Is the horror genre dead/dying?

[Edo]

There is a common belief that 90% of horror these days sucks. Almost any horror fan I know would agree that horror is dead. What do you believe? Personally, I am sick and tired of hearing people say that horror is dead. Discuss.

[BurnetRhoades]

90% has always sucked. We only choose to remember fondly a lot of films that really always sucked but we still like and a small percentage that are actually good, well-crafted films. Horror has always been in the ghetto of Hollywood and the only thing that's actually changed is how the mainstream have come and gone with fads.

[Edo]

90% has always sucked. We only choose to remember fondly a lot of films that really always sucked but we still like and a small percentage that are actually good, well-crafted films. Horror has always been in the ghetto of Hollywood and the only thing that's actually changed is how the mainstream have come and gone with fads.

Yeah, I always tell people that 90% of mainstream horror from any decade sucks. Almost all of the classics that I love, personally, are independent/foreign/obscure in some way. Not to mention there's still lots of amazing independent/foreign films coming out each year.

[WickedNik]

Ten or twenty years from now we'll think that horror sucks and how the movies from the early 2000's were good. It's one of those things that people do. Since it's the past we think that means it's more original than what's being made now, when in reality there were so many rip offs and shitty movies even in the past. There are good movies being made right now, but people choose to look at all the remakes and mainstream horror instead of the movies that aren't being pushed out by Hollywood. Horror is still alive you just need to be open minded about it.

[FrighT MasteR]

Horror has always sucked, but we get a good one now and then. We still love the genre regardless. The problem is it's so easy to make a movie now that there's just a whole lot more shit than there used to be.

[IrishG3nt]

Horror has always been in the ghetto of Hollywood

well said right here!

Fuck no horror is noot dead! It has always been "meh" mainstream of course except for the 80's and 70's and even before that....people just have such a wide range of taste when it comes to horror that it is real hard to please everyone...I won't even bring up critics:finger3:

To me I may watch 20 bad horrors and find one good one...but the way I see it...it is worth it..I love horror and realize there are plenty shit ones but I still enjoy them to a degree..

some may see horror as dead...I see it al ive and kickin...especially the underground flicks...made by true horror fans! As a director you should have to take a 100 question test all about horror films from the past if you get a 90% then you're allowed to make a horror flick

oh yea..the last question would be more of a staement....DO NOT attempt a REMAKE!

[Darkgod]

One of, if not the most popular show on television is a horror show.. Horror is far from dead, you just have to look harder... Lovely Molly, the pack, Absentia, excision, and of
Course sinister where all really good horror movies this year

[Scorpion_#701]

and of
Course sinister where all really good horror movies this year

'Sinister' is very mediocre.

My review is up on my blog for those interested.

[Macready]

As for horror films of 2012 this year I really enjoyed The Cabin In the Woods, Sinister, The Pact, VHS, REC 3, The Bay, The Collection. Movies that were good: Intruders, Silent House, The Tall Man, and Citadel.

That's a pretty large list if you ask me.

[tacticalbacon]

That's a pretty large list if you ask me.

Yep, I agree, pretty solid year for horror.

[I_Drink_Your_Blood]

Whilst I don't feel horror is necessarily dead, I definitely think that it needs to re-discover some originality. Another main problem is that nowadays it's pretty easy for anybody to make a film, what with technological advancements and the shift from film to digital, practical effects to CGI, and the widespread availability of cheap equipment and software editing packages. All you need is a bit of start up cash and a digital camera, hell, even a phone would do. This has unfortunately led to a drop in the overall quality; mainly due to the sheer volume of films being made today, a lot of them on the cheap and/or for a quick profit.

These facts flow well into what Darkgod was saying above, that you now having to wade through an avalanche of shit to find the gems, which are there, but much harder to find.

It'll be interesting to see, say in 30 years, the horror films from the 2010s that have lived on as classics of the genre.

[Splat]

Horror is far from dead. It is more that it goes in cycles is all. As mentioned before there will always be shitty movies coming out of this genre, just like any other really. It is just that as Horror fans we probably notice a lot more than most normal people

If horror was dead we wouldn't be getting shows such as TRUE BLOOD, THE WALKING DEAD and any others out there that are now showing on our TVs.

Another is that we are actually getting horror up on the big screen.

