The Weigh In #53

The current state of horror films (part 3 of 4):

Last week we touched a little on the origins and the purpose of horror films, the cyclical nature of horror films and asked the questions: Is this latest batch of horror films just a blip on the radar screen, soon to go the way of the western? Are these horror films actually different than past cycles? And is it sustainable? Well boys and girls, here are my thoughts.

But first a little history:
In the late 60s and through the 70s, a new subgenre of horror films began to sprout up in Drive Ins and later became extremely popular with the invention of the grandfather of the TiVo, the VCR (ask your dad what they are, he’ll get a kick out of it).With VHS videotape and the popularity of video rental places, any studio with a little money (and in most cases very little money), some imagination, and a video camera could produce a halfway decent horror film. You didn’t need high quality acting, just plenty of gore and a few scares. The higher the gross factor the better. Under the radar of the MPAA, a lot of these films were little more than cheap torture films with a pretty negligible plot, plenty of cheap blood and plenty of tits. But they sold well enough to make a nice profit for their companies. By the late 70s, major studios were chomping at the bit to find a way to eat into if not take over that market and still meet MPAA standards of decency. In 1978, they found their foothold in a small little horror film that ultimately grossed over 47 million dollars, Halloween. The slasher flick was born. These films normally were just as basic as their low brow predecessors with a little higher production values, less gore, more scares and less nudity. They could be produced in high volume and mass marketed to theaters and finally on video.

The former type of film never really disappeared. Due to the low cost to relatively high payback, small companies have been making a pretty substantial living on direct to video and eventually direct to DVD horror films. The major studios abandoned the horror film when the slasher genre was no longer commercially viable. The resurgence of horror films in my opinion is not an attempt by larger studios to take advantage of a surging smaller market. Basically, the larger studios realized that they could now get away with almost the same level of gore and violence that low budget films have been getting away with for years. They are basically the same type of film with higher production values and more realistic violence in the place of sex (still a big M.P.A.A. no-no), which has actually earned them the nickname in some circles as “torture films”. As with the resurgence of most genres, all they needed were a few well placed hits to prove they were viable. The remake of old slasher flicks are just another example of Hollywood taking old successful movies and trying to make them new again. This is happening to pretty much any movie under the son. The studios are just taking advantage of this larger horror trend hoping they are more successful than they would have been if they were released say 5 years ago.

This surge in Hollywood horror films really could disappear in the next few years. More flops than hits are always a good indicator of the death of a genre. At the moment they are doing really well, but if these studios latch on to franchise and sequel it to death, it could easily drag the rest of the genre down. The only thing to suggest that this new spate of horror films may last more than a few years can be seen in the way Hollywood has dealt with independent cinema over the last 10 years.

Independent films are hit and miss, much in the way horror films can be. If major studios have a few busts and decide to move on to another genre then there is a good chance it will die off, at least for a while. With independent films though, major studios have created their own subdivision that manages its independent films (i.e. Fox Searchlight and Warner Independent Pictures). These mini studios produce films that really aren’t expected to make a large profit and in fact most probably actually are done at a loss. But it only takes one or two a year to justify making the rest. This seems like the perfect way to manage films that can be made inexpensively and will eventually start making less and less of a profit. But then I suppose that would be a little bit ironic, a major studio putting together a small subdivision to produce low budget horror flicks that just expected to make enough money to fund the next one. But I suppose Hammer Horror and Troma Films probably would not see the humor in it. Kinda like your rich cousin opening up a lemonade stand next to yours and selling better tasting lemonade.

This week’s Superman Returns News: (courtesy of Superherohype.com)
You will believe a man can cry... err... um... fly. The full length trailer for Superman Returns is up here.
Here is an interview with Brandon Routh and Kate Bosworth.

Remember we have less than 2 months until the movie event of the Summer. Get your capes and tights cleaned before it is too late.


This weekend at you local multiplex (5/5/2006):

Mission Impossible 3 (see review): Action/Adventure
Tom Cruise, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Ving Rhames, Billy Crudup, Lawrence Fishburne
Plot: Ethan Hunt (Cruise) leaves the field to start a “normal” life. When one of his protégés is captured in the line of duty he suits up to get her back. He gets entangled in a revenge plot with an evil arms dealer (Hoffman) that hits a little too close to home.
Buzz: Four words: go see this movie.

Hoot: Family/Comedy
Luke Wilson, Logan Lerman, Brie Carson, Cody Linley
Plot: A group of friends try to foil a land developers plans to destroy the local ecosystem and more specifically an owl habitat.
Buzz: another Disney preteen film that seems to be in the same vein of Disney’s hit of a few years ago Holes.

An American Haunting: Horror
Donald Sutherland, Sissy Spacek, Rachel Hurd-Wood, James D’Arcy
Plot: Based on the haunting of a small family in rural Pennsylvania known as “The Bell Witch”, the only haunting that officially ended in the death of a person.
Buzz: I have read a few of novels telling the story of the family in the house and the “Bell Witch” and it scared the crap outta me. If this movie can capture a good portion of the atmosphere of the events that happened to that family, this should be a pretty good movie. I for one have been looking forward to it.

This week on DVD (5/2/2006):

The Family Stone
3rd Rock from the Sun (season 4)
Hoodwinked (see movie review)
Don’t Trip, He Aint’ Through w/Me Yet
The Last Holiday
The Omega Factor (series)
Wyatt Earp (se)
The Warrior
Delicatessan (se)
Dinosaurs (season 1 and 2)
Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids (vol 3)
I Love Lucy (season 6)
Kate and Allie (season 1)
Leave It To Beaver (season 2)
I Love Lucy Box Set (seasons 1-6)
Rescue Me (season 2)
Tennessee Williams Film Collection
Flight 93 (television version)


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DPlace76@yahoo.com.
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