If it’s not obvious from the title, this is the second half of my article on the horror genre. I’d advise you to read Part 1 – where I go over the history of horror through the modern day – first before reading this, but you do you. In any case, let’s get started!
Critical Failure – The Highbrow Dismissal of Horror
It will come to no surprise to anyone who is a fan of the genre to learn that, throughout its long and varied history, horror has managed to get a bit of a bad rap. Films in this genre had been called ‘trashy,’ ‘sick,’ ‘a blight on society,’ and are regularly accused of some level or moral bankruptcy. Fans of the films are made out as weirdos obsessed with death (or at the very least abnormal), while those that make them are accused of weakening the fabric of society by indulging in the creation of art that glorifies some of the worst aspects of human existence. If all of the above doesn’t give it away, horror films have also traditionally struggled to gain critical acceptance come awards season.
But why is that? Why are the cultural attitudes such that an entire type of media (one as vast and varied as horror, no less) has been relegated to the secret in the back of cinema’s closet that no one talks about? While I don’t espouse to be an expert, I do have a few guesses. The first and likely most prominent reason that horror has the reputation that it does is tradition. For much of cinema history, and even more stringently the further back you go, there has been a lot of ‘moral policing’ in regards to what could be shown on screen. The prudish in our society felt that, in order to preserve their delicate sensibilities and those of the people around them, art that didn’t line up with their narrow world view must be censored. Sure, they could have just chosen to not watch those things that didn’t appeal to them, but that wouldn’t satisfy their desire to exert control over others. Over the years, particularly in the last twenty, rules have loosened on what is allowed in mainstream media (both on the large and small screens) – as a result, audiences have become more accustomed to a wider gamut of art, including horror images and themes. Much like a runaway train, the bar for acceptability continues to rise and its inclusion in more artistic works increases. However, old habits die hard. The preexisting cultural attitudes continue to pervade our society, kept alive by a small, but vocal, minority who still actually believe them. For everyone else it’s just cultural noise – an accepted background feature of the system in which we live.
The second major factor in the dismissal of horror is the continued existence of the long-disproven theory that watching violence results in a higher likelihood of committing violence. Rather than seeing horror for what it is – a form of entertainment that mirrors the violence of the real world in which we live, sometimes thought he lens of the fantastical – they accuse it of inspiring such violence. This argument, which has long been levied at video games as well, has no basis in reality and has been debunked every time a study has investigated it. Proponents of this argument, in order to find simplistic and easily resolvable explanations (i.e. scapegoats) for difficult real world problems, completely invert horror’s relationship with the larger world. Horror is an outlet for creators and viewers alike to confront their fears in a safe and controlled environment. It is a way to help make sense of the chaos and brutality of the world as it already is. Horror is a reflection of that which is already around us. Attempting to solve actual violence by censoring art is akin to wiping at the mirror to remove a lipstick smudge on your face – you’re focusing your energy in the wrong place.
The third factor related to the stigma against horror likely has to do with cost. On average, horror is usually able to operate on a smaller budget that that required by other genres. Without the large set pieces seen in action epics, and the relative abundance of new or unknown actors (particularly when paired with less shoot days per actor for those killed off), lower costs are an inevitable result. At first the argument that horror might be snubbed for such frugality might seem antithetical – Hollywood loves keeping costs down! And that’s true, they do. It is the exact reason that they were willing to push out SO MANY horror films in the 1980’s – the low costs meant a lower bar for return on investment and greater possible gains with success. That said, people are still people. Humans are hard wired to view things with a greater inherent cost as more valuable (not monetarily valuable – inherent valuable). As a result, I believe that horror, though no fault of its own, is devalued as a genre due to the accessibility of its creation. [Note: And yes, I am well aware that not ALL horror films are or can be made cheaply. The idea of cheap horror is one that is associated with the genre as a whole and not reflective of any given entry.]
The confluence of all of these factors, and many others that have gone unmentioned, has resulted in a sidelining of the genre when it comes to critical recognition. Studios and awards shows, when confronted with a horror films so good they genuinely can’t ignore it, still attempt to remove the scarlet letter by rebranding the films as “thrillers.” They think, contrary to Shakespeare, that a rose by any other name will smell sweeter. But don’t be fooled by their trickery – horror is just as capable as any other genre of delivering films that encompass the best of what the medium can achieve.
