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I think we're in the Second Horror Film Renaissance.
Periodically, a new movie comes out and it gets endlessly and hyperbolically glazed on Reddit, in large part due to some combination of annoying group think and botting. I think Obsession, which just came out, is one of the rare films that earns all that stuff. I think it might be one of my favorite horror films of all time. Great premise, great execution, goes in unexpected directions, probably the first time I've seen a movie where the presence of a character makes my chest feel tight throughout the whole movie. It has flaws, but it's so good that I didn't even notice them until after it was over.
Hokum came out last week. It retreads ground horror fans have seen a million times, but it has some of the best tension-building I've ever seen. If it weren't for the really annoying overabundant jump scares, it could have been great, but it's still really good, with a 40 minute stretch of near perfection in the middle.
Next week we get Passengers, which looks alright, and the week after, we get Backrooms, which is A24 and looks really damn cool.
If "Second Horror Film Renaissance" doesn't take off as a title, then either "Young Horror Renaissance" or "YouTuber Horror Renaissance" should. The director of Obsession is only 26, and the director of Backrooms is 20! Both were Youtubers, as are the Philippou brothers (Talk to Me and Bring Her Back), and Zach Creggor (Weapons and Barbarian) used to be a sketch comedy guy, which is pretty much the precursor to YouTube.
The other night, my girlfriend was watching the trailer for Hokum on her phone and I expressed my frustration that trailers for every new film in a particular genre are so similar. I saw the trailer for Obsession the other day and it was functionally identical to that of Hokum (and functionally identical to every other trailer for a horror film I've seen in the last five years): quiet, atmospheric opening; critic blurbs introduced using the Hans Zimmer BWAAAH bass drop effect; steadily increasing cut frequency coupled with steadily escalating volume and intensity of sound (typically introducing more and more high-frequency sounds in the form of women screaming and/or Psycho strings); after the climax, a period of "falling action" and relative calm and quiet. It's as if they have a template in Premiere called "horror_trailer.prproj" and just slot clips from the relevant movie into it. Horror movies are where the trend is most visible, but it's also true of thrillers, action movies, comedies and so on. I no longer look at the trailer for a horror film and think "that looks good" or "that looks bad": I just think "I am watching the trailer for a horror film". The homogeneity of the form has collapsed the distinction: the trailer for a good horror film looks practically identical to the trailer for a bad one.
It wasn't the trailer for Hokum that piqued my interest, but a headline calling it the first good Silent Hill movie – do you think that comparison is justified? It's also directed by an Irish director – I was intrigued by the trailer for his previous film Oddity but never got around to watching it.
I'm 100% with you on horror trailers. The ads before Obsession and Hokum were almost all horror and I was having the same realization, plus they tend to give away way too much of the plots. If I want to see a movie due to the director, premise, or reviews, I try to avoid the trailers entirely.
I saw people bring up the Silent Hill comparisons to Hokum too, and it definitely feels like there's video game DNA in the film, though just as much Resident Evil 1 as Silent Hill. Without spoiling anything, most of the movie takes place in a single building and there's a lot of dealing with locked doors and the structure lay out (even with a map), plus there are some weird puzzle solutions that feel like video game logic.
I like Oddity too but Hokum is better. Similar odd directing styles, but much more budget in the latter to play around with. The Irish setting of Hokum (and Oddity) also gives it a nicely different atmosphere than the typical American haunted house bullshit (like the endless Conjuring knock offs).
Ireland has been pumping out a lot of interesting, low budget horror for years now. If you haven't seen A Dark Song, I'd highly recommend it.
I've seen it and liked it a lot! A very unexpected surprise, loved the premise procedural execution of it, and the basement sequence is amazing.
I'll throw an Irish recommendation back at you - Double Blind (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt14729020/). Phenomenal cinematography for such a low-budget and self-contained film.
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