The Gothic position, by contrast, is that good and evil do exist, and that men’s actions carry a moral weight; that our choices count. And if our actions have some sort of importance, maybe we do, too. Maybe we’re more than just the some of our desires and hatreds.
This post will likely be a little more “heady” than many of my fellow LOTT D unity post bloggers, but I think there’s something worth thinking about here. If horror is indeed an adaptable and useful genre we might be thinking about not only why it entertains, but also why it changes in its expression, and what the internalized “monsterous us” of contemporary, postmodern, nihilistic horror says about us as individuals and as a culture.
End of Part One. Intermission time! "Let's all go to the lobby, let's all go to the lobby, let's all go to the lobby, to get ourselves a snack!"
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Article comments
1 - Bo
A very interesting read and some fine points made all around. I would argue that modern horror is the same as it ever was, only different. It's similar in that there have always been the good releases and the not-so-good. The '50s and '60s are a prime example of the rush to film sometimes on the basis of nae alone. For every Ed Wood, there is a modern analog, our Uwe Boll. There are a number of fine horror films in the recent past, many of which were mentioned here (The Mist, The Ruins, [REC]) and some of these films are truly exceptional. I dare anyone to watch the last fifteen minutes of [REC] alone in the dark and not get spooked. Unfortunately, all American filmmaking has become a numbers game, and, as such, the 'product' the studios have been slinging is inferior and derivative. As long as people buy tickets for it, studios will continue to produce. The best new horror is often fund on the dvd shelves and not at the box office. Unless a festival is nearby, it's all-too-easy to miss an Inside or The Orphanage. Can't wait to read part 2!
2 - Brad Schader
I find that horror today reflects the attitudes of the day. The 80's Slasher movies were filmed during the Reagan era of oppressive morals. In those films, sins were punished by a slasher's visit and only the pure survived. The 70's saw mostly horror movies were G-d and the devil were at odds and usually G-d was powerless to help you (exorcist, omen) which was a reflection of the post Watergate era. The 60's, like today, were heavy on gore based films with little suspense because today, like the 60's we live in a very suspenseful and horrific time of war and gore.
Great read BTW
3 - Teresa
Wonderful article! I've always said today's movies are just not scary (sorry, I didn't like "The Ruins" at all). The only movies that truly made me scared were ones such as "The Evil Dead" and "The Thing". Even the 'cheesy' horror movies of the past are a 100 times better than the 'cheesy' ones made today, I don't know if it's the setting, the acting, the concepts, but a 70s horror film always outshines something from today.
4 - Alvin
We just need something good to come along and change things. IMO it all went tits up when they made a film called Scream which was crap and overrated
5 - UP TOOO LATE
Rec isn't terrible but nothing on Blair Witch (i'm used to being told off for that one) and honestly didn't capture me the way i'd hoped. The ruins wasn't bad at all but still has that sour smell of crapiness that for me has defined this decades horror releases. The Mist was watchable enough but again, flat.
I think what's wrong with horror today (and there is something very wrong) is down to something that's missing in youth culture at the moment. It's the same in music ect innit. It's hard to define. I will start my OWN BLOG YEAHAHAHAHA. (i will)