The Horror

So, it all began again when James gave me a copy of Shaun of the Dead for Christmas. I began thinking too much about horror films again. More specifically, I began wondering why there aren't more great horror films being made at the moment.

Now, I know that, given the current, largely mediocre, state of mainstream filmmaking at the moment, it is ridiculous to wonder why there aren't more great films of any given genre being made. But that's not the point. Great horror films are a product of a larger anxiety in the mainstream psyche, a reaction to the national zeitgeist (with a particular emphasis on the "geist" part).

Consider the period from 1968 (Night of the Living Dead) to, say 1978 (Halloween). For my money, the true golden age of the horror film. The old motion picture codes were shattered, the first generation of film scholar auteurs rose to prominence, and the national psyche was rattled at best- Vietnam, assassinations, Nixon, Manson, Kent St., Altamont, fuel shortages and so forth. And the result? The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Sisters, It's Alive, The Exorcist, Don't Look Now (granted, it's British, so it's a slight exception, but it's awesome so I'm mentioning it), Dawn of the Dead, Last House on the Left, The Hills Have Eyes, Shivers, Rosemary's Baby, it's an amazing ten years for horror films.

Now, when then the collective national traumas of terrorism, Iraq, the aftermath of Katrina- the Bush administration, in short, is at such a fever pitch, shouldn't we also get a fertile period for horror film? No, instead we get the torture porn of the Saw and Hostel franchises, and remakes of most of the horror films that I love. (In fairness, I did like the first Saw film, and never saw any of the sequels, but Hostel was terrible. And not in the way horror films should be terrible, i.e. inspiring terror.)

What's frustrating about it is this. I've been thinking about why I like horror movies (if pressed, horror films would probably be my second favorite genre of films, provided we're not using genre in the way that video stores do, where genres include "Classics" and "Foreign". Comedies would probably be my favorite "genre", but we all can probably agree that the whole concept of genre can get problematic very quickly, so we should all back away slowly, perhaps while whistling.) and I decided that part of my attraction to horror films is that if the filmmakers are earnest enough, it is hard to make one that isn't enjoyable. Even a lot of horror films that might reasonably be considered bad as films qua films, are still enjoyable and effective. It's when horror films are made by filmmakers without pure motives that trouble arises. At least, that's the idea I'm at at the moment. I'm not convinced about it, but it seems fine enough for a working hypothesis.

Anyway, what this all amounts to is that the only two American horror films I've seen at a cineplex in the last two years (at least that I can remember) are Grindhouse and Snakes on a Plane. And while the former is legitimately good, and the latter is so much fun that it doesn't really matter if it's "good" by any conventional standard, both films are too self-aware of themselves to be disturbing. They were very effective exercises, but not effectively scary. )

I'm trying to think of other American horror movies I've seen in the last five years or so. The Ring only kind of counts, since it's a remake of a Japanese film (although Last House on the Left is kind of a remake of Ingmar Bergman's The Virgin Spring- I'm so glad I got a film minor so I know this shit) but it was much more confusing than scary. There have been a bunch of remakes I've ignored. Is there something I'm forgetting? The only other horror movie from this decade that I've seen and kind of liked was Silent Hill, which was adapted from a video game, and wasn't very good at all, but at least it was interesting to look at while I was ignoring the stupid story. I mean, The Blair Witch Project can't really be the last really good mainstream (in box office, if not in production) American horror movie I've seen, can it?

Just something I was thinking about.