# Whatever happened to horror movies? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 4, 2002, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-horror-movies/101804 "2002-04-04T16:46:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![gobear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8dc957/32.png) [@gobear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gobear)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2002, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-horror-movies/101804/1 "2002-04-04T16:46:47Z")
It occurred to me while I was reading the reponses to my drive-in thread that there are no more horror movies. Oh, sure, recent flicks like **Resident Evil** and **Blade II** have featured humans fighting zombies and vampires, but those movies just use monsters as targets in a shooting gallery. They aren’t truly horror films by my definition. Whatever happened to terror in the movies? Nobody is making really scary movies like **The Evil Dead** , **Dawn of the Dead** , **The Exorcist** , or **Reanimator** anymore. I wish movie studios would revive the horror genre and scare the pants off me again. It’s a shame we have no horror actors like Vincent Price or Boris Karloff to frame a movie around. We need more old pros to scare us again. My top 5 horror films (althought these change daily) 1. **Dawn of the Dead**. Flesh-eating zombies and gore combined with social commentary. 2. **The Abominable Dr. Phibes**. Stylish, campy horror with gruesome deaths and a charmingly evil villain. 3. **In the Mouth of Madness**. While I’m not a big John Carpenter fan, I think this movie is the best H.P. Lovecraft-inspired movie ever. Great depiction of the Elder Gods at the end. 4. \*\* Rosemary’s Baby\*\*. A truly terrifying movie without one bit of gore or violence. The chills come from Polanski’s direction, Levin’s writing, and Mia Farrow’s acting. A feast for the paranoid. 5. **The Wicker Man**. While not strictly supernatural, pagan worship and human sacrifice, combined with the exotic Scottish landscape, make this a horror movie. It’s Christopher Lee’s best work, next to playing Saruman. ---
**Author:** ![Why\_A\_Duck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/13edae/32.png) [@Why\_A\_Duck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Why_A_Duck)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2002, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-horror-movies/101804/2 "2002-04-04T16:57:18Z")
I blame teenagers and studio execs. The term horror movie has now come to mean “slasher flick”. And the studios have begun to think that if there’s no blood, it’s not going to sell. In my mind, something like “The Sixth Sense” comes nearer to my definition of horror movie than Friday the 13th, Part X1: Jason Does Dallas. ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2002, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-horror-movies/101804/3 "2002-04-04T18:27:26Z")
_The Others_. A true classic, IMHO. It frightened the audience more with the audience’s own imagination than anything they showed on-screen. ---
**Author:** ![Sauron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce7236/32.png) [@Sauron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sauron)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2002, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-horror-movies/101804/4 "2002-04-04T18:47:48Z")
While _Halloween_ is generally regarded as the film that inspired the slasher-flick genre, it has always been one of my favorite horror movies. And it has surprisingly little blood and gore (comparatively speaking). ---
**Author:** ![DarkWriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ee59a6/32.png) [@DarkWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DarkWriter)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2002, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-horror-movies/101804/5 "2002-04-04T19:03:09Z")
Some recent horror movies that are truly scary: _Ring_ - A Japanese horror flick that had me sleeping with the lights on by the end. _Session 9_ - I haven’t seen this one, but everyone in the horror community and on the HWA message board have raved about it. _Ginger Snaps_ - The best werewolf movie ever made, according to HWA members. If you’re looking for horror movie reviews, [Rue Morgue](http://www.rue-morgue.com) and [Cemetery Dance](http://www.cemeterydance.com) are great resources. Of the two, I like CD better. [Michael Marano](http://guestbooks.netservices.gr/read/MichaelMarano) does the movie reviews for CD, and he’s usually right on the money. In the lastest issue of CD, he says that _From Hell_ is “…suffocating. Creepy. Unnerving.” “Victorian London is shown to be an insane place that set the tone for urban insanity throughout the next century.” “…_From Hell_ may prove to be timeless.” He also talks about a movie called _L.I.E._ “L.I.E. is so bleak it makes Sam Peckinpah’s _Straw Dogs_ seem like a Disney flick…See it if you have the guts.” In the same issue, [Ray Garton](http://www.horrornet.com/garton.htm) discusses _Requiem for a Dream_, saying “…it _is_ a horror movie, the best to come along in a long time. It wasn’t advertised as a horror movie…But no movie in recent memory has horrified me more…” Um, anyway (I do go on about this, don’t I?)…I just wanted you to know that horror movies are definitely out there. 🙂 Sheri ---
