Sitting through endless amounts of sub-par horror films Hollywood has offered the genre, it is easy to forget characters such as Hannibal Lecter, who had adults and kids alike looking over their shoulders for simply enjoying some fava beans and a nice Chianti.
Before the horror movie was seen as a low budget cash-in, the genre commanded respect from fans and critics alike. Movies such as Nosferatu and Night of Terror, directed in abstract expressionist style, drew from their social environments to become more than blood and gore.
For reasons as mysterious as their crazed villains, horror movies have fallen from viewers critical praise. Whether you blame unimaginative minds behind the camera, or corporate players for churning out an assembly line of dismal movies targeted for the “tween” market - the genre has undeniably lost its edge.
The few good genre films being produced today are credited to a long history of German expressionist cinema, which was the catalyst for the horror industry. Edgier than standard film conventions, expressionism was born out of WWI as a means of expressing pain through art. These films would often mimic the dark, desolate, war ridden streets of post-war Germany - social influences which created a set of rules that still apply to the genre today.
One of the reasons the genre has lost its artistic merit is because it is no longer socially relevant. People watch horror movies to be scared. Without any social or political issue underlying their gruesome plots , the viewer has nothing to relate to, and therefore nothing to be scared of. The most memorable and celebrated horror films made are those that carry with them social situations relevant to their time.
A more recent film worth noting is the 2004 remake Dawn of the Dead, which altered the traditional slow moving zombie into a hyperactive, flesh hungry fiend to express the current social climate we live in.
It is argued the fast-paced zombies of our generation represent growing capitalist economy, hell bent on suppressing the fear of consumer culture while feeding our growing appetites for material goods. No longer do monsters represent the unknown, they represent us. We are the creatures, as they are extensions of society and our very lives.
Critics insist horror films have fallen victim to MTV Culture - a society focussed on material posession and wealth. This form of culture extracts social and political context from public discourse and reintroduces these interests as simple commodities.
Thus, plot seems to be the least important aspect of horror films today. All most need to succeed are blood, gore, and an attractive female lead to do the job of filling a tight white tee.
Subsequently, the problem with horror movies today revolves around the substitution of context and plot for cheap thrills and gore. In an MTV Culture such as our own, the challenge for horror movies becomes incorporating socially relevant issues into their content, while pleasing studio bosses by addressing the profitable tween market.
The prevalent trend of the Americanization of foreign horror films captures the coveted tween market, while costing nothing to produce and needing minimal originality to transfer a diluted version of the social context into a North American setting. Along with the popularity of torture-porn films such as Captivity, the horror genre has officially been labelled pseudo-snuff - something which should not be taken lightly.
Unfortunately, it is unlikely this new generation of slasher films will be remembered beyond the time it takes to walk out of the theatre in utter disappointment. Unlike their predecessors, these films will be looked upon as cautions to revere, as opposed to examples to learn from. To stay alive, the horror movie genre must force itself through a number of important changes, before they become one of the many victims in the pages of their scripts.
