The Horror Genre is Dead

[Den82]

I cannot believe how absolutely crappy new horror movies are. I saw this new one online, V/H/S. Total crap. I saw the trailer for Sinister. More crap. The TCM 3-D looks infuriatingly bad. The new Rob Zombie thing looks crummy too (but that isn't a shock..the guy is lame).

I noticed there seems to be a lot of cliches in new horror. Such as:

Little Kids (not exactly new though)
Dolls (oooh, "creepy")
Jump Scares that try to be "freaky", "disturbing", "twisted"

Again, none of this is really new. But still. What are some other ones?

[ctc]

Hmmmm....

It comes and goes, like anything else. Those cliches you mentioned were tired a LONG time ago, for example. I think part of the problem for oldsters like us is that we've seen a lot of these things before, and it FEELS like it now. As kids you sorta get a whole bunch of stuff thrown at you in close proximity, so it ALL feels new (like how we all grew up watching the old 50's monster movies, and the 80's ripoffs/copies/homages, and we were okay with it 'cos they were ALL new to our impressionable little minds) even though a lot of it is derivative. (That's why oldsters from time immemorial have ALWAYS complained about how horrible things are now, and they were SO MUCH better when WE were kids....)

I do think we're currently at a low point. For now. Monsters have been all emo for a decade, and with "Paranormal Activity" the only real breakout of that time, EVERYBODY'S been copying it. You get "The Fourth Kind" which is Paranormal Activity with aliens.... and "Insidious" which is Paranormal Activity with Darth Maul, and the new one "Sinister" where a family is haunted.... a-la Paranormal Activity.... by Slipknot. But it's no different than the 80's endless parade of psycho killers. Or the endless number of Godzilla ripoffs. And don't even get me started on the zombie thing....

On the UP side, there are a lot of low budget productions out there that are different, and tons of old stuff that's readily accessible from all over the world. And you can take solstice in the fact that people are producing so much material for "Mystery Science Theater 4000."

Don C.

[MIB41]

Too bad Carpenter is too old to make anymore films. Now would be a good time for his kind of movies to make an impact.

[Gorn Captain]

Too bad Carpenter is too old to make anymore films. Now would be a good time for his kind of movies to make an impact.

Anybody seen The Ward?
Haven't checked out that one yet...

[Brazoo]

I know what you mean, at the same time I wonder don't most horror movies usually stink? I mean, I love horror movies, but there have always been a lot of bad ones - and a lot of dumb cliches, no?

Europeans have been pushing the genre in the last few years. Have you seen any of these?

Gaspar Noe's "Irreversible"

Pascal Laugier's "Martyrs"

Michael Haneke's "Funny Games" - which I personally wasn't nuts about, but it's hard to deny he's putting a spin on the genre - and a lot of people liked it - so I might just be in the minority. Haneke made a US version too, which I haven't seen.

Tomas Alfredson's "Let the Right One In" - this is probably the easiest one to watch on this list. Recently remade in the US and called "Let Me In" - which I haven't seen yet, but am told is pretty good.

[Gorn Captain]

Both Let the Right One In and Let me In are quite good.
I also enjoyed Paranormal Activity.

I myself am fed up of movies that go "somebody gets lost in the middle of nowhere and gets caught up with a group of sadistic freaks". Seems like they're constantly remaking The Hills Have Eyes.

I'm a big fan of Dog Soldiers and The Descent. They, too, feature "freaks", but they're monsters not sadists.
I loathe the whole "torture porn" genre...

[Werewolf]

I loathe the whole "torture porn" genre...

Same here. Throwing mountains of gore, cruelty and sadism at the screen at the screen isn't scary, its just gross.

[Den82]

I saw Irreversible. I wouldn't really call it a horror film. I didn't like it.

The last movie I saw that I kinda liked
was the Girl Next Door, based on the Jack Ketchum book. The acting was dreadful though.

I have no moral issue when it comes to extreme violence or anything else. But I hate this "let's try to make the sickest film ever made" mentality. Ever see August Underground's Mordum or Murder-Set-Pieces? They are infuriatingly bad. Anyone can do that crap.

Films like Last House on the Left are almost PG compared to them, yet they still have a nihilistic feeling those films only wish they could achieve.

Paranormal Activity I saw a bit of and it was another one that ****ed me off. Scarier than the Exorcist? The nerve of them.

[madmarva]

Sinister is getting decent reviews for a horror flick

[toys2cool]

I've seen a few decent ones

[torgospizza]

I'm a big fan of Dog Soldiers and The Descent. They, too, feature "freaks", but they're monsters not sadists.
I loathe the whole "torture porn" genre...

I agree. I find nothing entertaining about innocent people being slaughtered. It's cheap and disturbing. Straight away, Den82 mentioned kids. I don't care for that, either. For one thing, what's so scary about little Japanese girls? Judging from films and video games, they're more threatening than werewolves. I also think it's perverse to have kids being victimized, whether they're physically harmed or spiritually possessed or whatever. It bothers me and I'm unwilling to watch it.

[babycyclops]

The zombie film 'The Dead' is kind of interesting. Not brilliant, but it's shot in Africa and the zombies have a Fulci-esque feel about them.
It's a few years old now, but Sam Raimi's 'Drag me to Hell' is an excellent movie.

[Peter Panda]

Rob Zombie is a legend...and while i do agree some of the horror films made today are crap ( and i watch almost every single one being that it's my favorite genre" ) some i think are fantastic...Like Insidious...that movie was fantastic. I think "Sinister" looks good....i think what happens is people hit a certain age and then it seems like everything "new" sucks and only the stuff from their "day" is good....it happens to every generation...with music,movies,tv etc.....Trick r Treat was an amazing film...did you see that?

[Hector]

Too bad Carpenter is too old to make anymore films. Now would be a good time for his kind of movies to make an impact.

Clint Eastwood is 82, and he's still making good movies.

Why not Carpenter? He's almost twenty years younger than Eastwood...64.

[Gorn Captain]

Carpenter is in poor health.
He looks like a fragile white ghost.

His "Cigarette burns" was the only really great entry in Masters of Horror.