Horror Masterpieces
There are some films that manage to stand the test of time – that are able to define the not just their genre but the medium and leave a lasting effect on pop culture. Citizen Kane, The Wizard of Oz, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Star Wars, and Back to the Future to name but a handful. Just as apt to be included on any such list are those films which managed to achieve the same while working in the traditionally second class tier of cinema: horror. These are the films that were so well made, so powerful, that they forced the world to acknowledge their greatness in spite of the stigma they were unfairly burdened with. While there are far too many to name, I’d like to take a minute to reflect on just what the genre is capable of achieving by examining the legacies of just a few of these films.
Jaws– The movie that made audiences afraid to go into the water (and, unfortunately led to a great many shark deaths in the ensuing public panic). While many people try and dismiss Jaws’ horror status by claiming it’s an adventure movie or a (here we go again) thriller, make no mistake: Jaws is horror through and through. From the moody opening where a swimmer is violently killed to the discovery to the severed head floating through a hole in a half-sunken boat, Jaws does its best to ratchet up the tension and keep the viewer on the edge of their seat. The iconic and creepy imagery of the young boy’s raft being capsized as he’s eaten and Quint’s bloody scream when being bitten in half are but a few examples of the masterful way in which Spielberg manages to show the brutality of the beast. From the first kill in the movie to the final climatic explosion, Jaws always makes the heart in the viewer’s chest beat faster as they are confronted by the horror of what lies beneath the surface.
Alien– The movie that showed that while in space no one can hear you scream, inside a theater is a different story. While ‘monster from space’ has long been a staple plot in cinema, none have managed to do it better than Ridley Scott’s classic. From the lived-in aesthetic of the world and its components to the realistic and natural dialogue spoken by the crew of the ship, Alien transports the viewer to a future that seems both far away and inevitably close. The slow build of investigating a distress beacon and exploring both the planet’s surface and a downed spacecraft causes the tension to become as thick as mud. The shock of the face hugger’s attack and the visceral realism of the body-horror on display during the chest bursting scene proved too much for some audience members at the time, with some vomiting or fainting. While the creature in the film was fantastical (with a design to last the ages), the fears and basis for them were grounded in reality – parasitical animals do exist and space is a vast and uncaring void into which we (as a species) must inevitably tread. Oft imitated but never replicated, Alien showed that the only thing more terrifying than being alone in the universe might just be that we’re not.
The Silence of the Lambs – The movie that proved that true evil comes not from around us, but from inside us. The rare horror film that actually managed to win an Oscar (again called a thriller to protect images), The Silence of the Lambs is a masterclass of suspense and character development. Jody Foster’s relative innocence as Clarice as she begins working on the case and Buffalo Bill’s sick depravity as he lures women to their deaths would, in any other film, be the highlights. In this film, however, everyone plays second fiddle to the one of the most iconic performances in cinema history: Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal Lector. The intelligence and suave of the man almost manages to put the audience at ease, even given all we’re told about him. It is not until those moments that he chooses to let us see beneath the veneer that we are able to glimpse the horror underneath. His ability to so effortless fool even the viewer belays the very concerns we have about all of our fellow human beings – we can never really know who someone is on the inside, what they could do at any given moment. Lector and Bill are but stand-out examples of the evil that exists not only in our real world, but – possibly unbeknownst to us – in our own lives.
While it would be easy to continue this list ad infinitum, what is most important are not the individual films themselves, but what they tell us about the capabilities of the horror genre. For all of the guff given to it, there are certain themes and messages that horror as a whole is particularly good at exploring. It is these very strengths that I that I want to discuss next.
The Morality and Life Lessons of Horror
One of the ironies of the horror genre is that, despite its reputation of being a godless inciter of violence, it is perhaps the one most fascinated with exploring and espousing traditional moral lessons. If this seems odd to you it is only because, like most people, you have likely never taken the time to look more closely. When the themes and values of most horror films are laid bare, it usually becomes clear that they are in fact staunch supporters of the then-current societal norms regarding morality.
While great many horror films do involve both drug use and frequent sex, in almost all cases the characters involved end up facing a bloody retribution for their actions. While I won’t go so far as to say I agree with such ideas, you can certainly imagine why they might appeal to a more conservative section of society. It is ironic, then, that it is that same segment of the population that typically pickets (or in this day and age, tweets angrily about) the film’s release. While I am certainly aware that, to varying degrees, these moral ‘lessons’ might be less intentional and more circumstantial (sex or no sex, people are bound to be killed in a horror movie), the result is still a clear commentary on the dangers of engaging in those behaviors that society deems unacceptable.
