Interest in horror movies is a very interesting thing as it can either go up or down depending on the times and how good the story is. Back in the past, the horror movies had some sort of bloodthirsty and/or flesh hungry monster stalking a forest, old house, mansion, or so forth. But when you look at those movies now, you can see how fake they are because of the changes in technology.
In the past, I thought the John Carpenter remake of “The Thing” was one of the scariest movies because of this alien virus that causes you to mutate. Everything was done with animatronics because movie technology wasn’t advanced. And now, we have computer graphic imagine or CGI effects that very much replaces animatronics. The last time that I had watched The Thing was back in 2004. Now that I see those old movies under a different life taking into consideration of the advancements of movie technology, I couldn’t help but crack up. When I look at these horror movies of the eighties and nineties, I don’t find them to be scary anymore.
A friend of mine who’s in the Marine reserves several years back explained that horror movies tend to be great for soldiers who have returned from deployment. I guess there is some logic to what he said. One could say that what we see in the horror movies do not compare to what the soldiers have faced while fighting out in Kosovo, Iraq, and Afghanistan. Because of what’s been going on with the open display of dead bodies on the news, it looks as if we’ve become desensitized to whatever we see in those horror movies. As a result, we tend to lose interest in the horror genre.
What also hurt interest in the horror genre was that many concepts have been overdone as they become cliché. As a result, most horror movies aren’t appealing unless there’s an original storyline. The right in your face horror movies aren’t that appealing anymore. Instead of being scary as they makers intended the movies to be, they have become downright tacky, cheesy, and very retarded. However, the studios have taken a turn towards more of the psychological horror. If there are freaks involved, we only see glimpses of them.
“Saw,” “Saw II,” and “Saw III” was a fresh direction for the horror genre. These movies were highly original and it wasn’t in your face. Instead, it had captives doing all sorts of tasks in a certain amount of time. However, the victims ended up dying as a process. The Jigsaw Killer set it up where the victims had killed themselves. In the first Saw movie, one of them sawed off his own foot to get to the key. I was grasping onto my seat.
Movies like the Saw trilogy very much fulfilled our emotional and psychological means. Being in a situation like that on Saw is very scary. Yet, there was no need for monsters or other supernatural beings. At the same time, it had us guessing who the Jigsaw Killer was. “Floating Water” from the anthology by Koji Suzuki called “Honogurai Mizu No Soko Kara” would be adapted into “Dark Water.” “Kairo” would then be adapted into “Pulse.”
The “Scream” trilogy was another example. There was no supernatural killer but a person in a mask and a robe. In each of the movies, the killer was someone else. It was the person that you had least expected it to be. Scream could be considered a psychological thriller and horror flick.
Recently, many of the Japanese horror flicks have been adapted for American audiences. As a result, they have come very popular. There was “Ju-On” which was adapted into “The Grudge.” “Ju-On 2” was then adapted into “The Grudge 2.” “Ringu” was adapted into “The Ring.” “Ringu 2” was adapted into “The Ring 2.” More and more Japanese ghost horror stories have been adapted for American audiences. They tended to be more psychological than physical. Yet, these films have gained more popularity.
However, zombie horror films still appeals to many. The 2004 remake of “Dawn of the Dead” was very popular. The 2005 movie “Land of the Dead” was pretty popular as well. This is one aspect of the horror movie genre that will continue to become very popular.
While there is still interest in zombie-themed movies, there is renewed interest in horror flicks. But the interest is more geared towards psychological horror. Also, teen slasher flicks tend to become more dull by the moment as they are very cliché. They tend to be rip-offs of other movies. “Wrong Turn” was a waste of my seven dollars when it came out to theaters.