Why Modern Horror Movies are Dying
By DYLAN AREVIAN ‘22
When a person mentions the topic of horror movies in a conversation, they are usually met by a wide variety of reactions. Instantly, people, from obsessed horror fans raving about their favorites to people who look downright terrified at the very mention of Michael Myers or Jason Voorhees, shout out a flurry of rushed, diverse opinions. However, for the true horror fans out there, the source of scares this year may not be what you actually see on the movie screen but instead the cheap tactics used by production companies to rake in as much money as possible without putting any real effort into their “horror” movie.
To start, let’s define exactly what a horror movie is. A horror, suspense, or thriller movie introduces a frightening concept, often accompanied by creepy imagery, and contains a series of suspenseful moments. The movie’s objective is simple: to make the viewer want to curl up into a ball and/or check their closet for monsters before they go to bed. Some horror movies have other objectives, but we’ll stick with this broad category ones for now.
Many historic films, such as The Shining, Halloween, and Misery have achieved this perfectly; each of them shows the viewer a terrifying concept and deftly shows that very concept play out in a real life scenario. In addition to its unique format, each of these horror movies, as well as all other good ones, such as Scream, The Witch, and Get Out, has at least one jump scare, the most dangerous tactic used in movies today.
A jump scare usually contains a loud noise and a sudden movement that makes the viewer, well, jump. In order for a movie to have a “good” jump scare, it must be completely unexpected, giving the viewer a sense of instability. However, jump scares go wrong when filmmakers use them liberally, usually more than six times, and give them an obvious set up. These instances pose a problem because as the movie gradually becomes more about making you jump three feet in the air with a loud noise, the previously-mentioned essential pieces of a good horror movie are forgotten, leaving movies with all jump and no substance. Today’s movie studios use this common tactic to dedicate the least amount of time, money, and energy into their movie while maximizing profits at the same time.
To examine this process more closely, let’s look at Corin Hardy’s recent horror movie The Nun. Despite the (usually) constant popularity of his films in the Conjuring franchise, The Nun took a critical panning in September, earning a dismal 26% on Rotten Tomatoes. The plot of the film focuses on the investigation of an old, abandoned monastery: surprise, the building is haunted by an evil nun. While an evil, zombie and ghost-like nun that hunts whoever comes near the old church does sound like a terrifying concept, The Nun ultimately fails to terrify because of its overuse of predictable jump scares that effectively render it plotless.’ Reviews mocking the 96 minute nightmare of a film include Rolling Stone’s Bilge Ebiri’s, which says “Once everyone gets to the abbey, the film simply gives up the ghost and cynically indulges every horror trick in the book.” My personal favorite, which sums up the movie perfectly in my opinion, is Stephen Rebello’s simple and clear statement, “[The Nun is] a money grab about pop-up scares and bloated special effects.” Now, one might think the big losers in all of this are the production company, the directors, and anybody else who was involved in the making of this movie. However, they probably don’t care what you think, as they walked away from this movie with an immense 347.8 million dollar check in their back pocket.
While recent, independent films, such as Hereditary, The Witch, and It Comes at Night- usually coming from smaller studios like A24-are amazingly frightening and deeply disturbing, big producers’ need to overstuff today’s “horror” movies threatens the whole genre’s integrity. Next time, before you go see a big budget horror movie, remember that the real source of terror could be the people snatching your eight dollars before you find your seat in the theater.
