Commentary on the Horror Genre

With the release of Trick R' Treat and Paranormal Activity coming out nation-wide (maybe) it made me start thinking about why two great looking films have such a hard time getting distributed when garbage such as the Saw franchise, Quarantine [REC ripoff] and going back just a bit to when The Ring and Feardotcom were released. I think I have come to a conclusion and I think that there are two people to blame.

The first is the mindless drones that go to the movies every weekend and don't really know what real horror is are the ones paying for it. I am sorry but Saw is not horror, its the same movie over and over again. I would say quit wasting 9 bucks every Friday night just so Lionsgate can make a few more millions, but since they do produce many of my favorite low budget straight to DVD flicks, please continue but only on one condition. Stop saying Saw is the scariest movie you have ever seen. Please educate yourself some before you base an opinion of what scary is or isn't.

The second group is the "I wont see a foreign flick but I'll shill out for an Americanized version". The Ring was great when it was Ringu, Quarantine was great as REC and even though it hasn't even been filmed yet and I'm sure it will sell millions at the box office Fish Head was better as Let the Right One In.

On the same note please for the love of God, quit wasting money on remakes that have to pass the MPA boards. The gore is watered down, the acting is not the same and the spark of imagination is gone. We know what happens and it was better the first time. If Hollywood stops seeing revenue they will move on to another way of making money.

Does this mean all remakes are bad? No, I frankly did not care for the Halloween or the Texas Chain Saw Massacre remakes but others discovered the past movies. Does this contradict the second point I made? A little, I will admit but to not bother to see a foreign flick because of subtitles is a shame, hell if you have to use the English dub version its not my cup of tea but it will open your eyese up to what horror should be.

Blood, Guts and Gore are not the only reasons for horror to be edgy. Yes Jason butchers people in bloody ways and yes Leatherface saws off limbs with his trusty chainsaw; but the real beauty is how it is done. American horror has forgotten how to be original and creepy. Psycho still stands out today as one of the greatest horror movies in my mind and the only blood and gore that stands out in my mind is the chocolate syrup going down the drain.

American Horror can be original and still score at the box office, check out Vacancy (which opened at number 4 and grossed 7.6 million) or even Jeepers Creepers (which grossed 34 million in its entire run) these were original ideas and they made money. Hollywood needs to stop green lighting remakes and pump money into originality. I shudder to think of what the next 20 years will bring us in America Cinema. Already green lighted is remake (of a remake) of Romero's Night of the Living Dead, as if remakes hadn't already killed the franchise. The only real remake that excites me now is the renewal of the Nightmare on Elm Street but I'm not holding my breath here either.

Please I welcome comments even hate mail. Reviews are reviews and hell I should know I am a reviewer.