In Defense of Horror in the 2000’s

Every so often, horror films have a wave, subside, and then for like three years, people wander around going “Where are all the horror films?” “How come they don’t make them like they used to?” “Why are those vampires sparkling?” and then some studio or young filmmaker comes in with a play on an old concept or a remake of a certified classic. Then people begin to get interested in horror again, start making demands, and the studios take notice, over saturate the market, and then people begin complaining there is too much horror, and demand dies down, and the studios stop producing horror. Another three to five years of drought.

Many people right now are claiming the early ought’s horror boom is coming to a close. We began the decade with such weak, unoriginal, but hopeful films such as Wrong Turn (think The Hills Have Eyes and Texas Chainsaw Massacre) or the ill advised, but ultra stylish remake Dawn of the Dead. But the decade also has it’s gems, we’ve also seen the throwback horror film High Tension from France and stateside, films like Cabin Fever, The Descent, and Jeepers Creepers all provided chills and scares well worth the title of horror films.

Horror comedy has never been a very monetarily wise. Some people say that combining the two is very hard because people don’t like to be scared when they are laughing and vise versa. Sure, films like Gremlins or Return of the Living Dead succeeded, but the was probably more in spite of their combination. This decade, however, the horror/comedy bar was set much higher with films like Shaun of the Dead and Slither, both films gained instant cult status and were praised for their acting, execution, and skill at handling the humor and gore. Ginger Snaps combined the angsty teen coming of age film with the werewolf movie, making for the female answer, about 30 years later, to the male oriented An American Werewolf in London. House of 1000 Corpses and it’s follow up, the more serious yet still funny, The Devil’s Rejects, also helped in genre bending. They combined not only horror and comedy, but also crime films of the seventies and the slasher films of the eighties. The sensibilities of these films were new. Confident, exciting, and done with love and care rarely seen in most low budget horror. Also, we had the return of George Romero with Land of the Dead, an exciting, scary, and funny continuation of Night of the Living Dead as well as a “re-boot” of the series, (that has been the key word of the decade, not remake but “re-boot” of a series) Diary of the Dead. Both films garnered critical acclaim and horror film fans respect, a very hard thing to do.

This is not to say that there were not some misses as well. Danny Boyle’s Bio-Terror Non-Zombie (That’s right, they are not dead, so they are not zombies) blood bath, 28 Days Later, was followed up by the dystrophic and somewhat rushed 28 Weeks Later. And, as good and creative of an idea that it was, the dubious double feature Grindhouse (Planet Terror and Death Proof) did little business in the theatres but found new life when the two films were separated on DVD, and lengthened. Some especially loved Death Proof’s 1970’s retro feel, while others found Planet Terror to be a great recall of the latex and make up driven “small town terror” films of the 80’s. But when seen together in one 3 hour sitting, people often complained, not understanding the fake trailers for fake horror films directed by new horror talent, or thinking the movie was over after the first film played and felt “ripped off” that they didn’t see the second film. (When I saw the film, half the audience left after Terror, mumbling about how they didn’t see Kurt Russell.) We also had the long awaited prequel to The Exorcist, only to find that they replaced the original director after shooting because his version was too quiet. When the reshot, chopped up film was released, it was panned almost immediately. When it came time for a DVD release, the studio released the prequel (Called The Exorcist: The Beginning) directed by replacement Renny Harland and then released original director Paul Schrader’s original cut Dominion into a limited theatre run later, but by then, people were so confused, no one bothered. Now, in hindsight, Dominion is praised as a thoughtful, psychologically frightening, though extremely flawed, film. Renny Harland’s only gets laughs and jeers.

So, with the end of the decade coming soon, we are finding that horror films are starting to slow down. Things like Underworld and Twilight are helping put horror in it’s box for another few years, and unfortunately, with the underperforming but critically admired (not loved, just liked) Drag Me To Hell being the first nail to seal the box…soon enough we may have something that will throw it into the quarry, and watch it sink to the bottom. We can only hope when the resurrection of horror happens, a shotgun blast to the head won’t kill it, but make it stronger.

by Henri Cheramie

~ by themissingink on June 2, 2009.