It must have been 2008. I was at a friend’s birthday party where One Missed Call, the horror film just came out and was all ready to be watched on a rented DVD. Ever-avoidant of the horror genre for as long as I can remember, I watched the film through some gaps in my fingers, watching for key plot points and then plunging myself back into darkness to avoid as many jump scares as I could. The film ended and we were all suitably scared shitless.
Next thing, one of the girls phones rang but went to voicemail before she could pick up. Another girl’s phone rang and the same thing happened. I distinctly remember standing over a circle we had made, looking down at a heap of phones, wondering whose would ring next. We screamed and hollered for what seemed like hours but was probably about 15 minutes. Meanwhile my friends’ mum and sister sat howling in the kitchen at how easy it had all been. As they say – the call was coming from inside the house.
Prestige Horror
Here’s the thing. I hate horror films. I have always hated horror films. This thought was further cemented by the full 3D experience of One Missed Call. But don’t get me wrong, I appreciate the classic Hollywood horrors like The Shining and Rosemary’s Baby. l’m also a massive proponent of those terrifying films that are technically never thought of as such. Jaws is one of my favourite films in the world, but it’s never referenced as a horror. Maybe that’s because it’s in its own unique category of classics. I even appreciate, or at least tolerate what is regularly referred to as “prestige horror”, the modern branch of horror which plays down the traditional horror tropes and doubles down on the emotional edge, most notably Get Out, Midsommar, Longlegs, or even Talk to Me.
In the film business, the horror genre can be a difficult one to sell, particularly if the audience can be difficult to find. But with this risk, comes the corresponding potential of getting the biggest upside. As horrors are notorious for being more than able to be made on low budgets. Back in 2007 Paranormal Activity made history with its $15,000 budget, making $190 million plus at the box office. When it comes to marketing campaigns, it is better to emerge organically, and the more steeped in rumour and myth the better. Think The Blair Witch Project which terrified audiences because they believed it was all a real group of students. Audiences are drawn to these unique USPs in a way they aren’t with other genres.
The Great Divide
But horror can alienate audiences more than any other genre too. In the 1990s, a fantastic horror film that has haunted audiences ever since, was instigated by Hannibal Lector himself. But Silence of the Lambs was marketed very clearly as a thriller, the horror element was strangely diminished and the FBI agent in Jodie Foster instead was the true focus. This was to avoid being overlooked at the Oscars which generally does not look kindly on the genre. Look what happened to Demi Moore the other night, her performance is likely to have been scorned by horror snobs in the Academy who (like me) could not stomach her body horror. It is a genre that divides and alienates, people really know what they are getting when it comes to horror and they are usually enthralled or disgusted by it.
And what about the emotional undercurrent of what lies beneath the horror genre? My year watching more horror films made me think more deeply about what it really was I was avoiding. If women go to rom coms to see how the guy gets the girl and if Marvel fans go to every spin off film just so they can see how it ties into the existing universe then we are all creatures seeking the same patterns in different ways. Over the past year I have had to let my walls down and watch more horror films than I have ever done in my whole life, and it has opened up a world that I am fascinated by.
“The Horror” – Marlon Brando, Apocalypse Now
What am I trying to say? I avoided great swathes of the worlds’ film library for most of my life because of story I’d repeatedly told myself. I’ll never be a horror fan but i appreciate the genre more than ever before. I will never have a morbid fascination with it like some people do. I’ve been told that the adrenalin is one of the factors that spurs on horror fans to go back time after time. If I want to get an Adrenalin kick like the one that happens when you go on a rollercoaster well then I’ll just get on a rollercoaster. But I’ll forever appreciate those that bravely face what they are afraid of.
FILM FOR THOUGHT 