Coming soon - Get a detailed view of why an account is flagged as spam!
view details

This post has been de-listed

It is no longer included in search results and normal feeds (front page, hot posts, subreddit posts, etc). It remains visible only via the author's post history.

1
How the horror genre has changed
Post Body

Horror has been in the midst of a renaissance since the early 2010s. If Hammer Films of the 30s were the Golden Age and slashers of the 80s were the Silver, then I think there’s a compelling argument to be made that we’re currently in a Bronze Age of horror. To this point – I strongly believe that we’ll look back on 2022 as a watershed moment for the genre. 2022 was an excellent year for horror, with there being not just stellar movies, but ones that embraced diversity while simultaneously doing a 180 on stereotypes and tropes that have historically weighed the genre down. We’re watching innovative storytelling as we have gotten fresh stories from writers and directors that are not only creative, but are also passionate fans who have reverence for the genre.

Ask someone who doesn’t watch many horror films what they think of the genre and you’ll likely hear something along the lines of all horror movies being the same. For a long time there was some truth to that statement. Friday the 13th is an iconic horror franchise yet many of the ails that have plagued horror films stem from this film. Stock characters, racial stereotypes, lack of diversity, sexism, predictability, trite plot lines, incessant sequels, and illogical storytelling were seen in abundance throughout the Friday the 13th franchise . For good and bad, Friday the 13th inspired countless other horror films to follow suit. These tropes and commonalities damaged the genre and resulted in it not being taken seriously by the general population.

Within the last decade, however, many filmmakers have pushed away against this. Cabin in the Woods is one of the first major horror films of this era that actively pivoted from tropes and stereotypes that permeated throughout the genre. The first Scream is a meta film that is self-aware but Cabin in the Woods is less meta and instead, it actively goes against the grain of what is supposed to happen in a horror film. Cabin in the Woods made a conscious decision to do a 180 on horror stereotypes. For example, the jock characters weren’t asshole bullies and were instead thoughtful non-vapid characters who were not toxic. The final girl wasn’t a virgin and the black guy had deeper characterization outside of being the lead’s friend. I believe that these were conscious decisions to subvert the predictability and frankly, stale quality of horror films.

Soon after, many films slowly started to follow suit by diverting against the grain of what horror films previously were. The Conjuring debuted in 2013 which has become one of the greatest and most profitable horror franchises of all-time. The first Conjuring revitalized the classic haunted house film with a story that simultaneously draws influence from traditional haunted house movies while avoiding recreating what we have previously seen. 2013’s Evil Dead is one of the greatest horror remakes of all-time. 2014 gave us It Follows, a great movie about a supernatural STD. That sounds ridiculous but it’s a serious film with a unique story that nails its landing. 2014’s The Babadook is an instant classic for many. All of these movies are new takes on the genre that pushed the needle on what horror could be.

Cabin in the Woods was the catalyst, but 2017’s Get Out is a strong demarcation point from what horror previously was with what it currently is. We hadn’t seen a horror film quite like Jordan Peele’s Get Out since Wes Craven’s The People Under the Stairs. Peele is far from the first director to instill reality into their art, but Peele created a film based on the real life terrors of black people. The film is a glimpse into the conversations black people have amongst themselves on the anxieties of race and racism in America.

Get Out is an excellent film that is one of my favorites of all-time. It’s impact on the genre, however, extends past being solely a great film. Get Out raised the standards of quality for major horror films.. Multiple precedents were set with the film. First, that a modern black horror film can be financially successful, which opened the door for other black filmmakers. Second, Get Out is a horror film that was both a critically and financially successful film that didn’t rely on the tropes of yesteryear. This made old tropes, gimmicks, and plot devices instantly obsolete as Get Out proved what many of us long suspected – that there is a huge demand for horror films not reliant on horror’s old formula.

This opened the floodgates with some stellar horror films. We got the excellent John Krasinski led science-fiction/horror film, A Quiet Place, in 2018. 2019 gave us the underrated Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, which is a surprisingly dark adaptation of the children’s book series. This is an example of filmmakers making creative choices that may not have been made in previous eras, as this is a legitimately dark and unsettling movie that in my opinion, increased in quality by not lightening to appeal to family/kids to bank a bigger profit.

Entering into the 2020s we got the awesome The Invisible Man, which slid in right before COVID, the Fear Street trilogy, Malignant, Candy Man, and Halloween Kills. 2022 is when things got special. I think we’ll look back on it as one of the best years of all-time for horror films. Scream 5, The Black Phone, Nope, Prey, Terrifier 2, The Menu, Smile, Barbarian, Bodies Bodies Bodies, X, and Pearl, to name some standouts, all dropped in 2022. Horror filmmakers of 2022 challenged themselves creatively on a widespread scale. 2022 is a great example of writers and directors pushing themselves to tell unique stories. I also believe that these filmmakers were given free-reign to get weird and go balls-to-the-wall. I think what we’ve seen is that creative limitations previously imposed have either been removed or significantly loosened. This in turn has opened the door for some really good films.

Finally, we’re getting more black and POC in high quality roles. Georgina Campbell starred in Barbarian, Latina actresses, Melissa Barrera and Jenna Ortega in Scream 5. We saw Ortega again in X, this time accompanied with Scott Mesuci AKA Kid Cudi. Amandla Stenberg and Myha’la Herrold were both in Bodies Bodies Bodies playing black lesbians. Nope is black-led with an Asian-American (Steven Yeun) in a supporting role. Finally, we got unprecedented representation with Prey being Indigenous Person led, starring Amber Midthunder. Prey is also the first feature film to have a full Comanche language dub.

All of these films received positive reviews showing that diverse racial casting can equate to critically and commercially successful films. Some of these films also portrayed lesbian characters. Detractors of LGBT representation claim that same-sex stories distract the plot but that wasn’t the case with any of these films as these relationships had no different of an impact than any straight ones that we’ve seen.

The horror genre is in as good as of place as it has been since the mid-1980s. We’re getting great stories that are unique with plots that are no longer bogged down with formulaic writing. Writers and directors are collectively allowed to flex their creative muscles without previous limitations stymieing them. Lastly, black, Latino, and lesbian characters are being represented more in mainstream films. I hope that this trend continues and that we see more Asian, Indigenous, gay, and trans depiction onscreen as well, because as the last few years have proven, diversity has led to some really good movies.

Author
Account Strength
100%
Account Age
4 years
Verified Email
Yes
Verified Flair
No
Total Karma
1,584
Link Karma
688
Comment Karma
860
Profile updated: 6 days ago
Posts updated: 1 month ago

Subreddit

Post Details

We try to extract some basic information from the post title. This is not always successful or accurate, please use your best judgement and compare these values to the post title and body for confirmation.
Posted
1 year ago