**Author:** ![gobear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8dc957/32.png) [@gobear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gobear)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2002, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-horror-movies/101804/6 "2002-04-04T20:33:53Z")
> [@](#): > > In the same issue, Ray Garton discusses Requiem for a Dream, saying “…it is a horror movie, the best to come along in a long time. It wasn’t advertised as a horror movie…But no movie in recent memory has horrified me more…” See, that just makes the “horror” category so vague as to be useless. **Requiem for a Dream** is a wonderful, albeit disturbing movie, but it is not a horror movie. **L.I.E.** is about pedophilia; unpleasant, but not horrific. The blonde Hitler Youth singing “Tomorrow Belongs to Me” in the biergarten always gives me the willies, but that scene does not make **Cabaret** a horror movie. For me, a horror movie should contain two elements: a) a monster of supernatural or alien origin, b) an atmosphere of fear and dread. **Invasion of the Body Snatchers** , nominally science fiction, is also a crackerjack horror movie. **Young Frankenstein** despite its use of the eponymous monster, is **not** a horror movie. ---
**Author:** ![Gregor\_Samsa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a6a055/32.png) [@Gregor\_Samsa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gregor_Samsa)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2002, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-horror-movies/101804/7 "2002-04-04T20:38:34Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by DarkWriter \* > \*\* > _Ginger Snaps_ - The best werewolf movie ever made, according to HWA members. > > \*\* I just watched this last night - I thought it was a really good werewolf movie (not particularily scary, IMO, but horror movies generally don’t scare me anyway.) ---
**Author:** ![Gregor\_Samsa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a6a055/32.png) [@Gregor\_Samsa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gregor_Samsa)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2002, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-horror-movies/101804/8 "2002-04-04T20:40:18Z")
“Particularily” of course should read “particularly.” ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2002, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-horror-movies/101804/9 "2002-04-04T20:51:56Z")
I didn’t see it myself (I dislike horror movies), but wouldn’t **Thirteen Ghosts** count? ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2002, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-horror-movies/101804/10 "2002-04-04T21:08:09Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by gobear \* > \*\* > > For me, a horror movie should contain two elements: a) a monster of supernatural or alien origin, b) an atmosphere of fear and dread. **Invasion of the Body Snatchers** , nominally science fiction, is also a crackerjack horror movie. **Young Frankenstein** despite its use of the eponymous monster, is **not** a horror movie. \*\* OK, that’s a good start. I think, though, that the definition of horror (and how it’s distinguished from terror) isn’t so much the nature of the thing that’s threatening you, but that there has to be an element of…I dunno…disgust? Horror elements are generally fear of confined places, creepy animals, being buried alive, or, as in Body Snatchers, loss of identity…horror often has something to do with the trappings of death, decay and dismemberment. Getting shot is terror; getting dismembered or eaten alive is horror. Walking through a cave is terror; walking through a cave full of bats is horror. Without the chest-bursting scene, Alien would’ve been Terror. With it, it’s Horror (and probably, to get back to the OP, the last good horror film.) ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2002, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-horror-movies/101804/11 "2002-04-04T22:15:20Z")
Does it really need a “monster of supernatural or alien origin”? I’m thinking of all those wonderful 1960s horror movies with Vincent Price based (very, very loosely) on Edgar Allen Poe stories, directed by Roger Corman. The “monster” was usually an obsessed person rather than a supernatural ghost. BTW, I just found the PIT AND THE PENDULUM on DVD, with a great special soundtrack by Roger Corman describing how they got a cheap deal on the furniture for this set, and how they used the same castle with different furniture for different movies, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Jabba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b5e925/32.png) [@Jabba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jabba)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2002, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-horror-movies/101804/12 "2002-04-04T22:28:23Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by gobear \* > For me, a horror movie should contain two elements: a) a monster of supernatural or alien origin > [@](#): > > _Originally posted by gobear_ > My top 5 horror films (althought these change daily) > > 1. The Abominable Dr. Phibes. Stylish, campy horror with gruesome deaths and a charmingly evil villain. Is there a contradiction here? ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2002, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-horror-movies/101804/13 "2002-04-04T22:37:04Z")
