What has happened to horror movies?

Would you consider Shaun of the Dead a horror movie?

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I find them slow. There is an inevitability about a slow oncoming horror which people don't try to fight or run from which annoys me.

I have had Thai women explain Thai horror films to me (they were in Thai) and I found them quite comical.



Some of the 50's and 60's UK and US horror films were amongst the best (and in a few cases, the worst).

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That directed at me?

Yes I would. I think Shaun of the Dead has plenty of horror in it to be mentioned in this thread. Of course, if this were a thread about modern comedies, I'd throw in a mention for it as well.

Shaun of the Dead is certainly a horror movie, although the filmmakers described it as "A romantic comedy with zombies."

The horror elements increase towards the end, with the scene in the pub standing as a brilliant example of mixing horror and humor in the same scene.


I don't think horror is in any worse a place than it's been in the last 30 years or so. There are plenty of examples of movies that just go for the easy scare (i.e. "gross-out"), but there are also plenty that use suspense and tension to good effect.

If you think there are no good horror films being made these days, check out the following:

Drag Me to Hell (yeah, I'm a lover)
Dog Soldiers
The Descent
The Orphanage
Pan's Labyrinth (okay, so maybe it's more fantasy than horror, but there are certainly some horror elements in it)
Cloverfield
Wolf Creek
The Dawn of the Dead remake
Let the Right One In
Slither
Feast
The Others
...and those are just off the top of my head.

I also like The Ring and The Grudge, but they're remakes of Asian horror movies, so I didn't put them in the list.

And I have a confession to make. I actually liked the Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake. There are some great scenes, and R. Lee Ermy is scary as ****.

Am I the only one who thought Dog Soldiers were moderately entertaining?

The ring/grudge were as bad as they come though. NEVER make a remake of Asian horror movies. It's just something that can't be copied..

I hope that was sarcasm

For the past 20 years, Frank Harrington has grudgingly driven his family to celebrate Christmas with his mother-in-law. This year, he takes a shortcut. It's the biggest mistake of his life: The nightmare begins. A mysterious woman in white wanders through the forest, leaving death in her wake. A terrifying black car - its driver invisible - carries the victims into the heart of the night. Every road sign points to a destination they never reach. The survivors succumb to panic, to madness; deeply buried secrets burst to the surface, and Christmas turns into a living hell. Written by Anonymous
Imagine driving down a long, desolate road. No turn-offs, no stores, no houses, just a straight road leading no where. you pass the same signs again and again. If you try to go on foot into the woods, you'll just end up on the road back at your car. Your family begins going mad. Getting picked off one-by-one by something. There's no escape. Written by willyt


http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0308152/plotsummary


Sounds like a bloody good horror movie.. For some reason :S <edit> a 6.8 on a horror movie is pretty good for imdb. Thats like a 8.0 drama............. Seriously, horror flicks rarely get good ratings, even if they are very watchable.

I've seen Dead End, and although it has plot holes galore and some of the things the characters do make no sense at all, it's really not bad. Of course Ray Wise is a benefit to any film, and the rest of the cast was quite good. There's some really funny stuff there mixed in with the horror. I'd give it 7/10 starrs.

Dog Soldiers was more than moderately entertaining. I love that movie.

Although the Japanese originals were better, I still liked the American versions of The Ring and The Grudge. I guess I'm just weird.

Not weird at all. I actually prefer the American remake of The Ring to the Japanese Ringu quite a bit. I also think the initial success of the picture is what started this whole remake craze. Unfortunately, The Ring was the only 21st century Japanese remake that I did like.

I saw Dog Soldiers a couple years back. Everyone I knew raved about it so my expectations of the film were set much higher than average. I was very disappointed. Perhaps my high expectations attributed to my disappointment, but I saw the film as a bit of a bore. Though, I did like The Descent very much, which is (I believe) from the same director.

Dog Soldiers is one of my favourite flicks.

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Give Dog Soldiers another shot because I liked it better (probably because of the humor) than The Descent. Maybe I've just shut down because most all of the 2000s horror series I've completely ignored. I've also missed beaucoup Asian horror. But since I grew up with horror as one of my fave genres (and we're talking Z-grade 1950s and '60s horror ), I still keep up, plus my Bro brings many to my attention because I corrupted his sorry six-year-old ass with horror when I was 12.

To be official, I have seen these from the 2000s: Signal, Mother of Tears, Feast, Fido, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, Let the Right One In, Cloverfield, Signs, The Others, Session 9, Dawn of the Dead, Land of the Dead, Diary of the Dead, Shaun of the Dead, Pan's Labyrinth, The Orphanage, From Hell, The Machinist, American Psycho, and a few more which I'll try to add later.

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Not sure if this is relevant or not, but I recently asked a mate of mine if he wanted to go see Drag Me To Hell at the movies, and he refused simply because it was a "horror movie". I thought this was weird because he had quite wilfully accompanied me to a series of horror movie screenings a few months earlier (including films such as The Evil Dead, The Fly and The Texas Chain Saw Massacre). When I mentioned this to him, he explained that there was actually a considerable distinction between the old and new horror films that apparently made the old films easier and more enjoyable to watch (something like that).

Maybe he's on to something, especially with movies like Hostel passing for modern horror...

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I found quite a few similarities between DMtH and the Evil Dead movies, and am glad that Sam Raimi is returning to his roots, as it were.

If your friend liked the Evil Dead movies, urge him to give Drag Me to Hell a shot.

I know, I've shown him all three and he thought they were alright, nothing too special for him but that's the way it goes. After I initially suggested it and he declined, I then asked, "You know it's by the same guy who made Evil Dead and Spider-Man, right?" and he said he knew, but he was still a little skeptical. I've decided not to force him into it, though - it won't kill me to see it alone.

I saw Dog Soldiers for the first time a couple years back. I've seen it at least a couple more times since and my opinion hasn't changed much. But, if I ever see it coming on television, I'll give it another watch.

Most of the horror flicks you've listed above are among what I'd consider to be the best of the decade. I'm curious, which ones did you enjoy the most out of the aforementioned?

There will always be more than a few duds among the horror genre, no matter which decade you look in. But, I don't think there has ever been such an abundance of bad horror movies as there has been in this decade.

The new face of the genre has become much too brutal, and most horror films that come out these days rely almost solely on brutality and grotesqueness to provide terror. The image does work for some flicks, but I think it's become far too overused.

its the same money making tried formula , suspenseful articulate serial killer on the loose or complete spoofs of horror films being made. its difficult to find a decent plot and acting

It's funny, because after seeing Drag Me To Hell, my cousin stated that horror is dead
everyone else i know also said it's stupid, or thinks that

as for me, i'll be renting it the day it comes out(but then i love the Evil Dead films)

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Horror movies aren't even scary anymore! There's no suspense! It's just some weird messed up thing popping out and even though I admit it makes me jump sometimes, it gets predictable after the 40th time doing it within a minute.

Movies like the original Halloween had me sleeping with a knife for a couple of weeks. Now I just feel ripped off.

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I don't know how old you are or how many horror films you've seen, but I would suggest that you've just gotten older and, having seen more of the same, no longer judge horror films by the standards you used to. Though I do agree that the current trend for PG-13 horror has lead to a slew of high profile horror films, almost all of which have been crap.