Is this what we've come to in Horror?

[bigraydaddy1]

 

[Nimrod]

looks cringe

 

[Hidden_Hand]

Actually Horror is at a high point for me, we have James Wan and Leigh Whannell bringing life to it again and originality.

Conjuring 1 & 2
Annabelle Creation
Insidious 1-4
IT
Autopsy of Jane Doe
Ouija Origin of Evil

Some seriously solid horrors just off the top of my head.

 

[RockstarChris]

 

[CerebralKnievel]

Another story I've been working on:

The Slender Guy
He keeps in shape, by following you around and stuff...

 

[CerebralKnievel]

What was the deal with Bye Bye Man? He wouldn't directly kill people - he could just affect anything and everything to make sure they did it themselves, and he had a scary undead dog thing.

Bye b b b buh b b bye beh buh b b

 

[ShinkanPo]

ugly chick

 

[Organic Damage]

Meh, I've probably watched worse horror flicks.

This looks alright, but those CGI faces have gotta go.

 

[Mike]

No, it has always been cheap and low budget. Most horror movies , if you are a fan, have some redeeming qualities. Watch the the first few Nightmare on Elm Street movies with the director's commentary on. The stories about the making of the movies is often more interesting than the movie due to all the struggle and effects that to be put together on a shoestring budget. Current horror movies are a step down imho since they rely so heavily on jump scares. Jump scares are so cheap and lame.

NOES is iconic, so maybe not the best example. Yes horror is typically low budget, which isn't awful if you're intelligent and creative. But like anything else there are plenty of hacks making crap. I grew up in the 80's, the golden age of horror movies, and I was a huge horror fan as a kid. For every good zombie or slasher flick I've seen, you can easily find ten awful ones.


Growing up it was common knowledge that the horror section at the video store was filled with a lot of bullshit. Even as a kid you could look at the back of the box and read the plot synopsis, and tell that much of the horror section was cheaply made bullshit with no plot and bad acting. without watching a single minute, just by looking at the freaking box. That's how much obviously terrible horror is out there.

 

[Mike]

What was the deal with Bye Bye Man? He wouldn't directly kill people - he could just affect anything and everything to make sure they did it themselves, and he had a scary undead dog thing.

Bye b b b buh b b bye beh buh b b

The deal is it was a REALLY awful Candy Man rip off.

 

[moreorless87]

NOES is iconic, so maybe not the best example. Yes horror is typically low budget, which isn't awful if you're intelligent and creative. But like anything else there are plenty of hacks making crap. I grew up in the 80's, the golden age of horror movies, and I was a huge horror fan as a kid. For every good zombie or slasher flick I've seen, you can easily find ten awful ones.

Growing up it was common knowledge that the horror section at the video store was filled with a lot of bullshit. Even as a kid you could look at the back of the box and read the plot synopsis, and tell that much of the horror section was cheaply made bullshit with no plot and bad acting. without watching a single minute, just by looking at the freaking box. That's how much obviously terrible horror is out there.

I think the issue with horror really is that there's always a hardcore audience for tacky unambitious cinema, plenty of bad horror in the 70's and 80's was made to play to it. The difference is though back then you also have a movement trying to achieve something more, perhaps because horror was viewed as quite a subversive genre.

Post Scream I think Hollywood has increasingly ghettoised horror as dumb teen slashers aimed at dumb teens and the genre as a whole has simply lost that previous spot.

There does seem to be possible starts to a movement towards reclaiming horror for non trash cinema with the likes of Berberian Sound Studio and Under The Skin.

 

[Mike]

I think the issue with horror really is that there's always a hardcore audience for tacky unambitious cinema, plenty of bad horror in the 70's and 80's was made to play to it. The difference is though back then you also have a movement trying to achieve something more, perhaps because horror was viewed as quite a subversive genre.

Post Scream I think Hollywood has increasingly ghettoised horror as dumb teen slashers aimed at dumb teens and the genre as a whole has simply lost that previous spot.

There does seem to be possible starts to a movement towards reclaiming horror for non trash cinema with the likes of Berberian Sound Studio and Under The Skin.

You're right about the teenager angle. Lots of studios like Blumhouse make a fortune releasing shit movies for 1 to 4 mil, knowing they'll make a good return on their investment no matter how shitty the movie is.


A glut of movies meant to be watched once by bored teens, then immediately forgotten.

 

[melvinj0]

They’ve been making dumb teen horror movies for a long time now, it’s just dumb fun for kids.

For more legit horror check out Hereditary, that looks really good.

 

[Prefect]

NOES is iconic, so maybe not the best example. Yes horror is typically low budget, which isn't awful if you're intelligent and creative. But like anything else there are plenty of hacks making crap. I grew up in the 80's, the golden age of horror movies, and I was a huge horror fan as a kid. For every good zombie or slasher flick I've seen, you can easily find ten awful ones.


Growing up it was common knowledge that the horror section at the video store was filled with a lot of bullshit. Even as a kid you could look at the back of the box and read the plot synopsis, and tell that much of the horror section was cheaply made bullshit with no plot and bad acting. without watching a single minute, just by looking at the freaking box. That's how much obviously terrible horror is out there.

