Whatever Happened to Horror?
Horror Films are made to scare and shock the audience, but of late where have they all gone? When we look back at the classic Horror films of the past 100 years they still scare audiences of our time, but will ‘Paranormal Activity’ and ‘Piranha 3D’ really be classed as classical horror’s in 2050? I doubt it. Lets go back 70 years to Universal’s classical horror period. Some of the most defining horror films originate from this period, think about it, Frankenstein (1931), Dracula (1931), The Phantom of the Opera (1925) and The Mummy (1932) we still get the same shocked and engaging feeling that i feel the cinema goers of the 1920’s/1930’s got. These films have now become cinematic history, and unmissable if you haven’t seen them. Lets fast forward like 30 years, Psycho (1960), The Exorcist (1973) and to a HUGE extent The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974). These had audiences running out of cinema’s, people fainting and sometimes banned. WHY? Because they are incredibly scary, nothing can equal the ending of Psycho, or the visual aspects of The Exorcist or the shock factor’s of T.C.S.M. These are horror milestone’s in cinema due to these factor’s and they will remain this way because audience’s will never get over the original shock of watching it for the first time. Right. So horror from the past have scared and gripped audiences for years. Horror’s of today have got a lot to live up to, and i have only mentioned seven films. Don’t get me wrong, we still have some credible Horror’s of the past 15 years, The Sixth Sense (1999) and Scream (1996) to name but a few. If you ask me the ’Horror Franchise’ died when SAW hit our screens in 2003. It was stunning at the time and a great ending to top it off. Since then i have had the feeling that everything has been done. And recent cinema has backed me up on this point. The endless remakes, the unwanted sequels and the same old story-lines. It’s a sad time because i doubt that anything could come along that would be original, scary and keep audiences coming back for more. I want to be proven wrong, i do, but i doubt i will anytime soon. The one saving grace is that these films will be new to audiences and they will be watching this and be experiencing the joy we all did the first time we watched them. So is the end of horror? Oh no, just stick Frankenstein from 1931 on, and watch a classical horror. Enjoy!