Of course, gospel of moral righteousness aside, there are still many horror films created with the intention of relaying an important life lesson to the audience. A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child, for instance, speaks very clearly about the act of pregnancy and motherhood. We watch as the main character begins to accept the responsibilities of protection and love that come with the territory. [Note: Some has even felt it an allegory on abortion, though it’s unclear on which side of the fence the movie’s stance would fall.] Sleepaway Camp imparts the wisdom that is it unwise to bully or otherwise pick on someone for being different and that we can’t be sure what sort of repercussions there might be – this is in addition to its other theme of just accepting your children for who they are rather than attempting to mold them to who you think they should be. It Follows touches on the importance of safe sex and the dangers of STDs. Happy Death Day is about being a better person to those around you.
While I could spend all day reciting individual examples, suffice to say that most horror movies usually have a deeper message than the critics care to admit. The truth is, all art says something, and while I can’t defend each and every film in the genre as some sort of Kantian tale of morality, the majority of them do typically have more interesting things to say about such ideals than your average Fast and the Furious film (wherein, let’s not forget, a lot of people also die).
Same Song, Different Verse – Telling Stories through the Ages
While many genres contain long-running franchises, none have quite so many as horror. Sequels, prequels, remakes, and reboots span not just years but decades. Halloween, a film from 1979 currently has eleven films in the franchise with another two already announced. Friday the 13th has twelve. Hell, Godzilla has over thirty films spanning over sixty years! While it might be easy to view this preponderance of movies as mere cash grabs (some of them no doubt were), it is also important to realize what this says about these movies and what it allows these movies to say about us.
Any film that is beloved enough to create such a legacy must have surely made an impact on its audience. Not only that, each successive film must have managed to capture at least some part of what made the original work to have continued to spawn one after the next. I know I have railed in past articles about the dark side of sequels and how we need more original ideas in cinema (we do), but I can’t help but feel that horror is a special exception. What scares audiences, both on a visceral level and on a craft-of-filmmaking level, changes throughout the years. A film that was terrifying in its time might, over the course of years, lose some of its ability to continue to inspire that same reaction in newer audiences. Not from a conceptual level, typically, but in the sense that either the effects or pacing might be vastly different from what works today – and therein lies the magic of the sprawling franchises of horror.
Horror cinema has the ability to take monsters and stories that we might all already be familiar with and update them for a new generation. Such films keep what works from the classics and infuses them with new life for modern audiences. These changes can be merely cosmetic or they can go down to the structural level – depending on which route is taken, the film might choose to honor what has come before (Friday the 13th 2009) or rewrite the rules entirely (Jason Goes to Hell). In either case, the filmmaker manages to add their own personal spin on the legacy of these cultural myths. Just as legends of vampires and werewolves were passed down through the generations, so now are tales of living dolls and nightmare stalkers. The long franchises connect us to our past while still letting us blaze our future – they allow to tell stories that span decades and unite entire generations behind a shared experience.
Visceral Reaction – Of Laughs and Screams
While it may initially seem an odd pair, I’ve always felt there was a strong connection between horror and comedy. Both are able to elicit some of the strongest and most visceral reactions possible (screams and laughs, respectively) from either end of the emotional spectrum. Being able to cause an involuntary muscle and auditory response in another person might just be one of the hardest things to do with art. This is partially intrinsic and partially related to the fact that, by entering the theater (or turning on the TV) the viewer is already aware of what they are getting themselves into. They are prepared to experience such emotions and are, to one degree or another, guarded against them – to be able to overcome these obstacles is an achievement worth respecting.
The types of base reactions brought on by the horror and comedy genres connect us more closely to our evolutionary ancestors. While most people today don’t typically find themselves in fight or flight situations on a regular basis (unlike our hunter-gather forbearers), they are still able to experience a version of the adrenaline rush felt when evading a predator. As such feelings are an intrinsic part of the human experience that has been weeded out via our own societal selections (with good cause), the ability to reconnect with them is both necessary and enjoyable. As strange as it may sound, feeling scared (particularly when you know that there is no real danger) can be quite a pleasant experience.
