By JJ Ledewitz, Arts and Culture Editor
Horror is a film genre that, at its core, is different from the others. Its main goal is to scare viewers, to place fear in the hearts of moviegoers and make sure they lay awake at night, unable to fall asleep — all while telling a good story. After the release of Dracula in 1931, horror films exploded into mainstream cinema and have since spawned a whole slew of subgenres, all meant for the big screen. Horror pulls at the survival instincts of viewers, with inhumane imagery or jumpscares, and it demands a large screen and a large audience to share the thrill with. Horror is also different in that almost all horror films are heavily inspired by the horror classics that came before them, which means that as long as filmmakers pull from these classic stories, more horror classics will continue to be made.
Since the pandemic, however, film culture has experienced a shift. Instead of sitting in a theater for a few hours, people prefer the idea of simply watching movies from the comfort of their own homes. With horror being a theater and audience-dependent genre, movie studios have shied away from making as many horror films — and many of the ones that have come out haven’t been great. This year, however, a rise in the number and quality of horror films suggests that the pandemic effect is fading. Moreover, the horror films that stood out are so outstanding that they have the potential to inspire a renaissance of horror in the coming decades.
Sinners
Directed by Black Panther director Ryan Coogler, Sinners is everything a horror movie should be: emotional, disturbing, and, most importantly, memorable. Michael B. Jordan stars as twin brothers in 1930s Mississippi, who must take action against a horde of vampires during the opening night of a juke joint in a sawmill. The film leads viewers through the night as it turns from festive to bloody, letting them guess who has been turned by the vampires and who is still human. Many horror films lack the courage to take full advantage of their subgenre, sometimes putting a comedic or romantic spin on their plots, but Sinners goes all the way with its vampiric violence and bloodshed. It’s a wild ride from beginning to end with an emotional story bigger than any viewer would expect. With the praise this film has gotten, expect to see a lot more vampire films in the near future.
Weapons
After 2022’s Barbarian, comedian and director Zach Cregger once again proved his ability to use the horror genre in new and unique ways. Weapons is a mystery horror film that follows the residents of a small town after the mysterious simultaneous disappearance of seventeen children. As the characters try to uncover the mystery, things keep getting creepier until everything goes hog-wild, mysteries get revealed and the true horror elements of the film are put on full display. Cregger masters the mystery horror subgenre, making a film that is scary yet slow in a way that isn’t boring or generic. With Barbarian and now Weapons under his belt, and a Weapons prequel and a Resident Evil adaptation on the way, Cregger has officially put himself on the map as a great horror director, and his style will definitely help revamp the genre as a whole.
28 Years Later
Zombie movies are one of the most popular types of horror films, as seen with the Living Dead franchise and, more recently, World War Z and Train to Busan. After the pandemic, however, these kinds of films seemed to have almost totally disappeared. In 28 Years Later, a few British survivors must deal with the aftermath of a zombie apocalypse that took place 28 years before. The film is edited to include symbolic montages of war footage and other similar imagery interspersed with the story, which helps instill viewers with a feeling of true horror. This decision by director Danny Boyle, paired with the unbridled savagery and barbarity showcased in the film, leaves a lasting impact on the viewer. Zombie films can and should make a comeback, and seeing as 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple is set to release next month, a zombie revolution may be coming to cinemas as soon as next year.
Final Destination: Bloodlines
As the sixth Final Destination film, Final Destination: Bloodlines follows the same general plot as its predecessors: a group of people is saved from a disaster one of them foresaw, and, shortly after, a mysterious force begins to target the group. One by one, members of the group are killed in horrifying chains of events that lead to bizarre and gruesome deaths. In this film, however, there is a twist: we follow the descendants of someone who somehow survived an event like this after decades of narrowly avoiding death. Most of the Final Destination films are pretty bad (the first and fifth are okay), but Bloodlines is surprisingly good. Even more surprising is that people went to see it, as it’s been a whopping 14 years since the last one was released. Miraculously, Bloodlines is the best of the franchise because of the way it balances the horror and emotional elements of the story — something most horror films don’t manage to accomplish. One of the main criticisms of the Final Destination franchise is that, with the exception of the crazy deaths, everything else is really boring. In Bloodlines, however, everything is interesting, and it even manages to top some of the horror elements of the films before it — more gruesome deaths, more deadly fakeouts and a crazier ending than any other film in the series. Bloodlines showcases what other horror franchises need to do to succeed, and it’s something that other franchises will definitely be attempting in the future.
The Monkey
While people often assume horror must be dramatic, one important horror subgenre is the horror comedy. The Monkey is weird and creepy while also being hilarious, following a wind-up toy monkey that haunts twin brothers’ lives and causes death all around them. The wacky premise takes the viewer on a wild ride that leads to a lot of bloodshed and death — all in the most insane and unthinkable ways possible, forcing the viewer to laugh at just how crazy the film becomes. Its editing helps the comedy immensely, barely letting the audience latch onto the characters emotionally, and sometimes killing off characters just for fun. Horror comedies are important because where dark horror movies (mostly) deal with real issues pushed to their extremes, sometimes a comedic view of those extremes is important, so that the fear and death don’t get to you.
Each of these films brings something to the table that can lay the groundwork for a new wave of horror cinema, one that uses these films as the basis and goes even further than the genre has ever gone before. There are so many talented people out there and so many stories to tell — and thankfully, the horror genre has already started to come back with a vengeance.
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