An Assessment Of Renewed Interest In Horror Movies (Assessing renewed interest in horror movies)

Member Name: rleigh

Product:	Assessing renewed interest in horror movies
Date:	30/10/07 (88 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Digital enhancements have maintained the fear factor

Disadvantages: The genre can at times become extremely stagnant

I feel that the horror genre is one of the only few to have sustained interest over the years. Sure there will be times where the genre is less popular than others; however a large interest is always apparent. Horror has managed to keep its interest through frequently changing with the times, and constantly progressing and expanding as a genre.

If you look at the genre in the early seventies for instance it can be seen that films such as William Friedkin's 'The Exorcist' were greatly popular in the genre. Released in 1973; here there was no killer, but instead a manifestation of evil itself in the form of devil possession. Countless others took note of this and over the next few years paved the way for a large array of copycat films drawing on the same idea of evil itself forming the basis for the horror aspect of the movie. Of course; this form of horror got stale and change had to be made in order to reinvent the flailing genre and to reinsert interest.

It was well timed then that in 1978 John Carpenter should emerge with the slasher hit 'Halloween' featuring the ever chilling murderous 'Michael Myers' as its killer. The slasher genre gained in popularity and saw the birth of several other horror characters still popular to this day such as 'Jason Voorhees' of 'Friday the 13th' fame, and 'Freddy Kreuger' of the great 1984 film 'A Nightmare On Elm Street'. Once again the genre did of course with time become rather stale and require reinventing, however it was in 1996 that Wes Craven once again brought popularity to the slasher genre of horror with 'Scream'. Popular for directing 'A Nightmare On Elm Street'; Wes Craven was no stranger to the slasher genre and showed that old news can once again become 'the new'. The reinvention of the slasher genre in the mid 90's just goes to show how the genre goes in cycles and this goes some way to describing the factor of renewed interest in horror movies. Interest in horror movies will only become renewed once a sub-genre that has been done to death is replaced and a different form of film is popularised.

We see times when slasher films will possess great popularity, and other times when the horror films being released are more psychological. It is becoming increasingly more difficult to scare however as with time people are becoming more and more desensitised. There is therefore now a greater reliance on digital enhancement of films in order to shock and to scare us. Numerous films are also being given remakes in order to try to renew interest in certain films themselves. This can be seen with Japanese films such as 'Ringu' and its American adaptation of 'The Ring' and also with 'Ju-On' and its Hollywood remake 'The Grudge'. It is not only Japanese films that are being remade however as this year has also seen Rob Zombie remake the slasher classic 'Halloween' nearly thirty years on from its first release, and in recent years other great horror films such as 'Dawn Of The Dead' and 'The Texas Chainsaw Massacre' have also been remade and enjoyed great success. It can therefore be seen that one way in which interest in horror movies is renewed is through the process of the remake.

Renewed interest in horror movies in recent years can definitely be viewed in terms of the way in which certain movies have been re-made, and the factor of digital enhancements. There is always a market for horror remakes as many people wish to view the new versions in order to compare and contrast to the original products. Remakes will often be slammed by the critics for 'not living up to the original', however it can still be seen that they renew interest as they get people viewing horror again and reignite interest in the genre. Digital enhancements allow for interest in the horror genre to sustain as horror films therefore keep their scare factor and do not look dated when compared to other genres of cinema.

People love to be scared and this is evidenced in large queues for roller-coasters at theme parks, the number of people that go bungee jumping each year, and of course in the masses that flock to see the latest horror movies. When we're scared our hearts beat faster and we can feel the adrenaline pumping throughout us, and we just love that about horror movies and therefore there will always be an interest in horror movies. I have for some time now been a massive follower of horror movies and will no doubt continue to enjoy them for years to come. Horror is my favourite genre of movie as I'm sure is the case for many, and at the moment the genre seems better than ever as there are plenty of fresh ideas out there and the genre is entirely entertaining. It seems that every other week there is another great horror film released and the genre is kept ever interesting.

With a genre that is always progressing and expanding then; in recent times with the emergence of fresh ideas a plenty it can definitely be seen that interest has been renewed. Although an interest was never not apparent, the strength of the genre in recent years has meant a marked increase in both audience and interest.

Summary: The genre has been extremely strong in recent years and interest in the genre has thus been enhanced