Hollywood Horror - has it completely lost its way?

I'd also not mind admitting that, as annoyingly bad as Hollywood is, it works the other way aswell-therefore as they make the most horror films of any country, they're also bound to have the most impressive strike rate. Checking out my DVD library, I'll admit I own more US horror than any other kind, probably more than I thought, but there was more variety in horror of the post-80s slump. Nonetheless when the US do come out with the few decent recents ('Insidious', 'The Burrowers', 'Burning Bright', 'Husk', 'Frankenfish', 'Trick'R Treat', 'The Mist, 'Drag Me To Hell', 'The Ruins', 'Frozen') these are all but lost on the general public, as they're either not even given a proper release, or not received in the way they should be as there's little room for manoeuvreability among the weekly deluge of slasher/torture porn/asbo brats/cannibals and car-crash twist-ender melodramas and faked possessions that seems to make up over 80% of all diet sheets.

In all fairness, while the US gets it hideously wrong at times, foreign films can (and do) get it wrong too. 'Cold Prey' was as lousy a slasher as any the US have done over the past 10 years, its sequel worse, and both the French 'Them' & 'Dark Water' were as big a fake as 'The Sixth Sense' and 'Paranormal Activity' were. Naturally, though, when it comes to disappointing fakes, the US will always win-they make the most, but there seems as big an audience for these rip-off phonies as there are for the usual slasher/cannibal dross. In spite of this, long may Hollywood do horror, even if it means we only get a couple of real ones now and again-a few drips to stifle the drought.

I'd disagree with the OP, some of my favourite genre redefining horror films have been US - Scream, Saw, Hostel & Cabin in the Woods. I've seen a fair amount of foreign horror films which have been a decent watch; Martyrs, Inside, Horde, The Host, the ludicrous Switchblade Romance, Taxidermy, The Loved Ones. My favourite which isn't quite a horror film but horrific nonetheless is Tzameti.

I guess my point is I don't buy into this Hollywood-bashing meme; sure it produces a lot of crud but it's purely an exercise in numbers; they knock-out the most so they'll have a corresponding amount of dross.

M. Wilson - love your post. Very erudite. I am certainly with you re teens & kids in films - booooring!! I look forward to seeing your films in the future :D

Tucker and Dale vs Evil is a nice antidote to the plague of airbrushed teens.

Just to hark back to Planet of the Vampires for a minute; have you seen Prometheus yet? Those natty black leather-look space suits were surely a hat tip to POTV?

I do agree with you, BUT CGI in horror is now getting a major backlash in Hollywood & everywhere else by film makers who are now wanting to go back to the traditional man made FX coupled with subtle CGI to just do bits that may injure stunt people or the actors, OR things they wouldn't be able to do. Case in point is The Thing prequel. There ARE CGI FX in it, but a lot of it was prosthetics that then had added CGI on top. Sure the melting monster was totally CGI, but using prosthetics there would have looked like The Muppets LoL.

I also agree that horror is dying a death in Hollywood because of the pretty boy & girl rich kids getting the parts to appeal to kids. I remember when ADULTS were in the films and the kids were just in it as an annoying distraction.

AND PLEASE, what really ANNOYS ME in Horror in Hollywood is the bloody SCREAMING FEMALES that continually scream and scream throughout the film at VERY high pitched decibels. JESUS, PLEASE STOP THIS HOLLYWOOD PLEASE!!!

I'm off to one of the major Royal film schools to study film & media in September 2012 and when asked, I told them I wanted to be involved in horror films. THIS WAS FROWNED UPON & HUFFED AT until I said I wanted to make psychological horror (such as Jacob's Ladder) minus screaming women & young pretty teenage boys & girls and use ADULTS once again (obviously with some gore thrown in YAY!!!!), then that made them smile a bit more! This means even those that teach about film & media seriously frown upon horror (as do the critics), & I think this is purely down to Hollywood killing off the genre by using the "Twilight" principle.

I still think that TV & Film companies, Hollywood especially, don't give kids or adults much credit, as from what I remember of being a kid, they LOVE to be scared and the more scary & gory the better!! That doesn't mean that it has to be watered down with school kids in them!!

