IMO this “era” goes until the next phase of horror, which I usually credit as the legendary TXCM as the flag bearer there, but I guess you could say 1960’s Psycho too) don’t hold up like more modern horror. I would argue, some of the horror in those days, along with a lot of other movies and things of that age, certainly don't hold up. However, I also say the same about some horror that's half as old or less though, so that argument has never held up much to me. But in that age without modern movie CGI and tech, ALL they could rely on really was the acting, music, and ambiance, when the movie wasn't very well done, it does seem to fall off a bit, but these movies are formative for every horror cliche and trope we have now so I would argue if you don’t think they’re “scary” (which to be fair I don’t think anyone does anymore), you have to truly respect the work put in by that generation.
All that being said, I'm a huge horror fan and love movies from ALL ages, both the Slasher age, or Silver age as I call it, and even more modern stuff up to incredible movies like Oddity, Ready or Not, 13 Ghosts, Jeepers Creepers etc. Universal and Hammer Films Horror are what got me into the genre and world of horror, and in that way they'll always be my favorite, but when a new movie comes out and touches what's considered to be greatness, those movies earn their spot, so what makes newer movies special, well this is all an opinion, but I can definitely give mine!
So Horror has “changed”, what WAS it?
So, as I covered a bit above, horror used to not just spam jump scares and gore galleries to carry an idea or plot. In my opinion, when a horror movie can have you afraid of its antagonist without jump scares over and over, or showing an insane amount of gore (this IS NOT a dig against movies like Terrifier, which I will touch on, but the WHOLE point of that character is to be over the top, so I don't find it egregious) I find it WAY more appealing and interesting. Even something associated with like insane violence, and something imo that’s still scary, TXCM, if you watch the first movie again, you see a couple dead bodies, and a couple times people get hit on the head with a stick or a mallet or something, but there's almost no actual violence on screen…so how was that movie scary? Well, i can tell you that one of the best executed jump scares ever done is Leatherface’s reveal, just appears in that doorway, whacks the guy, and slams the door (that scene alone is iconic), outside of that there's not a ton of violence on screen, and a lot of is implied/offscreen or before the movie began to begin with. This is one of MANY examples of how a movie can have a scary and violent antagonist without shoving it down your throat with gore and cuts to a jump scare. Now, am I saying if a movie has those things it's automatically bad, also no. There are some great movies that include this, like Terrifier and In a Violent Nature.
This is not me on a soap box saying I understand horror or what movies are good and which movies aren't. If you like over the top movies, then do your thing! There are some great ones out there! I'm just saying I usually like movies that don't reveal their hand too soon, and keep some ambiguity to the antagonist. 1978 Halloween did this well, even with all the kills on screen, none of them are like unreal mortal kombat moves, and a lot of the times he’s on screen you see him coming from far off, or see him in the corner which is (again, in my own opinion) a MUCH better alternative to a jump scare. Like the protagonists walk into a room and you see the slasher in the corner, but they don't. No jumps, no camera cuts, you just see it like a piece of furniture. So much more tension, atmosphere and creative ways to put that into scenes that just going BOO! With a loud music queue over and over.
And what IS it now?
I think with a lot of forms of media, horror now is kind of a product of the times. The masses want quick gratification, not having to think or ask for it, just quick thrills loud and wild. BUT…occasionally, with something done well enough, the status quo can change and people can see something to change their perspective. To name one of many, I think Robert Eggers has done this fairly well with movies like The Witch, The Lighthouse, and more recently, a remake of the classic Nosferatu. While these movies have definitely had violence in them, it never feels senseless, and the overall narrative stands for something other than just capturing chaos on screen. I think these days after 2 prominent horror eras, making an original horror movie with creative plots and characters is definitely hard, but i do believe it's still an amazing time to be a horror fan with things like CreepyPastas online (some done as well as actual published works) and things like Flannagan’s Netflix anthology, V/H/S and much more, there's AMAZING horror coming out these days. I guess to cap off this talk, my heart will ALWAYS be with old horror because of what it means to me, and their approach to building antagonists through storytelling and subtle horror - BUT there's still some great stuff coming out these days. I'm excited for “the next big monster”, remakes are fine, but I want someone with passion to really set themselves apart like Jordan Peele did with Get Out, Eggers did with The Witch, and Leone did with Terrifier.
I won’t hold anyone up any longer, but do love talking about this stuff, horror culture, ideas on movies and the why and who / theories behind them, and hope to cultivate some awesome conversations here and on our Discord! See you all soon, happy Halloween season!