As we edge closer to the end of a banner year for movie theater profits, we're reminded of one genre that didn't help.
As 2012 enters its final two months, profits are up at most theater chains, and the overall dollars flowing into theaters is up again from 2011. So why does a genre like horror seem like a horse that's ready to be shot in the field? In short, we're feeling a little less scared these days: when we're not yawning through Paranormal Activity 4, The Possession, and The Apparition, we're simply not paying attention during A Cabin in the Woods and House at the End of the Street. Even when a somewhat scary film like Sinister rolls into the house, performing well and entertaining in the process, we feel like Hollywood's glory gory days are clearly behind them. In fact, no horror film released in 2012 has cracked the top 20 in that category and it appears that none might.
So what's the reason for this recent lack of success? In short, our desensitized minds need stimulation that no Hollywood entity will consider. Films like Saw and Hostel upped the ante years ago, giving us a completely new subgenre within horror: torture porn. The use of bondage equipment to create scenes of heightened sadism poured over movie screens, and fans gladly accepted this new level of visual erotic stimulation. But without any real story to them, even this dog wouldn't hunt after a short period. The Human Centipede set new lows for the strange, again without truly terrifying us with writing that never approached The Exorcist or The Sixth Sense. Enter the 'Found Footage' flick, courtesy of your friendly neighborhood Paranormal Activity franchise. Films like these try to terrify with their home video feel, as if we're there ready to be possessed or straight-up whacked by whomever is wielding whatever they have. However, if the upcoming PA4 is any indication (as our review suggests), then the genre and horror in general is headed for tough times.
The question is, how does Hollywood bring fans of horror back without producing something that looks like a bondage-themed horror porn flick, complete with X-rated content? The two-part answer is simple: create well-written tales that actually reward audiences with good stories; and do so WITHOUT the porn, bondage, child in distress, or demon element unless such things are absolutely necessary to the story. Think of a film like The Blair Witch Project, a film which scares me even today: creepy and ready to turn any man into a blithering idiot, its premise was simple and (more important) easy to fund. It ranks as one of the most profitable films of all time ($60k budget=$140mil profit) because it was well-written and seemed entirely plausible. Even a film like Sinister, with its well-considered premise and creepy environment, almost got it right, sans a few WTF moments. Rewarding fans by encasing them in tangibility, rather than in fanciful scenes of ball-gagged scantily dressed females losing their heads, adds a layer of horror that makes every bloodbath and even scream that much more effective. Hollywood has sold it soul by greenlighting cheap productions whose only premise is to make a profit, leaving the genre to iron out its own future without a solid foundation to base it on.
With the genre clearly in trouble, Hollywood may look to PA4 to gauge whether audiences will pay for more of the same low-budget money-grabbing bore-fest. Let's hope they don't, for the whole thing needs a colon flush in a dark lab somewhere deep in Chernobyl.
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