Horror: An Ever-Evolving Genre
Words by Alice Patterson / Edited by Mia Stapleton
Alice Patterson discusses a new age of horror. Are scary movies still ‘scary?’
With Autumn rolling back around, the spooky season is once again upon us. We have had some new contenders this year, such as Talk to Me, Knock at the Cabin, and Beau is Afraid. Yet, the horror genre can sometimes feel like it is becoming weaker with time. It raises the question – are we running out of ‘scary’ ideas? Or more to the point, what is it that scares us as audiences in the first place?
It’s understandable that some criticise horror’s evolution as one into unoriginality and cliché, particularly in today’s culture of sequels and remakes. This year alone saw the release of Scream VI, Saw X, Insidious: The Red Door, The Nun II, The Exorcist: Believer, and Evil Dead Rise (although – to give credit where credit is due – Evil Dead Rise was a fun reanimation of the 80s franchise). It’s easy to make the assumption that we collectively have run out of ideas for the horror genre- to declare that everything now is either a remake, a sequel, or is simply unoriginal in its own right. Although, this feels unfair. A horror film, whether you are watching wide eyed or through your fingers, is a catharsis. It provides audiences with the ability to confront their fears and morbid curiosities, all from the safety of their velvet cinema seat. We feel the same base instinct reactions when we watch them: fear, uncertainty, worry; and we leave having ‘purged’ said emotions. Therefore, it is not the films themselves that have changed, but the landscape in which they are being produced, and the audiences they are produced for. If this remake culture is an indication of filmmakers trying to recapture the spirit, success, and scares of the franchises they revive, this points us back to the 80s and 90s.
The horror genre has been around for over a century, with 1896’s “Le Manoir du Diable” widely believed as the first horror film ever made. But many of its most popular and well-known contenders were made in the 70s and 80s. Some refer to these decades as the ‘golden age’ of the horror genre, and it’s not difficult to see why. The 70s was a turning point – Carrie, The Exorcist and Rosemary’s Baby are just a few of the genre defining pieces that established their directors as horror auteurs. Despite its development of franchise horror, the 80s continued the influential streak with films, like Stephen King’s The Shining, John Landis’ An American Werewolf in London, and Tobe Hooper’s Poltergeist. In contrast, the 90s saw the rise of the ‘slasher’ – or ‘splatter’ – film, depicting gore and intense violence. Think Wes Craven’s Scream or Jim Gillespie’s I Know What You Did Last Summer. This shift in the 90s towards gratuitous violence of ‘slashers’ is indicative of filmmakers noticing a change in their audiences. After two decades of auteur and franchise horror, spectators were seasoned pros in jump scares and ghosts. There is a desperation for reaction in the violence; an attempt to show audiences something they had never seen before. This meant that the 90s lost sight of what the horror genre was about, leaving it lacking in direction, and prioritising cheap scares over engaging stories.
Unfortunately, the constant demand for remakes and sequels by production companies reflects a culture focused on making profits. A drive for commercial and financial success rather than a desire to produce a fresh retelling of old stories- but the genre has come a long way since the 90s. Looking past franchise horror, I would rebel against this idea that horror has gotten less scary or less inventive. Instead, modern filmmakers are trying to respond to the societal environment and audiences who have been privy to years of experimental films. There are plenty of great examples of this in the last five years. 2020’s The Invisible Man responded to the industry’s evolution since the #MeToo movement, with heavy feminist messaging and themes of abuse against women. 2017’s critically acclaimed Get Out saw director Jordan Peele expertly invoke themes of racism, cultural appropriation and tokenism, amongst movements like Black Lives Matter. Similarly to The Invisible Man, the themes depicted in these films are nothing new- but the filmmakers have used the genre to comment on societal shifts and stand in support of continually challenging these age-old prejudices. 2023’s M3GAN is especially relevant in its response to the rapidly growing power of AI, and dangers that come with expanding technology.
These examples, and most films from the last decade, are still ‘scary’ – of course, what we find ‘scary’ is subjective, so what might keep you awake at night might leave me sleeping soundly. But they still elicit those innate, human emotions from us – the fear, the uncertainty. They just do so while trying to respond to an ever-changing societal landscape; to reflect our world fears in the ones we see on screen. Horror is an ever-evolving genre, and we will look back at its films as we do relics in a museum. They will speak to the state our world was in, to the values our society was beginning to challenge. I can not help but be excited to see what the next decade will bring.
