In the past horror movies were truly nightmare-inducing cringe fests that kept viewers up at night. Movies such as the original Exorcist released back in 1973, The Omen, and even the horror-thriller Psycho are considered horror classics for a reason. Even films released in other countries such as Shutter and The Ring from Japan were met with high praise and personally, these are films that left a long-lasting impression on me for months on end even after watching them. I was terrified of turning on the television or picking up a camera. It was that intense.

The films in the past 10 years or so in the genre of horror however have been quite underwhelming. Admittedly there are still some great ones that have come out such as those from Jordan Peele for example, specifically his hit films Get Out and Us. The general tone for most horror films though has been uninventive, lacking creativity, filled with plot holes, lazy, and above all just lacking the very much-needed horror factor.

What exactly happened though? Why are horror films nowadays, no longer that scary? In Versus fashion, I have listed down three tensions in this article as to what I believe is happening in horror movies nowadays.

Cool vs Scary

Most horror films nowadays are riding along the tension of creating something that leans more towards being cool rather than being scary. Take the recent vampire film, Abigail, as a good example. This is a film that rides on being aesthetically pleasing and awesome to look at in terms of its tone and mood. It’s a film that barely scratches the surface of being scary. Admittedly this is a film that honestly doesn’t try to be scary at all to begin with. It aims to show off a little vampire child, have amazing fight sequences and cool beheadings, and whatnot. It’s not trying to be scary and for this film, it kinda works. 

When you take another film however such as Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey for example, a film that on paper should have been a dark comedy horror flick that could’ve worked but utterly failed to give anything worthwhile for audiences. This is a movie that rode on the cool train and just crashed hard. It’s a film filled with jump scares and gore that had no point to it at all. It was just trying to be cool. 

We see the attempt to be cool so many times even with a film such as The Malignant and Five Nights at Freddy’s. These are two films on the opposite spectrum. For Malignant, the story helps a lot in putting sense to the cool tone that they were aiming for while still not reaching its full potential as an all-out horrifying experience. Five Nights at Freddy’s took a popular horror game and just massacred it as it attempted to deliver what was supposed to be a “fun” and “awesome” ride for viewers but ended up not doing so at all.

Unique vs What Works

One of the trends lately has also been seen in studios capitalizing on big franchises. Dishing out sequels, reboots, and prequels is honestly the fastest way to gain more revenue. But does it always work? Honestly, it depends but the majority of the films that come from this line of thinking honestly fail. It’s a hit or miss. Take the last Insidious film and The Exorcist: Believer as perfect examples. Insidious has been a long-standing horror film franchise but one that has seen a huge decline as of late, especially with the last film that was released in 2023. The same goes for The Exorcist: Believer. They rode on nostalgia and the name of the film rather than focusing on creating an interesting story out of it to give justice to the fans and the original.

What was also interesting about these two films that I mentioned was the lack of marketing and hype that was placed into them. It was as if producers sat down and cut the budget since the titles in themselves should’ve been enough to bring in the crowds. This was not the case.

Creators of horror films in turn have leaned towards creating films that in their minds should just simply work based on either being part of a franchise or being a horror film that is based on a certain formula. Horror films honestly have been formulaic in the past years or so. That’s why jump scares are there. The typical mirror scene in the bathroom cupboard has overused that you somehow always know that something “scary” is just bound to happen. Horror movies honestly lack the unique quality to them as they have somehow become just plain and trope-ish.

This of course may not be the case for all. Some films have pushed the bound and have created movie magic over the past 10 years as well. Again I revert to Get Out by Jordan Peele as an example and even Midsommer, which has become a cult classic. A24 has also been leading in the creation of amazing horror magic that combines great story-telling with amazing horror elements such as their more recent offering, Talk to Me which was released back in 2022.

Story vs Visuals

Lastly, horror films are faced with the tension of prioritizing either one between the story and the visual or cinematographic tone and experience of horror films. There has to be a balance between the two but most films nowadays only deliver one or the other. Megan was an exciting visual experience with pretty decent makeup and cool horrifying choreography from the child robot but it was admittedly a simple story.

The same goes for Evil Dead Rise where it felt that the visuals and gore took center stage in comparison to the story which was unoriginal and boring at best. It feels like a coin toss most of the time nowadays. A crime almost to expect a horror movie to excel in both. Again some examples do exhibit both but it’s something I honestly want to see more of.

These are just some of the reasons why horror films have experienced such a decline in the horror elements that truly make them worthwhile to see. The reason why people want to watch horror films to begin with is the thrill that they offer. To be honest, creators of such films don’t need to just choose either side in any of these points that I have made. It’s all about striking the right balance and delivering worthwhile stories that simultaneously are just well executed in terms of the premise of being scary and entertaining. 

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