What's going on with Horror movies nowadays?

PROJECTOR NO.5: What’s going on with Horror movies nowadays?

Hello everyone and welcome to the fifth edition of PROJECTOR! Today I will talk about a movie genre that despite the huge loss of quality it’s still capable to bring people to movie theaters worldwide. So, what is going on with Horror movies nowadays? My answer for this question it’s this week’s PROJECTOR topic. So seat back and enjoy this week’s edition of PROJECTOR.

Everyone loves to watch a really strong thriller/drama with a powerful story and a captivating atmosphere. The scary atmosphere of some horror movies, ends up being quite amusing. But nowadays, everything that has a bit of success it’s transformed by Hollywood into a new horror movie franchise. This happened with Saw, with Paranormal Activity and it will happen with Insidious and The Conjuring. These great horror movies were well acclaimed because they brought something new to the genre. And the fact that this great movies are being transformed into high grossing franchises scares me a bit.

Horror movies were made to shock, to impress and to scare. Paranormal and serial-killers stories can be really great if they were told properly. We are all tired of those cheesy and predictable horror sequences. Horror movies nowadays need the element of surprise to be successful. “The Cabin in the Woods” and “The Conjuring” were top-quality horror movies because the key elements of this genre worked really well together. These movies managed to provoke and to surprise everyone and therefore are evidences that it’s still possible to make good horror movies.

The world of horror movies it’s being attacked, year after year, by crappy films that try their best to scare you with predictable sequences instead of focusing in provoke you with a better story. I’ve seen a couple of really nasty and disturbing movies and I’ve also seen some of the horror classics and I have to confess that after so many horror movies it’s becoming really hard to find an adequate story that it’s able to be scary and shocking at the same time.

I know it’s hard to reach the quality level of “The Exorcist” or “The Ring” but come on I am tired of horror sequels that are only ruining the original movies. “Paranormal Activity” worked really well because it was a completely new kind of horror but 6 sequels (Yes, “Paranormal Activity 5” it’s in a Pre-production status)?! I cannot believe that after the second movie, people still enjoy the cheap horror effects. I know it’s funny and that it looks real but it just doesn’t work anymore. We all know that Paramount loves to compete against Lionsgate in Halloween but what about the quality of the movies? Most of the horror movies that arrive at the theaters are just crappy or they are a crappy sequel of one great film.

Instead of supporting franchises, studios should give support to innovative projects, because sometimes it’s better the pick the risky option when we are talking about investments. But unfortunately for everyone, money speaks louder in the industry.

So if you want to see a really good horror movie, watch the “Blair Witch Project”, “Rec” or any other movie I mentioned here (except the sequels). Watch movies that are different instead of seeing the same old paranormal stories about haunted houses and demonical presence. Innovation and surprise are key elements for every horror movie and even though nowadays movies are a bit disappointing, I know that there is still hope for the genre.

THE END