#horror articles

I’m a critic at heart. I have very high standards for what makes a “good movie” and I’m one of the first people ready to poke holes in things, even when I have the unpopular opinion. One of the few horror movies to ever meet my standard of film entirely was Joss Whedon’s Cabin in the Woods.

From what I can tell, that’s one of those movies that you love, hate, or are utterly confused by. As you can imagine, I fall solidly in the “love” category, and I consider it my favorite movie to this day. Awhile back I jokingly referred to it as the death of all horror movies, which sparked a lot of interesting conversations.

When I first started talking about relaunching my horror blog, I got an anonymous request to do an article titled “Why There Are No Good Modern Horror Films” about the direction that the genre has taken since the release of Cabin in the Woods. I’m going to talk about that briefly, and then I’d like to hear from everybody else.

With the introduction out of the way, let’s jump right in.

Horror movies, like any movies (or in fact any form of storytelling,) have evolved. Trends in how stories are told come and go and as generations pass we expect more and more in order to remain entertained. My generation grew up with a number of horror cliches already in place, and a lot of storytelling techniques were already trite and overused.

When the horror genre was first being brought into film, it was more than scary enough just to tell the tale of a killer or demon, because movies like that hadn’t been made yet. When that got boring, it was a simple fix of having more plot twists. When that became the norm, jump scares became the craze, and so on and so forth. 

When I first started to get really into horror movies, the trend was excessive violence (I was raised in the era of Saw, and Final Destination and incredibly gory remakes.) If a horror movie was rated R, it automatically had some horror credibility. At that time it was less about ideas, and more about effects. The fact of the matter is that by 2012, there were not a lot of new ideas being depicted in scary movies.

Before I get a ton of complaints - there were some really excellent films coming out still, but in terms of completely original ideas there just weren’t a lot. There wasn’t a lot of progress in the genre, and any good storytelling was hidden under gallons and gallons of fake blood.

What Cabin in the Woods did was absolutely groundbreaking. It was the horror movie that made fun of horror movies, something that hadn’t been properly executed since the Scream movies. This movie even took that further, because not only did it address horror cliches, but it explained them while tying in cultural differences and real history. It achieved all of this in an extremely creative way that was satirical without sacrificing the horror element, and that is just so incredibly rare.

It was a revolutionary story that was executed perfectly, and I believe that it was a cinematic masterpiece - but it didn’t leave much room for the genre. The storytelling was great, but it left practically no room to be built off of. There’s nowhere that the horror genre can really go from this point to continue expanding and keep the movies evolving from the point where Cabin in the Woods left off.

Since the release of Cabin in the Woods, there hasn’t been a horror movie that I’ve enjoyed even half as much. I loved it with a passion, but it simply set the bar too high. I doubt there will ever be a horror movie that rivals this one. It’s in a league of it’s own, and in a way, I’ll always partially view it as the death of the horror genre.

Let me clarify here, I still love horror movies. I’m not going to stop enjoying the genre just because the movie I view as the epitome of horror has already come out. There have been a lot of scary movies released in the last couple years that I’ve enjoyed, but they just haven’t done anything for me the way Cabin in the Woods has. I think it would be terribly sad to abandon horror, just because I think this one thing can’t be outdone, and I truly hope that some day some wonderful director proves me wrong.

I think part of my issue comes from biased, and not just because I’m a huge fan of Joss Whedon (despite my issues with some of his more recent projects.) A majority of the high-budget horror films coming out lately I don’t like as much just because of my personal preferences. There’s been a lot of paranormal/haunting/possession type movies in theaters, and those just aren’t my favorite. Maybe it’s a generational thing, but I prefer slashers, teen screams and of course the torture porn flicks like Saw.

Where the paranormal sub-genre of horror is concerned, I do think that some of my favorites have been released in the last few years, and while they’re not my favorite overall, there have been one or two that I’ve quite enjoyed (including Oculus and Woman in Black.)

While I don’t think it’s possible for the horror genre to evolve from where Cabin in the Woods left off (at least where movies are concerned) I do think it would be possible to backtrack and branch out. The movie was excellent and in my opinion, it wrapped up the genre nicely - but that’s no reason to quit trying.

These are just my personal views on the topic and what I came up with in regards to my anon’s title request - but I’d love to hear your guys’ thoughts on the topic. Drop by my ask, submit your own opinions, feel free (and encouraged) to keep the discussion open.

Askbox Fuel

Anyone who reblogs this article from me can pretty much expect me in their askbox, asking the following questions OR feel free to submit your answers directly in my ask - I seriously do love hearing from you guys!