Horror Films Failing

The best thing about Grindhouse were the trailers, particularly Don't and Thanksgiving. The formula for new Hollywood horror movies hasn't changed in 20 years; these days they're just stealing their ideas from Asian horror and dumbing it down for the North American market. It's at a point where mainstream NA horror movies are so full of tired cliches that they are becoming parodies of themselves.

[the_real_linda]

true true look at the scary movie series and epic movie

al they do is parody...badly...... the last years releases.......:( :mad: :confused:

[toXsick]

I blame the war and gas prices. Real life is far more scary right now, and horror isn't an escape at the moment. We don't feel safe, so we're not doing the work as an audience to root for a picture. We're being passive, sitting there waiting for it to take us along. Our hearts aren't in it. And the "bigger" the project, the less we feel connected to it.

Of course that's a big, dumb generalization but for me, I need subversive right now. And that lies with the indie filmmakers that aren't dressing up horror, but find the itch and scratching it with a good, well told story. The more stuff that comes up that seems patronizing, the less confident a viewer will be. A sequel to a film is almost de riguer, but sometimes it sends the message that we're being fleeced. Don't do a movie because you might as well because the first one made lots of cash, do it because the filmmaker and the story demands it.

Grindhouse was good, but it was also a self-concious piece of tribute art. And it was too long. It should never have been expected to make so much, and should have been taken on artistic merit alone. In fact, the cheaper the budget sometimes, the better for the film. It isn't trying to pull blockbuster weight, and is more free to take chances and deviate from the Hollywood norm.

I'm a die-hard horror fan. I write the stuff. But I never have in mind to write a big fuck off star vehicle because I know its a career move formula script they're looking for. I think audiences are feeling "sold" right now, and good horror, if nothing else, is about pushing people away and daring them to walk in.

Just my two cents. Well, it was a bit long, so maybe it was more like a nickel. :o

[MisterSadistro]

Two quotes caught my eye in that article:

"We're only looking for doubles and triples. We don't need home runs."

"Over and over again, people are breaking the boundaries of the body, hurting people, chopping people up, ravaging people…. For things to be truly scary, we're going to have to find new boundaries to tread on."

I read them as meaning "We don't really care about making a good horror movie" and "A different way to get a body count equals scares". If that's really their attitudes, no wonder interest is waning.

[Hethwheel]

Moreover, topping the last thrill is intrinsically hard. "There's nothing you can do to a human being on screen that is taboo anymore," says Oscar-winning writer-producer Akiva Goldsman. "Over and over again, people are breaking the boundaries of the body, hurting people, chopping people up, ravaging people…. For things to be truly scary, we're going to have to find new boundaries to tread on."

Most important piece in that article.

New Boundaries to thread on. That is the way forward. Think about things that scare you in real life. Horror doesn't have to be about ghosts, ghouls, zombies, monsters or aliens. Everyday events can be very frightening. Its about packaging them into a horror film product. Time to stop reinventing old shit and get out there and take different themes and exaggerate their scariness. As a debut Director this year, that what Im doing.

[massacre man]

Horror movies only make mounds of money nowadays when they're about dead girls crawling out of electronics.