Why is it so Hard to be Scary Anymore?

Why is it so hard to be scary anymore? This is a question that has almost as many answers as there are fans of horror. Some say it is because there is a lack of originality in films, as many movies and franchises are getting "remakes" and "reboots". Others say that the art of storytelling has gotten lost in heavy effects, gore for the sake of having it, and "telegraphing" of the stories. The last and largest group has been people that believe that society today is just desensitized because people can see more violent images on the news and the internet than most horror movies can produce.

This topic opens an exciting dialogue between horror fans. What scares people varies from person to person—things from body horror, ghostly haunting, or what could be known as "plausible" horror. Plausible horror would be known as films with a basis in reality, movies like "Hush" (2016), "The Strangers" (2008), and "Creep" (2014).

Body horror is something that I will admit makes me queasy. Body horror are those horror films where there are some forms of mutation, mutilation, deformation, or bodily contortion. Movies like "The Last Exorcism" (2010) or the stomach-turning "Human Centipede" Franchise (2009-2015). Some are afraid of religious or supernatural horror, like "The Conjuring" (2013) or "Stigmata" (1999).

There is a large consensus in the horror community that there is an overuse of CGI and a lack of good practical effects. Yes, CGI has helped horror grow in leaps and bounds even over the last 20 years, but sometimes there is more money and time spent on effects than the actual story, acting, and film atmosphere. A personal belief of mine has always been that movies were scarier to the audience during the '60s and '70s, even into the '80s because the use of CGI and "Green Screen" wasn't as prevalent and so the use of practical effects, especially realistic looking ones made people more afraid. In today's film society, most people know that you can do almost anything with CGI and the right program, so there is a lack of awe or fear when you see someone eviscerated or a bodily explosion or even the transformation of a werewolf. While this does make the film look better, it also can take away from it.

The style of films produced by each generation usually fits what is happening in their world at the time. In the 1950s and 1960s, it was more about mutant animals, nuclear weapons, and the damage they do, space aliens. In the 1970's we saw the birth of the slashers with films like "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" (1974) and Halloween (1978). Some people believe this was because the term "serial killer" and "Mass murderer" were becoming more prevalent in society with crimes like the Tate-LaBianca Slayings (1969), the Son of Sam (1976-1977), John Wayne Gacy (1972-1978) and "BTK" (1974-1991). There was also a shift from the "monster" in the film being an "outside" influence to being someone you know. Characters like Carrie White in "Carrie" (1976) dealt with the social concept of bullying, whereas "Regan" from "The Exorcist" (1973) dealt with more religious undertones and the innocent suffering from possession.

Horror in the 1980s continued on the track of slashers and serial killers, as well as more ghosts and supernatural creatures. "American Werewolf in London" (1981), "Nightmare on Elm Street" (1984), "The Shining" (1980). All made people afraid of ghosts, demons, and things that go bump in the night. There was also a shift in effects at that time. Make-up and practical effects had evolved to a point where audiences saw more detail when it came to the monsters and gore. The 1980s showed body horror more in films like the "Re-Animator" (1985), as well as the stomach-churning transformation of Jeff Goldblum in "The Fly" (1986).

What was considered a horror movie started to change in the 2010s and continues to this day. With the advent of cellphone cameras and "go pros", there is an increase in found footage films. Low budget, filled with jump scares or optical tricks, these films have become all the rage. When the boom for these films started, they were scary, it was new, exciting, and the marketing was exceptional. Movies like "The Blair Witch Project" (1999) and "Paranormal Activity" (2007) made people scared again. But like any good thing, too much of it can ruin it. There are a plethora of "found footage" films out now. Many of them are playing on the same story over and over and over again. Because of this, people are not terrified of them anymore. You can only watch ghost hunters "investigate" a haunted location so many times before you KNOW what will happen. There might be a few little curveballs like the whole cast dies, OR someone gets away, but for the most part, it is well known, they are going to be running around, usually locked in, and getting picked off one by one in front of their cameras that always manage to stay working, even when dropped. "Reality TV" has also been something that has not helped the found footage subgenre. Why watch a movie about ghost hunting when you can watch "real" ghost hunters do it weekly on a television show. There are just as many horror films that mock this as there are that try to make an honest attempt at the haunted house/ghost hunting experience.

Religious horror is starting to make its comeback with films like the "Conjuring" universe (2013 - ongoing). The subjects of recent horror are almost a mix of a cautionary tale and social commentary. Films like "It Follows" (2014) and "Friend Request" (2016) cautioning against sex and the use of social media. While some of these newer films are interesting, quite a few feel more preachy than frightening, their messages usually falling on deaf ears.

Another issue that faces horror and other genres as well is the "remake/reboot". Most of the time, it is a retelling of the same story with new actors and updated effects. When this happens, there are no real scares because you already know the story. This happened with the remake of "Psycho" (1998). Because the movie was a frame-by-frame retelling of the original 1960 masterpiece, there were no real scares, and people already knew what was coming before the scenes played out. Some films try a little harder and will change a point or two for the story's sake.

An example of this would be "House on Haunted Hill" (1959) and the remake in 1999. The writers changed the location, character's names, and motivations updated to fit in a modern social context. There was a much more supernatural element and grander effects used. This helped the movie be a little "scarier," but in the end, because of some of the over-the-top effects, it ended up feeling a bit campy. New settings and new faces CAN breathe life into a film and possibly make it scarier, but if you are telling the same story, most times, it is going to fall flat. Rob Zombie did a pretty good job of bringing new scares and making his retelling of "Halloween" (2007). One that stood out because while it did tell the "same story", it added some more realistic, human elements to the film and filled in many blanks, as well as taking a bit of creative license with the way the movie played out.

The biggest problem with horror right now is the fact that society is more desensitized. It was not a movie that made us afraid for a long time to go to the theater in 2012. It was a real-life massacre that played out on the news and social media. There was a time, to get the news people had read the newspaper, that only came out once a day, so many times you had to wait a whole day to see what happened the day before or they watched the television news. These news programs only aired at certain times of the day unless something was happening, and current programming was interrupted. Today, you get news whenever and however you want at the touch of a few buttons. Stories are not as censored as they were before because the news didn't show certain things. Again, with the advent of social media and cell phone cameras, there is a saturation of images online. People are getting to a horrific crash scene before the police, pulling out phones and taking video or pictures of the carnage to post online for everyone to see. Seeing these kinds of images and videos because they are real takes away from the fear and uncomfortable feelings that people used to get watching horror movies.

Horror is ever adapting and changing with the times. Themes come and go because there are new things that scare people. In the advent of current world events, like the Coronavirus, it would not be shocking to see the genre play on those fears in the next few years. Also, having more films with smaller casts in one or two locations that play on people's concerns about being in quarantine or having "reactions" to vaccines. There may also be more dystopian films about the end of civilization, almost a resurgence of what was shown in the 1950s and 1960s when movies like "The Last Man on Earth" (1964) were popular and prayed on people's fears of global destruction at the hands of a virus or nuclear disaster. It will be interesting to see where the genre goes in years to come.

Yours in Horror,

Diva