Be the quality isn't always there horror is a long way from death

[Primetimeloser]

As long as teenagers and twenty something exist there is always a market for horror.

[TonyVato]

Yep, I agree, pretty solid year for horror.

[BurnetRhoades]

This has unfortunately led to a drop in the overall quality; mainly due to the sheer volume of films being made today, a lot of them on the cheap and/or for a quick profit.

Sorry, but this simply is not true. By that I mean, you're describing a constant state, THE constant state that has allowed horror to proliferate and nearly a generation of auteur filmmakers to come up under the banner of Roger Corman and New World. On the cheap with the promise of a quick profit is the horror film's single greatest sales pitch and pretty much always has been. In fact one could argue that it's when you stray from this model you ask for trouble and only the most singular of filmmaker can pull it off when they have more than a shoestring budget and a gun to their head to get it done.

Overall quality wasn't ever terribly high. Well crafted horror comes down to a small percentage of filmmakers versus the whole, always. HGL made bullshit, on film, with practical effects. Lots of the Italians too. They're historically significant but there is a Grand Canyon of difference between them and even an average Hammer production or early Carpenter.

Cheap and sleazy exploitation whether it's on film or video is going to appeal to a certain audience but let's not kid ourselves. For every Carrie, The Shining, The Exorcist, Halloween and The Thing there are hundreds if not thousands of Ed Wood and HGL quality films that satisfy a niche but can't park in the same lot with capably crafted films.

[jlwallen@monkeypantz.net]

I sure hope it's not. It's 90% of what I write. From an author's perspective, I can say that horror is far from the best selling genre (those would be romance and erotica). But although horror isn't the best selling genre, I have always found the fans to be the most loyal and fanatic.

As for interest waning? I'm fairly certain it's cyclical and driven by (surprise, surprise)... the media. Thanks to shows like The Walking Dead and American Horror Story, horror is starting to regain a bit of popularity. I think if there was a recent dip, it was partly due to the general public's distaste for the 'torture porn' sub-genre that Hollywood seemed to latch on to.

But I believe it is on the rise again and will continue a slow, steady climb.

[IrishG3nt]

Horror makes every other genre its BITCH


Jus saying

[Scorpion_#701]

As for interest waning? I'm fairly certain it's cyclical and driven by (surprise, surprise)... the media. Thanks to shows like The Walking Dead and American Horror Story, horror is starting to regain a bit of popularity. I think if there was a recent dip, it was partly due to the general public's distaste for the 'torture porn' sub-genre that Hollywood seemed to latch on to.

"Torture porn" isn't a sub-genre. Coined by lazy journalists who have no understanding of the genre it’s a media label used for the resurgence of splatter horror in the mid-00s. All the conventions seen in these new movies could be seen around 40 years prior to the release of 2004's 'Saw' in the works of Herschell Gordon Lewis. "Torture porn" is just a term made up by cynical mainstream critics who have little respect for the horror genre to begin with who dismiss horror cinema as serious film and know little of its history.

[choptop2]

Sorry, but this simply is not true. By that I mean, you're describing a constant state, THE constant state that has allowed horror to proliferate and nearly a generation of auteur filmmakers to come up under the banner of Roger Corman and New World. On the cheap with the promise of a quick profit is the horror film's single greatest sales pitch and pretty much always has been. In fact one could argue that it's when you stray from this model you ask for trouble and only the most singular of filmmaker can pull it off when they have more than a shoestring budget and a gun to their head to get it done.

Overall quality wasn't ever terribly high. Well crafted horror comes down to a small percentage of filmmakers versus the whole, always. HGL made bullshit, on film, with practical effects. Lots of the Italians too. They're historically significant but there is a Grand Canyon of difference between them and even an average Hammer production or early Carpenter.

Cheap and sleazy exploitation whether it's on film or video is going to appeal to a certain audience but let's not kid ourselves. For every Carrie, The Shining, The Exorcist, Halloween and The Thing there are hundreds if not thousands of Ed Wood and HGL quality films that satisfy a niche but can't park in the same lot with capably crafted films.

Very well said, Rhodes. This sums it up nicely.

[Halcon Loco]

Naw, the horror genre is still breathing and we still get a fair amount of good horror films. Especially when it comes to independent and foreign films. True that we get a shit load of crappy and unnecessary horror films but as long as we get some good ones. I tend to watch more foreign and independent movies more as of recent.