Why does modern horror feel bland? If you enjoy the classics, you can relate.

If someone asks you to name a few horror movies, what are the names that come first to your mind?

Friday the 13th, The exorcist, Final Destination, The Shining, A Nightmare on elm street, The Scream, The Omen and many more. These are some of which you would name without even thinking. These are still the quintessential stuff that a horror geek would agree with.

The horror genre has taken a shift, there is a considerable amount of change in horror movies that we watch today. Now the change is good or not might be a topic of discussion, and relatively depends on personal choice, but there is a good chunk of moviegoers who prefer classics over the modern ones.

Why do horror movies today not feel like the ones mentioned above?

Most movies today focus more on building an atmosphere that is scary, rather than the character that is scary. Fewer jumpscares, colour grading like shades of blue for a chilling ambience, and less focus on character and its nuances ( the way he talks, moves, his unexpectedness and his decision-making ability ) are some of the factors that greatly differ between the two eras.

Let’s take an example. Can you remember the name of the lady villain in the movie, Get Out? Not really right? Unless you have “really” paid attention to every detail in the film. But if I ask you to name the villain in It or A Nightmare on Elm Street, you would really not have to think much. This is because the characters in the latter were so well crafted and were the single source of fear in these movies. These movies, rather than making the atmosphere or surroundings the main villain, relied solely on these characters for the fear quotient. We know very well if the character dies, so does the fear. While this does not happen with films like World War Z (Brad Pitt) or 28 days later. We don’t have any character to fear from, but rather the atmosphere.

Today’s movies also heavily rely on visual effects than practical effects which takes you out of the movie experience and your mind itself clearly identifies it.

Modern movies tend to deliver to a mass audience to cater to all over the world. They try to give a greater cinematic experience, than an individual one. Classic horror movies were made to mostly cater to horror fans. Today, it doesn’t seem like a single person creates a horror movie, or it is an idea of a single mind. Since, there is a lot of money involved, and filmmakers seek to reach out to the most number of people, today’s horror tries to integrate the interest of a larger chunk of the masses. Most horror movies today are either the remakes of the old classics like It, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Evil Dead and Friday the 13th and none of these movies were as successful as the original ones. One might argue that this is because of the change in filmmaking style or the intent of producers to bag on the nostalgic factor. While this might be true, it is also sufficient to say that people, while comparing these to the original ones, really detest the blend of new styles of filmmaking and old characters.

Nowadays it’s just an idea that sells. Gone are the days when Freddy Cruger and Jason Voorhees used to be the ones who scared us to the core. Now, as the times are changing, people are changing. The attention span of people is less. People rely on reviews and unique ideas. They don’t want to go for something that they’ve seen before. Sure, nostalgia is a factor to bring them into the theatres, but after the first few screenings, they generally fall flat, barring a few exceptions like the latest one, Evil Dead Rise.

Though I am personally a fan of modern horrors like zombies and dystopian futures. But, an entity horror, which is someone or something lurking behind the trees, if not made well enough, breaks apart as people already know the endgame. Someone will get possessed, they call ghost hunters and priests. There is a tragic backstory of the deceased. Now, it is up to the protagonist to fulfil his last wish.

Horror is meant to make you uncomfortable. It is something that you think about even after the movie has ended. Modern horror movies, with the exceptions of bird box, get out and a few others just lack these concepts.

Music was something which played an important role in horror. Most of the films today have gone ‘silent’. Earlier horror movies heavily relied on the background music which gave a personality to the characters. The two notes from Jaws are still used to personify sharks or something terrifying under the ocean. Or, take the genius,?Bernard Herrmann’s high-pitched psycho theme, it is still the epitome of jumpscares. The lack of solid characters and less focus on them today, is a reason we don’t have any memorable character-driven music.

But it gets challenging to scare people today. Classic horror sometimes gets cheesy for some people. Still, if today’s producers try, they can combine all these elements and make a truly terrifying movie-going experience that relies more on scaring people than going after clichés. This change is defining for sure, but it can be also viewed as an evolution. Nothing is permanent. Change is inevitable. So is true for horror.