The first Nightmare was low budget and then it got going.

I think the reason for so much in your opinion "bad horror" is that it is typically a very profitable genre. It can be made for a very low budget and it is very low risk. Look at the production Blumhouse. They center most of their production around the Purge, Sinister, Insidious, and Paranormal Activity. They put out a ton of low budget horror movies that typically break even or reasonably profitably with the occasional hit. All without any huge budgets or expensive movie stars. I am not going to try to defend all horror movies. There are some that standout like Texas Chainsaw Massacre or The Thing or The Fly but there are a lot of movies that have redeemable qualities in a very visceral or cheesy sort of way. I still very much recommend listening or watching the director's commentary on a lot of these horror movies, even the ones that are not that good. A lot of these older horror movies were made on a shoestring budgets with a cast and crew that passionately loves horror. Horror fans are a strangely passionate group.

I think another thing has to be said about horror movies that even if the acting and other tangibles are bad, horror movies are to be experienced on a visceral level that has nothing to do with plot or acting and standard qualities that are associated with regular movies. What makes something scary in my opinion is rarely something that requires thought but it is something that tickles something in the reptilian portion of your brain. Jump scares being the worst, work on just startling you with sudden movement and noise. They are kind of cheap and lazy but they do work.

 

[Rhood]

This movie has a lot in common with The Force Awakens.
Really bad CGI and No coherent story

 

[Mike]

The first Nightmare was low budget and then it got going.

I think the reason for so much in your opinion "bad horror" is that it is typically a very profitable genre. It can be made for a very low budget and it is very low risk. Look at the production Blumhouse. They center most of their production around the Purge, Sinister, Insidious, and Paranormal Activity. They put out a ton of low budget horror movies that typically break even or reasonably profitably with the occasional hit. All without any huge budgets or expensive movie stars. I am not going to try to defend all horror movies. There are some that standout like Texas Chainsaw Massacre or The Thing or The Fly but there are a lot of movies that have redeemable qualities in a very visceral or cheesy sort of way. I still very much recommend listening or watching the director's commentary on a lot of these horror movies, even the ones that are not that good. A lot of these older horror movies were made on a shoestring budgets with a cast and crew that passionately loves horror. Horror fans are a strangely passionate group.

I think another thing has to be said about horror movies that even if the acting and other tangibles are bad, horror movies are to be experienced on a visceral level that has nothing to do with plot or acting and standard qualities that are associated with regular movies. What makes something scary in my opinion is rarely something that requires thought but it is something that tickles something in the reptilian portion of your brain. Jump scares being the worst, work on just startling you with sudden movement and noise. They are kind of cheap and lazy but they do work.

Well my point wasn't that low budget means bad. It's more that being a typically low budget genre focused on maximizing profit, there will be a lot of crap to sort through.


For every NOES, Halloween, Friday the thirteenth etc. there are dozens if not hundreds of shitty movies


And I agree about Blumhouse, I mentioned them in another post. There are lots of companies like them purposefully churning out shitty movies with little effort. Because they still sell.

 

[moreorless87]

You're right about the teenager angle. Lots of studios like Blumhouse make a fortune releasing shit movies for 1 to 4 mil, knowing they'll make a good return on their investment no matter how shitty the movie is.

A glut of movies meant to be watched once by bored teens, then immediately forgotten.

I tend to think mainstream comedy has suffered a similar fate, albeit not quite as bad. The studio's know you throw out cheap unambitious formula films and you'll get a hardcore audience that will turn up in predictable numbers.

The best stuff in the horror genre for me wasn't really your standard horror formula done well in the way say The Godfather or Goodfella's is the ganster formula done well, it was actually cinema that subverted the genre.

 

[Don Quixote]

The last couple of horror films I’ve seen have been terrible. I don’t even remember the names.

 

[AgonyandIrony]

Actually Horror is at a high point for me, we have James Wan and Leigh Whannell bringing life to it again and originality.

Conjuring 1 & 2
Annabelle Creation
Insidious 1-4
IT
Autopsy of Jane Doe
Ouija Origin of Evil

Some seriously solid horrors just off the top of my head.

The Ritual was great, and Creep 1 and 2 were really really well done.

 

[Mike]

I tend to think mainstream comedy has suffered a similar fate, albeit not quite as bad. The studio's know you throw out cheap unambitious formula films and you'll get a hardcore audience that will turn up in predictable numbers.

The best stuff in the horror genre for me wasn't really your standard horror formula done well in the way say The Godfather or Goodfella's is the ganster formula done well, it was actually cinema that subverted the genre.

I agree, most of the comedies I see released these days look terrible.


At a surface level horror seems like a one dimensional genre, but as you said truly good horror is subversive. Most good zombie movies aren't about zombies. They're about what happens when social order breaks down. What would you do if there was nobody left to enforce law and order, what are we like when placed in a survival scenario with all of our social constructs removed, etc.