by Kerri Anne McNally
So... What's your favourite scary movie? I can almost guarantee that it isn't a recent one...
It's October, which means the internet is piled high with articles about the best scary movies to watch for All Hallows Eve. Unsurprisingly, most feature the classics: Halloween; A Nightmare on Elm Street; Friday the 13th; The Exorcist; The Texas Chain Saw Massacre; Child's Play; The Evil Dead; The Shining, Rosemary's Baby, Candyman and, of course, the one that arguably started the slasher flick phenomenon, Psycho.
So... What's your favourite scary movie? I can almost guarantee that it isn't a recent one...
It's October, which means the internet is piled high with articles about the best scary movies to watch for All Hallows Eve. Unsurprisingly, most feature the classics: Halloween; A Nightmare on Elm Street; Friday the 13th; The Exorcist; The Texas Chain Saw Massacre; Child's Play; The Evil Dead; The Shining, Rosemary's Baby, Candyman and, of course, the one that arguably started the slasher flick phenomenon, Psycho.
But that's not to say that there hasn't been any good horror films since the 80s: Saw, Scream, Let the Right One In, Cabin in the Woods, Final Destination (the first one, let's forget about the comedy sequels shall we?), 28 Days Later and [REC] for example are all fantastic films. Mostly because they're all original and innovative stories. But do you actually get scared by horror films anymore?
The horror genre, in particular, is a hard one to crack. There's a definite line between a good horror and a bad one. In no other genre is that line so pronounced that films were classed in an A and B-movie status (although I can think of a few rom-coms that should be degraded to at least a C-class). There are exceptions to that rule, those films that are so bad they're good, but generally the good films grab one of your fears or paranoia and squeezes until you're checking under your bed and sleeping with the lights on.
For me, A Nightmare on Elm Street is one of the ultimate horror films. As a child, who should not have been watching said film and was slightly afraid of the dark anyway, spent many a night trying not to fall asleep - just in case. The film took the universal fear of nightmares and made them even more real. Real, and with knives for fingers. Maybe it's just me, but recent horror films have failed to grasp modernised fears, with most just reusing those cheap thrills and tricks from old classics.
The horror genre, in particular, is a hard one to crack. There's a definite line between a good horror and a bad one. In no other genre is that line so pronounced that films were classed in an A and B-movie status (although I can think of a few rom-coms that should be degraded to at least a C-class). There are exceptions to that rule, those films that are so bad they're good, but generally the good films grab one of your fears or paranoia and squeezes until you're checking under your bed and sleeping with the lights on.
For me, A Nightmare on Elm Street is one of the ultimate horror films. As a child, who should not have been watching said film and was slightly afraid of the dark anyway, spent many a night trying not to fall asleep - just in case. The film took the universal fear of nightmares and made them even more real. Real, and with knives for fingers. Maybe it's just me, but recent horror films have failed to grasp modernised fears, with most just reusing those cheap thrills and tricks from old classics.
In the past few years, someone somewhere decided remaking the old classics was a good idea culminating in a tidal wave of stuff we've seen before on the big screen. Yes, the newer versions are more clean cut, higher budgeted, and more 'modern' - I say that lightly because most just feature an iPhone which never has service anyway (because, plot) but the scares aren't there anymore. Is it because we've become desensitized from the blood, gore and know the 'rules' of horror films all too well?
If you don't know these rules, please pay close attention to this public announcement from the authority that is Randy from Scream. If you do know these rules, you should watch the clip anyway because Scream is genius.
If you don't know these rules, please pay close attention to this public announcement from the authority that is Randy from Scream. If you do know these rules, you should watch the clip anyway because Scream is genius.
Scream was a ball because it twisted those rules we had come to know from 80s scary movies and gave us something we haven't seen before: META. Which in itself has now become a rule (good horror = breaking the rules) and is so overused we're bored of it (I'm blaming you, Scary Movie). Cabin in the Woods used it to great effect in 2012, however, because it went slightly meta on the meta subgenre and had great, original writing (All hail, Joss) and direction (you go, Drew Goddard). The trouble with meta (and meta-meta) is that humour breaks tension. And you need a little tension and paranoia in a good scary movie. That feeling of dread that something isn't quite right, that something might be hanging around the corner...
The Conjuring had that tension. On paper, it should have bombed. Old trope - paranormal experts investigating a supposed haunted house - all stuff we've seen before. Yet, James Wan's excellent direction kept us tense and jumpy all the way through until the last act. Which is why it did so well at the box office - we like to be scared by a scary movie.
The 2000's sucked for genuinely scary films, but with The Conjuring's success and The Babadook rolling around in praise at the moment could we be back to having our wits scared out of us? I think I might buy a night light... or is that too premature?
The Conjuring had that tension. On paper, it should have bombed. Old trope - paranormal experts investigating a supposed haunted house - all stuff we've seen before. Yet, James Wan's excellent direction kept us tense and jumpy all the way through until the last act. Which is why it did so well at the box office - we like to be scared by a scary movie.
The 2000's sucked for genuinely scary films, but with The Conjuring's success and The Babadook rolling around in praise at the moment could we be back to having our wits scared out of us? I think I might buy a night light... or is that too premature?
RSS Feed
