Why can't anyone make a decent horror flick anymore?!
Question: Everything lately is just extreme gore, barely any plot, or charecter building and certainly nothing scary.
The last scary movie I can remember was the Ring and it was a remake by the time most of us in North America got it.
Even the earlier "gore movies" like Nightmare on Elm Street or even Friday the 13th were scary. The rest of the series may have sucked but the first were excellent movies.
Answers: Everything lately is just extreme gore, barely any plot, or charecter building and certainly nothing scary.
The last scary movie I can remember was the Ring and it was a remake by the time most of us in North America got it.
Even the earlier "gore movies" like Nightmare on Elm Street or even Friday the 13th were scary. The rest of the series may have sucked but the first were excellent movies.
This is gonna be a long answer....
First, I think the economics: the horror genre is a big profit center for most studios, because the films are made dirt-cheap, so even if they only sell a few million tickets, the studios rake in profit. (Compared to blockbusters that need to do huge business just to make a slim profit). So the studios crank these things out as quickly and cheaply and with as little thought as they can, because there's a core audience that will go see whatever crap comes out with some blood and guts in it.
Second thing is way more subtle: horror movies represent a kind of catharsis. Steven King said something to the effect that, we make up pretend horrors so that we don't have to be scared of real-life horrors. One of the characteristics of society now is that it's very fragmented. 20 years ago, we had superpowers that could destroy the world on a whim. 40 years ago, we were shipping kids off to the jungle to be killed. We all had common horrors to confront. So you could make horror movies that scared a large audience. We all had the same 'psychoses' to project onto the films we watched. Now, we're all limited to our smaller, individualized fears. It's much harder to make a horror movie that will have mass appeal, just from the psychology of it. In this climate, it would take an unusually talented writer and a very talented director to create a film that will actually work for a wide audience. And what studio would take a chance on it?
Peace to you.
I agree!! The Ring was the last one. Now I know it may sound silly, but I watched Urban Legend (Bloody Mary)..and I actually was a little scared. Not a lot..but it had some good parts.
try the amityville horror, cant even sleep after watching it lol
Mario Brava use to make the best horror movies way back in my youth (maybe before my youth). Those were the days of "Creature Feature"!
Getting back to the basics is what Directors need to do to make a great scary flick. One I like very much is the original version movie called "The Haunting" a black and white low budget haunted house flick without the special effects. No monsters, no gore. Just great ambiance, sound, lighting, believable characters, and a great old creepy house. It's what you don't see that scares you.
Cause we're not young enough anymore to be frightened of everything that used to scare us. Seriously, if you were to watch all of the movies that originally scared you, you would probably die of boredom.. (c'mon you really don't think the ring is scary, you're just being too nice to that movie...)
Maybe you're not watching the right films. Here are some I've been very impressed with over the past few years:
She Creature (2001)
The Gravedancers (2006)
Hellboy (2004)
Premonition (Japanese 2004)
The Dark (2005)
A Sound of Thunder (2005)~more science fiction but with some neat creatures
Mindhunters (2004)~This one actually reminded me more of a horror film than suspense, especially after killing off a name actor so early and creepily.
Route 666 (2001)
The Bone Snatcher (2003)
Ju-On: The Grudge
Willard
Underworld
Underworld: Evolution
When a Stranger Calls (decent suspense film with no gore)
The Mummy
The Mummy Returns
Alone in the Dark~I don't know anything about the videogame, and I rather liked this film. Maybe those who know the game felt otherwise. It wasn't too gory for me and had some good scenes.
Dark Water (U.S. version)
Dark Water (Japanese version)
The Exorcism of Emily Rose
The Fog~It's not like the original, but it followed through with its own story. Bloodshed was within reason.
The Skeleton Key
Hide and Seek
White Noise
Anacondas: The Hunt for the Blood Orchid
Blade II
Blade: Trinity
The Butterfly Effect~I think the director's cut is better.
Donnie Darko~has horror elements, as well as sci fi
Ginger Snaps 2: Unleashed~a sometimes gruesome series but generally solid horror
Resident Evil: Apocalypse~I didn't like the first film, but I liked this one enough to watch it several times. It actually didn't go into the grossness I expected~except for the schoolchildren maybe.
Secret Window
Riding the Bullet~I've seen this twice on TV, and both times I was surprised by how unsettling it is. I'd like to see it on one of the movie channels, uninterrupted.
Van Helsing~I love it because it reminds me of all of those Universal monster films.
Darkness Falls~This film does return to the basics, yet people seem to put it down a lot. Personally, I like it and have watched it many times.
The Village~Most of it is handled like a horror film. I wish that the Beasts were real, which would have made a much more interesting film, not the one that telegraphs its ending so doggone early.
