There are several reasons why horror movies fail to inspire the same level of terror that they once did and while many people might quibble about this fact it does remain an undeniable fact: horror movies just don’t have the same punch to the senses that they used to have. You’ve seen the commercials for Paranormal Activity and the like, right? The thought is that someone either rounded up a great number of people that didn’t care for horror or were at the very least passable actors and could play the ‘live audience’, or they were using old footage that hadn’t been seen by that many people. Seriously, a lot of horror movies just aren’t cutting it in this day and age and there are core reasons why this is so. V. Renee of No Film School goes into three reasons that could very well comprise the core of why a lot of people actually laugh or have a good time during a horror movie since the majority of people that watch horror movies might agree that there’s just no more verve in the on screen scares today. Maybe it’s because real life has become a lot scarier in some regards or maybe it’s because filmmakers have lost their way, but as of right now, horror just isn’t cutting it any longer.
Jump scares are too obvious.
It’s true, a good jump scare will still manage to startle some people, but it’s more of a reactionary response due to a sudden and unexpected stimulus, not a flight or fight response that could be called fear. Jump scares really don’t scare people, they cause a reaction for no apparent reason most times and unfortunately some directors happen to think that this is a good idea since it keeps the audience interested and awake. Of course if you have to worry about the audience falling asleep during your movie then it might be time to head back to the drawing board in order to make a few needed changes. A jump scare is great when it’s genuine and has to do with the story, meaning a monster or a killer is about to jump out at the protagonist or the unwitting victim and really scare the living hell out of them. But doing this just for the sake of it is a cheap way to get a reaction and tends to cheapen a movie each and every time it’s used. Plus, a lot of times the tension leading up to a jump scare is way too obvious and as a result if the scare happens it’s fully expected, meaning it’s not much of a surprise. If it doesn’t happen though the audience feels cheated and they’ll be less likely to feel that they got what they paid for.
Zombies and Creepy Kids and Immortal Killers…oh my.
Really, I love a good horror movie when it comes out and might not risk a bad dream or two by watching it at night if it’s that intense, but there are a number that make me snooze just because they fall back on old, tired ideas that have been used over and over and over. Zombies are still cool, no doubts there, but how they’re used is pretty basic in many productions and the last time any zombie movie made me say ‘damn!’ was when I watched the remake of Dawn of the Living Dead and the zombies didn’t just shuffle forward, they RAN for their prey. That was pretty intense even if the rest of the movie was kind of a joke. But creepy kids in movies haven’t really been great since Damien and the twins from The Shining, as using children to creep the audience out is still possible but it’s more laughable now than anything since be it kids turning into zombies or kids being possessed by demonic spirits, the effect is kind of hard to swallow since people have seen it over and over throughout the years. As far as immortal killers go, one can only watch so many sequels until they start to root for the bad guy to just make it end in some fashion. Be honest, you were ready for Jason and Freddy to have a go at the beginning of their movie weren’t you?
The same stories, over and over again.
Almost every new movie says that it’s bringing something revolutionary, that a new director or a famed director or an acclaimed director is bringing something brand new to the genre, and then it ends up being the same, tired, old, thing. This is where I’ll gladly blame the writers that don’t have anything better to do apparently than sit around and debate just which story line they’ll be copying today while trying to pass it off as the next big thing. How many immortal killer movies can we have? How many creepy kid movies can we watch? And just because Underwater, a movie about a crew that’s attempting to make their way through a damaged and collapsing mining rig while being attacked by strange, underwater sea creatures that no one has ever seen before, came out recently I’ll ask this: how many monster movies can we endure before the writers finally come up with something that we haven’t seen in one form or another? The answer is kind of bleak at the moment since thinking outside of the box doesn’t appear to be a high priority.
Horror movies could be scary again, it’s just a matter of taking off the gloves and not pulling any punches with the story.
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