The Problem With Horror Film Today & Why They Need To Change

Article by Gerry Barnaby / Movie Knights

When it comes to horror there is so many version of horror because it a genre that split up into sub-genre's like Slasher / Creature Feature / Supernatural / Gore Fest / Psychological & Spoof Horror Comedy which all have their own qualities in the horror genre. Unfortunately over the past few years since the 80s - 90s the horror genre has been seriously dropping in what it mean to be a true horror film.
Here is what i feel is killing the industries of horror:

Zombie Genre - These film were really good when they first starting producing zombie horror film's as they were entertaining & pretty fighting at the time it produce films like dawn of dead, resident evil, return of the dead so many other good film. But this genre has become overused probable is the most over used sub-genre in horror today they tend to get very boring as they done use there imagination it come this how many time can you turn people in to zombies concept.

The Shaky Camera Horror - This is one of my biggest pet peeves in horror or any film the shaky camera effects, its a cheap effect that some directors think is cool to use to give the scene a more dramatic effect.........No !!!!!!!! All this dose is ruin the flow of the film, the audience is subjected to to a sea sick effect, which give them headaches because there eyes are being force to watch something the eye cant focus on & ruin the scene as its impossible to see whats going on which in turn ruin's the frightening effect of the scene their trying to portray on scene.

C.G.I used in Horror - This is one of the biggest problems in horror film specially if the film is very low budget,i know there is a lot of people that love this type of film's like sharknado or the other cheap SYFY movie that are normal on the syfy channel but cheap fake C.G.I dosent make the film great it make its extremely bad & unfrightening.
I feel if you going to make a low budget horror film & you don't have the money for high end C.G.I don't use it, animatronic work just as well on screen as they use to be in the 80s using puppet animatronic effects which works as a real effect, because when you use cheap C.G.I it complete looks fake on screen it show seriously fake like it been done on a computer. Clearly some people don't have the money to make C.G.I effect like Jurassic park but low budget film's should stay clear from using c.g.i & use the cheaper prop effects like they did in the 80s & 90s instead of c.g.i it would make the film alot better.

Lack of imagination in Hollywood - This is another problem in horror is the lack of imagination to make a true horror frightening to really make you leave the cinema with a cold chill. Some film have been refreshing like the first saw film because that was genius film until they over killed this with making to many of the film's making it a cash cow series.
This really has to stop in the industry because you get a fresh new horror film that good that dosent need to have 7 film's ,3 film's is enough, we're not in the 80s anymore where Friday the 13th & Freddy kreguer film work that way. We are in a era that film's become the same concept because of this lack of imagination in Hollywood which in turn make these film overkill & boring.

Remake / Reboot - This is another thing that need to stop remaking old horror film that have been done, the reason why im saying this is because when they remake an old film instead of making a revamp version better than the original ,they don't put no effort in to make it that way it comes off bad on screen as a cheaper version of it original film. This is the problem with remakes instead of trying to capture the original magic of the original film that was brilliant, try to make it better as you will never re-capture what was in the original film but they have the chance to make a much better version.
Take for an example this poltergeist remake........Judging from the trailer this looks like a cheaper version of the original & a copy cat of several other horror film's i feel this is whats going to be its down fall in the cinema, when this could of had a better more darker concept with a more Hollywood style frightening film but as ive said before this is the result of the lack of imagination in Hollywood with horror film & other genres.

Cheap Scare Tactics - This ruin's horror film complete with the cheap scare tactics use sound effect to scare the audience which is bound to happen, its not the scene of the film that scaring the audience it the sound effects.
A normal scene with a dark atmospheric tone with no sound effect or music something jump out at you from no where works just as well., which show that Hollywood has complete lost what it mean to be a horror when they have to use sound effect to fright you.
Jaws yes had the music but every now & then in the film they stop the music because it make you think where is the shark, because when the music start you know the shark is around but then it dosent appear the music has stop ,your thinking where is it.

Then bang out of no where the shark jump out your thrown back with a fright ,why because the music has already had you on edge but then lure you in to a false sense of security because it hasn't appeared but then a few minute later it appears that is the genius in making the audience jump with out the cheap scare tactics.  

Being Predictable - There is nothing worst in a horror film than being predictable, it total takes away the scary moment, the jump scene, the frightening dark atmosphere of the film which alot of these horror do today. Which for me maybe other complete ruin the horror genre when they are predictable, this is such a amateur mistake to make in horror special when its comes to supernatural / Psychological horror film's for example two horror film Mama & Ouija two horror film that had potential complete ruined because of their predictability Mama failure was at the begin same with Ouija.
When it comes to horror you never make a film predictable the reason why is because you loss the the atmosphere of the film & you loss the audience attention to watch the film right this is why horror film's like jaws worked because you never saw the shark until the third act of the film, the film in the first & second act of the film were frighting because you see people getting killed off but never seeing what what killing them, this is what made it frightening & set the audience to be gripped to the screen.
It was Oscar Wilde that said in the film industry that the moment you lose the audience is the moment you lose the film its so true, this is what the problem is with most film's today when they become predictable.
Special with the film mama showing the ghost at the very beginning of the film total killed the suspense & frightening atmosphere of the film right there set up the rest of the film to be predictable, same with Ouija when you see the character grab the Christmas lights after seeing something you could see the scene coming which ruin the rest of the film. Predictability in horror really needs to be addressed in horror because it lose's the horror.

Rating Certification - Some people seem to think that a PG-13 horror is a horror............No !!!!!! i state that as a big no because a pg-13 is not a horror its a glorified teenage fantasy film like twilight, you can't compare a 18 cert film to a PG-13.
PG-13 is not scary or frightening at all sorry but it not if you think a PG-13 is a true horror then you are sadly mistaken, Its a toned or watered down horror film that is basically like a twilight style fantasy film that you cant even call a horror. There are two types of R-rating film with 18 certification - adult pornographic entertainment side & the horror or action side film's.
18 certification film Doesn't have to have strong bloody violent or Strong language scene in it to be a 18 cert because ive seen 15 cert film with this concept, 18 cert it could have a extremely freighting  Psychological  concept to it which make it a 18 cert which sadly with today's horror film don't have any more.
Its sad to say that Hollywood has complete lost what it take to make a true horror film these days because a true horror film is with an 18 certification not PG-13, because of all this trying to make film's to carter for all audiences this PG-13 is killing the horror industries because its not a true horror unless its a 18 cert......if blood is involved in the film yes it will be R-rated 18 cert, but the days of a horror film being just an 18 certification seem to have gone & replace with a tone down pg-13 which is not a horror film which it seem to be classed as.

Today's horror film's seem to lack what horror use to be, the best horror films seem to have their days back in the 80s -90s when the certification was 18 cert for horror & not pg-13, because today horror films are nothing like they use to be they are get worst with cheap tactics & predictability which is killing the horror genre. You may agree with me with these you may not everyone has their own opinion this is just how i feel about horror film's today which i feel they should bring back the glory days of horror.