It is no wonder then that those individuals skilled at crafting comedy capable of causing extreme laughter are now, in more recent years, finding themselves drawn toward making films in the horror genre. From Jordan Peele and Get Out to Danny McBride and Halloween 2018, horror has now become a haven for those comedic individuals looking to branch out. In fact, it was just recently announced that Chris Rock is involved in the creation of, and acting in, a new installment of the Saw franchise. While by no means a guarantee, it seems likely that such involvement non-genre stars could lead to a new renaissance in horror filmmaking.
The Final Girl – Female Empowerment in Horror
The final point (if you’ll pardon the pun) I’d like to touch on involves the position of women within the horror genre. While it is true they are sometimes used for their physical appearance (though the same could be said in most other genres as well), I would argue that horror allows women both more opportunities and larger roles than that of the general cinematic marketplace. To confirm my assertion you need look no further than the multitude of horror films which, explicitly or not, empower women.
There will be those, no doubt, that point to the copious female deaths in horror films as evidence against my claim. To them I would only say that the death of characters is intrinsic to horror as a whole and limiting such unpleasant ends to only male characters would itself be the height of sexism – showing individuals of both genders meeting their ends, in various stages of undress, is only fair play. In any case, in more horror films than not, the main character that ends up defeating the evil at play is usually female. In fact, the triumphing of a woman over an overwhelming force (often male) is so common as to be a trope called that of the “final girl” (or, alternately, “scream queen”).
As this final girl is usually not some sort of caricaturized bad-ass from the outset, what we are really witnessing is the ability of the everywoman to step up and take her destiny into her own hands. We are shown that not only are women capable of great things, they may indeed possess intrinsic capabilities beyond that of their male counterparts. [Note: And yes, I am aware that is possible to take issue with the verbiage of “final girl” as opposed to “final woman,” but as that was an external cultural creation and not inherent to the stories themselves they can hardly be held at fault for its flaws.]
Conclusion
While it is not doubt true that horror, like anything else in life, has its flaws, it is my hope that people are able to see how they are outweighed by its successes. As a result of everything that has been discussed above – the cinematic masterpieces of the genre, the morality on display, the genre’s ability to tell long-running and culturally relevant stories over decades, its ability to evoke some of the most primal reactions possible, and the prominent focus on strong female characters – we are finally reaching a point at which horror is starting to be accepted and appreciated as the incredible art form it is. While I am sure we are still quite some time away from obtaining another best picture nomination (at least one that isn’t couched as “thriller”), it does seem that the critical tide might be turning.
This is in no small part thanks to the wonderful artists who have taken a stand to defend and raise up the genre animist its critics – Jordan Peele, for instance, after having achieved so much success with his horror film Get Out only to see it labeled as a comedy (?) come awards season, made sure to tell everyone vocally and up front that his next film, Us, was not a comedy or a thriller – it was horror. By standing up and making it clear that crafting a horror film is not some sort of scarlet letter or something to be ashamed of, these filmmakers are helping pave the way for the genre’s elevation from the second-tier on which it has been perpetually perched.
The horror genre is not only one of the oldest in cinema, it is one of the oldest in all of human history. To deny that fact, or to pretend that the enjoyment of art depicting the darker aspects of existence is somehow shameful, is to spit in the face of the very foundations of artistic expression. Human experience is vast and varied and that fact is reflected in the myriad ways in which we translate that tapestry of emotion to the medium of cinema. Horror is but one, very impactful, facet of that translation – of that which makes us human. Fear is a part of life and anyone who attempts to denounce the expression of it as some unintelligent filth playing to the lowest common denominator inherently misunderstands this fact (or chooses to ignore it).
Luckily for us, despite years of stigma and critical distain, horror has and continues to be a bonafide hit with the general public. As long as people vote with their wallets and choose to take part in the communal experience of being scared together in a dark theater, horror will always be around. Let’s just hope it won’t always be so underrated.
Happy Halloween!
Chris
P.S. – [PROGRAMMING NOTE]: In an effort to ensure that the Forbidden Dish film continues to receive the care and attention required, from this point forward I will be reducing the frequency of TZF Blog posts down from twice a month to once a month. This does not mean that the occasional month might not have more than one post, but just that the expected norm should be only one. That’s all folks! 😉