Whether you’re a cinephile or a casual filmgoer, it’s obvious horror films aren’t treated fairly by critics or studio executives. Often cited as shallow, uninspired, and gratuitous, critics tear horror films to shreds. In the entire 92-year history of the Academy Awards (as of this writing), only 18 horror films have been nominated. In which only 6 have ever secured the Best Picture nomination. The Exorcist, Jaws, The Silence Of The Lambs, The Sixth Sense, Black Swan, and Get Out. That’s it! At the risk of arguing semantics, it’s debatable whether or not some of those films are even horror.
Of course, award ceremonies aren’t indicative of quality. But it’s insane to think that over the course of nearly 100 years, only 6 films have met the criteria.
Those films are historical for their influence on filmmaking but rarely praised for their macabre subject matter. It’s almost as if the horror elements have little to do with their critical acclaim. Not to mention the most interesting element is their ability to make the audience feel something. Be it suspense, anxiety, or straight-up fear. It could be argued, the stimulation of feelings is what defines cinema as an art form.
As technology evolves so does the way we consume our entertainment. With countless streaming services available on our TVs, computers, and cellphones, seeing a movie can now be easily done at breakfast, the commute to work, or while exercising. While immensely convenient, it leaves the theatrical experience to event films. Which in turn has led some powerful Hollywood figures to believe cinema is dying before our very eyes.
If cinema is in fact dying, legendary filmmaker, Martin Scorsese seems to think Disney has the red right hand.
In an essay for Harper’s magazine, Scorsese blames cinema’s death on audiences choosing to only see tentpole and franchise films. With Star Wars and the Marvel Cinematic Universe taking up every screen in the multiplex, it leaves non-franchise films to drift into the abstract of streaming services. As a lover of both arthouse films and the aforementioned MCU, I see his point. I’m usually first in line at the multiplex for the next MCU but personally can’t remember the last time I bought a ticket to see a film Scorsese would praise. But to fully understand his take, we have to think about just what cinema is in the first place.
In the same essay, Scorsese reminisces about being a young man and seeing Federico Fellini’s influential, 8 1/2. How people like him would see a film like that and discuss it afterward for hours, days, and sometimes weeks. To him, filmmaking was an artform where directors pushed the envelope as to what the format could do. It was about cultured storytelling and the emotions it pulled out of the audience. Seeing a film was a communal experience. It wasn’t just about stimulating the senses but the heart and soul of the viewer. An artform, he feels, superhero movies can’t match. Once again, I get this take. As a kid, the posters in our local theater were just as exciting as seeing a movie themselves. Regardless if it was Cool World or Clear and Present Danger, I wanted to see them all.
But when auteurs insist superhero films are eating up the screens at our multiplexes, they’re understating horror’s contribution to the film industry.
In 2019, the peak of superhero films (and pre-pandemic), the horror genre took in nearly $810,000,000. And that was just the theatrical movies in the United States alone. Of course, I’d never argue half of the horror movies released that year were good. But most of them achieved what they set out to do. Which in many cases was simply to let audiences have fun and make some money for their respective studios in the process.
Producers generally consider horror films a sure thing in terms of profits. John Krasinski made his 2017 film, A Quiet Place with a budget of $17 million, yet brought in over $350 million dollars despite being a genre film from a first-time director with no marquee names attached. It made over 20 times its budget in its theatrical run. It may not have been a dreamy arthouse film like 8 1/2, but there wasn’t a Tony Stark or Captain America in sight! If anything, A Quiet Place has much more in common with the foreign films devoured by the Academy than anything Disney-related.
Even in the streaming wars where it’s easier to stay home to see a movie than going to your local AMC, horror is doing a fantastic job of carrying the weight.
The 12th entry in the Halloween series, Halloween Kills, actually over-performed its predicted $25 million, with a whopping $51 million dollar weekend. More astonishing is the fact the film debuted on Peacock, NBC’s streaming service the same day as its theatrical premiere. When a horror film takes that kind of bank the same weekend it can be seen for free, it’s a living testament to the theater experience.
Seeing a terrible film in a theater can elevate the experience to the point where the movie doesn’t seem so bad. I remember enjoying Speed Racer in IMAX but hating it with a seething passion at home. So maybe in that sense, cinema is dying? Especially as televisions and sound systems are getting closer to theatrical standards. But unlike a Wachowski assault on the retinas, horror can be enjoyed just as well at home. I watched Brian Bertino’s The Strangers in the family room at 2 am and had to double-check the locks and windows before I even thought about going to bed. I still see some horror movies in theaters, but I kind of prefer the intimacy of seeing them at home.
