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My personal benchmark on Horror films is The Ring which was innovative as it was a monster movie but the monster doesn't appear until the end, after the fakeout that things were 'fixed,' and most of the horror is the sense of dread that permeates the film.
And that movie only 'works' because of that brief period where CRT TVs, VHS tapes, and landline phones were the most common tech of the day. I don't think you could remake it effectively now!
And as I understand it the recent crop of horror films avoid this issue by making the horror come from psychological conditions that may or may not have a literal personification onscreen, sort of a 'the monster is inside you the whole time' concept, or more abstract "racism/sexism/right wing politics/relationship drama" as the looming allegorical danger.
I think what I mean wrt horror films is that they inherently play with the same tropes over and over again. Body Horror, Jumpscares, indestructible/implacable entity that wants YOU, specifically, dead, straight up gore (hello, Terrifier 3), psychological uncertainty (am I crazy or not?), various metaphors for sexual assault, and the occasional thick layer of existentialism.
I haven't heard of one that really breaks the mold of audience expectations in a while. Cabin in the Woods was innovative for satirizing how formulaic they tended to be.
I watched Weapons last year, and it was a satisfyingly entertaining movie, and the ending was great. But after the initial mystery of "Where the fuck did those kids go" resolves, I felt pretty disconnected. The film wisely switches over to 'action' mode whenever the pace starts to lull. And the concept of being 'locked in' and conscious whilst your body is compelled to commit violence against people you care about is indeed horrifying.
I just feel no need to watch the film again!
Perhaps the most 'innovative' recent horror movie I saw was 2014's The Guest. And it was innovative in the sense that the 'horror' element was hiding in plain sight, then escalates to the point where its basically a straight-up slasher movie... but also with competent action. Oh, also Bone Tomahawk (same year) for hiding behind a Western facade for 90 minutes and whipping out the horror only after you've gotten comfortable that the movie plays by the standard Western rules. I feel a need to watch the film again... but not sure if I can stomach it.
I guess I just like Horror movies that masquerade as something else so you don't KNOW what they're trying to do until it is too late. Straight horror movies generally have me anticipating most of the scary bits well before they happen. Also it always annoys me when the core danger in the film could be handily solved with a gun.
But I do have to retreat from my argument about horror not doing much innovative for decades. I've also heard good things about Nosferatu and Midsommar.
I don't know if I'd call them good, per se, but two horror movies that I've recently seen that very earnestly tried to do something new were "Glorious" and "Anything for Jackson".
In the former, a man gets trapped in a highw rest stop with an Eldritch monstrosity, and if he doesn't satisfy the monster's physical needs through a glory hole, the world will end. The monster is voiced by JK Simmons, who is having the time of his life.
In the latter, a pair of grieving grandparents draw on the power of Satan to perform a "reverse exorcism" on a pregnant woman to try and bring back their dead grandson.
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I totally did not get this from weapons. I kind of assumed their personality got wiped once she took them over, but maybe that's just cope to protect my psyche, because that is fucking horrific.
You're clearly a big movie person, you need to watch both ASAP
I think this was semi-confirmed when the ending said that some of the kids managed to learn to talk again. Oh, and they had a clip of a nature documentary about the Cordyceps parasite.
Honestly could go either way. If there was a full personality wipe then some of the deaths are a tad less tragic since it wasn't actually 'killing' the person... they were dead as soon as their brain got wiped.
I guess it just logically makes sense to me that if Gladys was clearly able to hijack the lower brain functions, the motor cortex and some of the basic primal instincts (i.e., switch off pain reception... or at least the ability to react to pain) the higher brain functions/awareness were probably still 'intact' but just couldn't override the commands given to the lower function.
(obviously, killing something that is sockpuppeting body of a loved one is still pretty freaking horrifying/traumatic even if they're not sentient)
I really have to be in the right mood for horror, is the thing.
Honestly neither Nosferatu or Midsommar were horror in that they were scary. Weapons had my heart rate much higher than either of those. Nosferatu is just straight vibes the whole way through. Midsommar too is more funny then scary, and then with a lot of "disturbing" / intense emotions tossed in.
I loved Hereditary for being a phenomenal horror movie (Toni Collette banging her head on the trap door gives me goosebumps every time I think about it). My girlfriend and we're so excited when Midsommar came out. Saw it when it released and we HATED it. We wanted Swedish Hereditary, and got... that. Talked shit all the way home. Kept talking about it for a week after. Realized that maybe, after a week straight of discussion, it probably wasn't a bad movie. Watched it again once it hit streaming, loved it. Seen it another time since then too.