It's time new up & forthcoming filmmakers like myself, should take horror back to it's roots & gave the fans what they want....good, solid horror with a good story, jump out of your seats moments with some great gore thrown in AND EMPLOY REGULAR, EVERY DAY LOOKING ADULT ACTORS (& teen girls who are bigger than size 0 or men with 18 pack bellies) & GIVE HORROR THE RESPECT IS DESERVES....., so, who's with me on that?

I couldn't agree more with you - on all points!

That's so completely true about kids having little interest in anything that doesn't show what they prime themselves to be used to. A number of 80s horrors like 'Vamp', 'The Gate', 'Scarecrows', 'Poltergeist' were very present with that slow-burning build-up that kids today would think 'yawn' just cos they don't reek of that MTV look with the plastic (male & female leads) being tiresomely thick in the usual ways against the masked borer/angry hillbilly/diseased cannibal.

More previous impressive examples are 'Burning Bright' and 'Insidious'. 'Burning Bright' would never get into a cinema anyway (outrageous considering what does instead), but apparently being boarded shut in a ranch with your autistic younger brother with a very angry, very hungry Bengal Tiger roaming freely while a dangerous tornado rages outide just doesn't add up to the thrills expectant from the slasher/cannibal/asbo-brat lover of today. Ditto adults who want the "based on true events/I see dead people/car-crash twist ending thrillers with ARE boring for the very reason they're ot horror films.

Incidentally saw that 2010 release 'The Last Exorcism' last night on C4; the one that got loads of acclaim in the overly-under the radar way which, as you know, means it'll be too up itself for its own good, and what a shocker, it was. A few scares, jaunty camerawork in the usual docu-style (yawn) but a complete fake with the usual human killer ('Paranormal Activityless' anyone?) bolted to a tiresome ending (which the kid from 'Identity' did a lot better). The remake of 'Hills Have Eyes' was on after, far more enjoyable even though seen it already.

Intriguingly enough, the remake I was most offended about-'Fright Night'-rented it on Friday and haven't enjoyed a horror so much in ages! Even more impressively, if it wasn't for the title and the character names being the same, it is so far removed (in a good way) from the original, they may as well be different movies. 'Bite Night' I'll call to differentiate.

I think its just catering for for the new fanbase

I think you are right about the plot having differences but the basic plot structure is very similar, I actually preferred the ending of "Planet of the Vampires" to "Alien" and the fact it was blatantly a 60's sci-fi as opposed to "Alien" which could've been made anytime between the 70's and the 90's (couldn't be 00's as it would've been drowned in CGI effects) didn't really bother me though I know thats a really big deal to a lot of people, the paranoia is definitely different in the two films which affects the films drastically making PotV more of an is the enemy within horror wheras in "Alien" the enemy is definitely the big gooey black thing, I think both films are different and work in very different ways but it should definitely be noted that "Planet of the Vampires" left a strong influence over "Alien".

Oh and Funeral-Bringer I completely agree on young people's short attention spans being a part of the downfall of modern cinema, fast-paced explosion-ridden adrenaline-junkie fodder seems the hip thing and its hard to find a mainstream hit with style, atmosphere and strong character development but lets ask a very interesting question here: How did it get this way, did films deliberately go this way to get their audiences used to quick flashy thrills or is it just catering to a newer more impatient fanbase?

I'll throw my part into this.

I think Hollywood do need some fresh ideas as I find the countless CGI fests rather tiresome and im drawn into the 80's horror as it was more realistic to a degree - no CGI for ripped flesh. Most of my horror collection is from the 80's - THE BEYOND, CITY OF THE LIVING DEAD, FRIDAY THE 13th etc. Yet these classics - the Lucio Fulci, Dario Argento films never seems to get acclaim by Hollywood themselves. It's oh its foreign so it should be straight to dvd.

I also think its the MTV generation of kids that have the attention span of -500 that sees the quick zip along horror where nothing is fleshed out that makes Hollywood think of that type of film should enter the cinema. If it's character driven with bits of violence here and there the kids get bored and start messing about spoiling it for others.

I once went into the cinema to see some slow horror film and really enjoyed it because it was more story and the kids infront were bored and started messing on. Yet I went to see Scary Movie 4 and they were sat glued to it so it just shows how brain dead they are where I live.

I enjoy Alien for the slow atmosphere it IMO presents to me and not the violence itself, while on atmos I think the Asian horror films ooze atmos and I find myself straying towards the Asian end of the horror market. They are made better and have more story.