Dreamcatcher
Gothika
Eight-Legged Freaks~SF/horror I guess... Where would you put "Tarantula" and/or "Them!"?
Jeepers Creepers II~I'm fussy about gore, and I handled this one quite well. I like both films. The first is best, but the sequel matches its style and expands on the original story.
Ghost Ship~After you get past the dissection of the passengers, it's safe sailing, without a lot of yuckiness.
Queen of the Damned~For a vampire film, it's surprisingly free from grossness except for a few expectedly icky parts.
It's a shame that "House of Wax" went so far overboard. With some editing, it could be a much better film instead of compulsively showing us everything. Some films are so saturated that it would be impossible to edit them into a passable shape. Actually, II was surprised to see how relatively few horror films are released each year. The gorefests have been escalating though, and remakes tend to be bad culprits for going for the grossout. "The Fog" didn't, which is a point in its favor.
Many people will not approve of a lot of the films I listed, but I want to show that there is a wide range out there that don't take it to the extent that the torturefests do. I was so shocked by the clips I saw of "Wolf Creek" that I have vowed not to watch it, just as I will not watch "Saw" and "Hostel" or any of their offspring. I don't want those images in my mind! Theatergoers haven't been giving the studios much encouragement in making films that avoid mutilation, dismemberment, torture and other horridness. If audiences make the Saw, Hostel and other such series successes, that's what they will keep getting, and the studios might turn their backs on horror films that are "viewer friendly" aka avoid excessive gore and the more disturbing destruction of helpless victims.
NOTE: "The Haunting" (1963) was not a low-budget production. This was backed by the studios, with a first-class director, Robert Wise, working with material that he himself selected, Shirley Jackson's "The Haunting of Hill House". This is a top-quality film, which is why it has withstood the test of time. It's more frightening now than many of today's films put together. I can verify that since I watched it this afternoon and have seen it four times this month alone.
Yeah, really! They just don't seem to be able to put one together. I had hope for some of the new ones, but they screwed the pooch again!
well, there was gigli with bennifer, you know
There are some movies coming up that sound pretty good.
Awake (2007) - Hayden Christensen and Jessica Alba
Plot: In "Awake," a psychological thriller that tells the story of a man (Christensen) undergoing heart surgery while experiencing a phenomenon called "anesthetic awareness," which leaves him awake but paralyzed throughout the operation. As various obstacles present themselves, his wife (Alba) must make life-altering decisions while wrestling with her own personal drama.
The Eye (2008) - Jessica Alba
Plot: The remake of the Hong Kong film "Jian Gui", a woman who receives an eye transplant that allows her to see into the supernatural world.
Train (2008) remake of "Terror Train" - Thora Birch
Plot: In Europe, a group of American college athletes unknowingly board a train that will become one deadly ride.
The Last House on the Left (2008)
not much info about this one but it's a remake of the original.
I agree. But I have to admit that I have this thing for Saw movies.
I think the thing that gets me about them is thinking that an everyday guy just sat around thinking of ways to torture people in an effort to "help" them. Its seriously deranged in a fascinating way.
Horror needs to focus on plot and the scares and thrills that come with it. In other words, filmmakers need to get back to basics.
Torture Porn is destroying the genre, and is not scary at all. It leaves you feeling sick and dirty, not scared//thrilled, as a true horror film should.
we have grown immune to stuff like that.and gore sells right now
The only time I recall being genuinely scared during a horror movie was early in the first Halloween film. I was home alone, and it was on TV. I had to turn it off.
OK - I was in Jr. High at the time, but it really creeped me out.
I think the last really good one was the 2004 Dawn of the Dead remake. But then, I'm especially fond of zombie flicks.
Also, I loved Planet Terror! But it's as much comedy as anything else, so I can't call it a pure horror movie.
They need to return back to the horror movie roots/beginnings.Movies like "saw" and "hostel" and their sequels are totally destroying the horror genre. People are now calling these kinds of movies "torture porn".
if this what the horror genre is coming too, a lot of moviegoers who like movies like the Black and White Claire Bloom classic "The Haunting" rated G BTW or Burnt Offerings rated PG BTW. Both of these movies rely on little or no special effects. Those kinds of movies it was in your mind. The Haunting is a classic because of the lighting,great script, spooky sets etc.. The same for Burnt Offerings.It also has small cast and the house they rent out for the movie is deadly to it's renters!
If I want to see people getting tourtured, currently you have torture in the movie "Rendition". It was'nt gross out tourture like the "Saw" and "Hostel" movie but torture that is happening every day in our world which is scarier.
last scary movie I remember was The Exorcist
I guess it's a tough act to follow
like Hendrix always played last after he became well known
Lack of imagination and too lazy to come up with a decent and original script.