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It could be argued that One Missed Call is an attempt at making The Ring for the cellphone generation. Of course, it's not nearly as good, but it's not the worst either.
This can be done in a fresh way, though; The Babadook is very on the nose, but the fact that it's something we can definitely sympathize with makes it work more than the monster was the personification of something we all reflexively condemn. The Boogeyman attempts it with another sympathetic metaphor but with much less skill.
It indeed taps into the root of horror: powerlessness.
Hah, while I don't disagree I never really found that to be the core of horror for me.
For me its always 'uncertainty' and fear of the unknown/poorly understood.' I think that's why The Ring did resonate for me. Its all this shit happening to you for reasons you simply do not understand and its clearly building to something but having little time to figure it out, and the further along you get the 'less' sense everything makes.
And by the end... it turns out you DO have the power to escape your fate... but only by condemning others/playing into the evil's plan.
I also like films that play with the cold, uncaring nature of fate/the universe where you can do everything 'right', make all kinds of necessary preparations, and still lose when random circumstance plays out just so.
Hell, I love Aliens because the characters are armed to the fuckin' teeth, and the horror comes when they realize the actual magnitude of the threat. All the power they have and it might barely be enough to win... or not. Similar with the original Predator.
Now, if you throw in the element where some other person you care about is powerless and you are tasked with trying to help/save them in the face of massive uncertainty, that's what gets me. Like when Ripley arms up with the exosuit to fight the queen and save newt... Get away from her you BITCH, indeed.
The Bourne movies have one of the best sequences to this effect. Bourne frantically trying to save Nikki Parsons from an implacable assassin, sprinting across rooftops while she's trying to evade the guy (and, consequently, Bourne has difficulty tracking her). Hell, even earlier in the movie, when he's trying to help the reporter escape capture.
Being a powerful guy and still being uncertain if it'll be enough to survive, or save the day? THAT starts to scare me.
To me, relative powerlessness still counts.
Also, I don't mean necessarily personal physical weakness as powerlessness; I still see the uncertain and unknown as aspects of powerlessness.
I wouldn't consider Aliens' main genre to be horror because for the most part the marines don't feel helpless, but the parts that do feel more like horror are the ones where they relatively weakened; the first engagement where they have their ammo taken from them and can't see shit for instance. Ripley arming up with the flamethrower duct taped to the pulse rifle, or with the power loader, to confront the Queen and save Newt feels more like a victory lap, a crowning moment of badassery, when the character regains her power. Just like you know right from the start when you hear Hudson's cocky "I am the ultimate badass" speech that he will definitely die, you already know when you see Ripley riding that elevator looking actually badass that she will definitely win.
I feel like movies that really elevate horror to a new level are those that play with that powerlessness in less straightforward way, and as you mention the powerlessness can be being unable or uncertain to be able to protect a loved one. The Exorcist is a great example, the movie is a giant metaphor for parents feeling powerless to help a sick kid. Rosemary's Baby is a uniquely feminine horror movie, in that the powerlessness it targets is towards the loss of social power. A woman's power is in being able to compel people around her to care about and for her. In Rosemary's Baby, a woman that is used to having the status and deference given to her as a middle-class wife in a time and place that valued that role, has that power stripped away from her as she transitions into a motherhood role. Suddenly her worries and well-being are being ignored. No one listens to her. She's no longer the target of everyone's care and attentions, the baby is.
Right, I'm mostly agreeing. But I'm just making the point that even the most powerful person around still fears the unknown.
Even if the unknown turns out to not be all that dangerous, later. I guess "powerlessness against the inevitable mechanisms of fate" is still powerlessness.
Fear of death, well, that's largely about uncertainty about what comes after, so those with immense faith aren't really afraid of it. What makes the SCP files frightening is usually the implications of the redacted stuff that your brain has to fill in details on, somewhat less about the actual abilities of the thing in question.
There's the fear that comes from the near certainty of what is going to happen, and then futilely trying to avoid it.
Huh. Here's an innovative idea for a horror film: what could scare an omnipotent god?
Yep.
Weapons played with this as well, I loved Josh Brolin's character. And kind of gets to my point. He was a man of action, he didn't believe he was powerless, and they played with that to comedic effect while he was tossing the druggie around. But when your kid is missing, there's a feeling of helplessness there.
Well, like I said, I tend to like films that hide the horror until later. It was definitely a rip-roaring 80's adventure movie for almost half of it.
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