Yet I find myself hooked on the Masters Of Horror 1 hr long films as they to me are low budget but they tell better stories and hold up better then the horror at the cinema.

Think of this as you will but that is my side of Hollywood

Hi Anthony. Your message piqued my interest, as I had never seen Planet of The Vampires. Checked it out on YouTube and found the entire movie available as HD downloads. Just finished watching it. It was reasonably entertaining, if horribly dated and with a weak ending. Whilst, in terms of look and feel there are slight resemblances to Alien (notably the foggy, craggy alien landscape and the huge fosselised skeleton), the plot is very different. In fact the paranoia of "are you one of us" more closely resembles Invasion of the Body Snatchers, The Thing or even The Earth Dies Screaming.

I'm quite surprised but its probably true, I don't think I've seen anyone in an online forum bring up that "Alien" borrows heavily from the Bava film though in the Tim Lucas book "All the Colors of the Dark" which is an extensive analysis of the director it is brought up very briefly, I figure the few who saw the similarities just didn't want to be the first guy to bring it up incase "Alien" fans over-reacted, don't get me wrong I don't dislike the film entirely but I don't think its anything special either and certainly not original, oddly enough of the three films mentioned the one that ventured the furthest from its source influence "Rosemary's Baby" is the one I'm least likely to bother with again, I really liked "Don't Look Now" but must admit you end up understanding it a lot more on a second viewing, first time round the ending really took me by surprise but I must admit I like being caught off guard so had no complaints there.

[Deleted by the author on 10 Apr 2012 11:40:59 BDT]

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By the way PERSONALLY speaking i believe Ridley Scott to be a genius.A visual genius.I am a fan.Sorry.
I adore Blade Runner,love Alien,love Legend....Scotts the DUDE.

I am always right.Now Scott breathe in,then out.Everything is cool.

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Thank you, Anthony, for heated try boiled dry! But that's all I'll say, apart from it's nice to find someone with me on more things than against me, instead of dissecting my irritability on certain overhyped films being dubbed beyond criticism, and how very dare one! Indeed.

Also, yes many films aren't bad from borrowing styles from before-my whole point to others for liking "The Faculty", "Insidious", "Wrong Turn" etc. over earlier interpretations that they have likely based sowing some of their seeds on. But then I don't pretend they don't, whereas you are the first person here EVER to disclose "Alien" as not groundbreaking (even I haven't done that, you star!) and call it based on something that isn't itself, ditto "Rosemary's Baby" and "Don't Look Now", which I could like better if it made more sense and the ending wasn't so absurd. Possibly, though, you're the only one to see these movies that these three have ripped from, or are others just admitting it? Still, all they have to is contradict you on that.

Any minute now perhaps, unless it's all against me of course. Still, let them have their silliness, it's only words after all.

I think the is "Alien" good or not topic is getting a tad too heated, I thought it was okay for what it was but think its far too overhyped, can't stand the sequels though, as to the film being groundbreaking it really wasn't, it was basically "Planet of the Vampires" slightly tweaked and with Giger visuals added, "Don't Look Now" is a great film but again not really original, it borrowed a lot from gialli especially "Who Saw Her Die?" and "Rosemary's Baby" which I found dragged with little style and even less payoff bears strong similarities to the superior Val Lewton film "The 7th Victim" but then not all films are bad simply because its been done before, I found the stylish trippy giallo "All the Colors of the Dark" a personal favourite and its clearly been influenced by the Polanski film, still with much better visuals, a perfect score and a good pacing I vastly prefer Martino's film, guess at the end of the day its all a matter of taste though.

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ScottPaul - thanks for taking the time to angrily hunt down at least three of my reviews here on Amazon and pointlessly reply to them - probably because i dared to have different views to yours. If i were you i'd step away from the computer, take a walk and get some fresh air - give those probably bruised fingertips a rest. After all, they're only films.

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I have always loved Alien 3,love the concept and opression of the film.Everyone of course is entitled to their opinion but people that rubbish Alien are certainly not my people.I love the tension,the character dynamics,the sets......but you show
some people a Piccasso and they shrug.
It is also about a films legacy and influence,who has not watched a sci fi that hasn't been influenced in some way or another by Alien?