As the tastes and fears of this era’s horror movie audience change, so does the content of the films themselves. But is this change for the better, or for the worse?
I’d say for the worse.
While there’s nothing wrong with today’s horror films, which tend to be more psychological and spirit-centric, they cannot even begin compete with horror films of the recent past.
Horror films today are lacking the charm that blood and guts bring, and are instead leaning too heavily on superstition and the human mind. Horror shouldn’t be convoluted and rife with complexities–it should be simple and bare bones.
When I watch a horror film, I want to be mesmerized by monsters and makeup, not get a headache from thinking over plot implications and hidden meanings.
While some of the films are questionable in their production and writing, the “Hellraiser” series (1987-2011) is what I think to be the perfect example of what horror movies should be–disgusting, gory, distressing and monster-filled.
The series begins with a man named Frank, who is unsatisfied with his current life of hedonism, opening a mysterious puzzle box with the hopes of summoning the Cenobites, beings of pleasure and pain.
The makeup work in the first film (and in the majority of the films that follow) is fantastic. Frank dons synthetic blood, muscles, and veins for the majority of the first film, and the makeup is so believable that it’s borderline uncanny.
Would you rather watch someone shriek and flail because of a haunting, or a man getting torn apart at the whim of a collective of monsters? I’d hope that you choose the latter, because the latter makes for a better horror film.
What’s amazing about gore is the shock value. “The Reanimator” (1985) is a film with a simple premise: a quirky man, with the interests of humanity in mind, creates a serum that will allegedly preserve life indefinitely.
So, it’s a zombie film.
But instead of just adhering to the normal standards of most zombie films, “The Reanimator” takes a sudden plunge into the world of gore and grossness. It’s so gory that it leans towards ridiculousness, but hey, that’s no skin off my nose.
Horror films today are too reliant on the spirit world, which can make for great films, but the shock value of gore is lost. Some people may be sensitive to gore, and that’s why the other variety of horror films exist, but those sensitivities shouldn’t eliminate the gore genre all-together.
By: Abby Ray