Despite the lack of respect for the genre, horror films have kicked started the careers of the industry’s most respected directors.
Sam Raimi, James Cameron, Ridley Scott, Kathryn Bigelow, Guillermo del Toro, and Peter Jackson all got their starts in horror. Scorsese’s own personal friends, Francis Ford Coppola, Brian De Palma, and Stephen Spielberg all utilized the genre to make their mark. Outside of mainstream success, directors such as Tobe Hooper, Wes Craven, and John Carpenter made films transcending the horror genre and influencing the greater pop culture lexicon. From framing, lighting, sound design, and performance, the impact of those directors are still being felt today. Even outside the genre.
Horror as a genre may be simple in theory, but takes an immense level of skill to pull off. While some of the tentpole movies cost upward of $100 million (Avengers: Endgame at $316 million. Yikes), horror isn’t as privileged. I did an entire 14-article series about the Friday The 13th films and the most common issue each filmmaker had was lack of budget or studio confidence. Meanwhile, each film in the franchise was making money hand over fist. So much, the studio had a sequel in production each year. The directors persevered by making the best movies they could with what they had.
What filmmakers lack in budget, they make up for it with love and experimentation, much like horror fans themselves.
While recommending a film can be tricky, if not complicated, horror fans are far more ambitious and open-minded. Going back to the excitement of seeing movie posters as a kid, that aspect expanded as a teen when I walked into a video store. I remember renting The Nightbreed and Scanners the same evening based on their VHS cover art alone. Back in 2016, Kendon, one of my closest friends and contributors at this publication recommended It Follows by saying “It’s weird and not really like any other horror I’ve seen lately.”. No synopsis, no critique, just a nondescript suggestion, and I was sold. I’m willing to bet most horror fans were probably introduced to the film the same way.
For all intents and purposes, horror movie fans are film fans. If Scorsese’s unfailing love for Fellini is in part of his ability to push the boundaries of film, he’d love what horror has been doing from the start. The main character in Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho was gender-bending in a time where such wasn’t accepted. George Romero’s Night Of The Living Dead handled racism in such a subtle way, the viewer questioned their own prejudices. Even slasher films explored the indecencies of teenage rebellion. Race, sex, religion, or the human condition, horror has always used literary devices instead of merely showing them.
Which for me, circles back around to why cinephiles feel so passionate about preserving filmmaking as an art form.
Speaking of preservation, the horror community is utilizing the internet as an archive for making-of and enjoyment of filmmaking itself. There are literally hundreds of articles and Reddit pages discussing the subtext of Suspiria, how Raimi created a homemade steady-cam for Evil Dead. How Adam Marcus became the youngest filmmaker to land a film deal at Disney for My Boyfriends Back. This is not unlike the talk for hours, days, weeks, film discussion Scorsese bemoans is dead. If anything, that romanticized communal aspect is thriving and resting firmly on the shoulders of the filmgoers auteurs have overlooked.
So at the end of the day, maybe cinema as an experience is in fact changing. But maybe horror had it right all along?
If the success of Marvel films like Black Widow and Shang Chi during a pandemic is any indicator, the superhero genre isn’t going anywhere soon. But that still doesn’t mean films that sit with you and make you want to discuss them with your friends, are long gone. There are hundreds of horror films released every year and most of them have little to no mainstream promotion. Yet the open-mindedness of the horror community spreads the word like wildfire.
It’s not even about record-breaking box office numbers either. Films like 13 Fanboy, Death Drop Gorgeous, and Death Rider, are reaching audiences across the country because the horror community cares. The fans recommend these films to their friends. They write articles about them, share trailers and crowdfunding pages. It’s the very definition of a community just as the films themselves are cinema.
After all, when horror films succeed, cinema succeeds.
I love the MCU just as much as I adore just about every film from Martin Scorsese. But before pointing the finger at Disney, he should take a look at how well horror movies are doing on their own. They may not get the studio push or land the coveted golden trophy but they’re an alternative to what he believes has taken over the format.
I would love for Scorsese or any auteur, to watch Get Out, It Follows, or maybe even Halloween Kills then take a look at the fans discussing them. I think he’ll be reminded of how people left multiplexes discussing Taxi Driver or quoting Goodfellas. More importantly, I think he’d understand how the film industry has been close to death many times throughout history. The invention of Sunday night movies on TV and VHS. DVD rentals, flea market bootlegs, and file-sharing software. Mail-in DVD services, cable wars, and streaming. But just like Guido Anselmi facing confusion or Jason Voorhees going up against a final girl, cinema perseveres and comes back stronger, refined, and more defiant than before.
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