_The Sixth Sense_ and _The Blair Witch Project_ both would qualify as recent horror movies that emphasized mental horror rather than bloody special effects. Both admittedly came out a couple of years back, but you can’t insist on a new classic every year. If you do insist, I’ve heard _The Others_ is a good horror movie although, unlike rastahomie, I haven’t seen this one myself. In my opinion, gobear, of the four movies you mentioned as classics, _The Evil Dead_, _Dawn of the Dead_, _The Exorcist_, and _Reanimator_, all of them except one (_The Exorcist_) relied more on gore than dread. Maybe you’re just getting older and the same things that worked for you as a teenage viewer now leave you cold in newer movies. ---
**Author:** ![Gozu\_Tashoya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/7993a0/32.png) [@Gozu\_Tashoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gozu_Tashoya)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2002, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-horror-movies/101804/14 "2002-04-04T22:52:02Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by rjung \* > \*\*I didn’t see it myself (I dislike horror movies), but wouldn’t **Thirteen Ghosts** count? \*\* AFAICT, it would, but it was a crappy one at best. I mean just because you can have something creepy enter the frame really, really fast doesn’t mean that the audience is scared. Startled, yes. Scared, not quite. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2002, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-horror-movies/101804/15 "2002-04-05T02:56:15Z")
I think the fall of the drive-ins also plays a role. Although most folk are mentioning big-buck movies that played in regular theaters, teens accustomed to real (but cheap) horror movies made a ready audience for the more expensive ones. Drive-in movies were also the training ground for actors, writers and directors. ---
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2002, 9:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-horror-movies/101804/16 "2002-04-05T09:05:33Z")
Not sure if a horror movie, but still a good one: 1. John Carpenters: The Thing. (1982) This is a horror movie and still has good production values: 1. Alien (1978). (Surprised noone mentioned this movie) :eek: Interestingly enough, one can see strong Lovecroftian elements in both (and could be both be considered adaptions of _At the mountains of Madness_ ). ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2002, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-horror-movies/101804/17 "2002-04-05T12:00:16Z")
Somewhere along the line hollywood “thriller” ie psycho aliens and horror ie “dracula” " the mummy" became genres together about the time halloween came out… Also you have to remeber we have a high tolerance level for violence we didnt have previously Todays teenager would laugh at the first halloween or even nightmare on elm street and would call them cheap or old The last horror movie i seen in theather was halloween h2o and no one throught it was scary becuase they’ve seen it a million times ---
**Author:** ![Phlip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Phlip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phlip)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2002, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-horror-movies/101804/18 "2002-04-05T12:36:41Z")
Hellraiser 1 and 2 were both horrific in the graphic detail of the mangled cenobites and disturbing when the peeps got cut da’phuk up! Best horror movies of recent years IMHO. ---
**Author:** ![Booker57](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Booker57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Booker57)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2002, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-horror-movies/101804/19 "2002-04-05T13:37:56Z")
09/11/2001 happened. After watching the towers fall, nothing scares me any more. ---
**Author:** ![Jeu\_D\_esprit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/67e7ee/32.png) [@Jeu\_D\_esprit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeu_D_esprit)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2002, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-horror-movies/101804/20 "2002-04-05T14:26:24Z")
How about movies like “Seven” and “Fallen”? But I agree, for the mass audience the movie must have slick images and apparently someone in black leather or vinyl. Cheers. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-horror-movies/101804.md?page=2)