In the last five to 10 years, a new remake seems to be announced every month, or a decade-late sequel comes to theaters. Both arrive drenched in all the excitement and buzz of reheated leftovers or repackaged generic snacks. Squeaky clean and over-processed, these remakes, sequels, and dreaded live-actions rarely live up to their originals and almost always feel like stale silhouettes of once-iconic and beloved characters.
It’s become increasingly obvious that studios prefer to “nostalgia-bait” audiences rather than fund original projects without the promised audience of past fans or the pull of every A-list actor in the world attached to them. However dreary this may seem for the future of film and storytelling, we are just starting to see the pendulum shift back toward original stories and new characters. Nowhere is this shift more apparent than in the horror genre.
Since 2024, the most talked-about movies each year have been original horror movies, not remakes and sequels. Films like The Substance, Weapons, Sinners, Obsession, and Backrooms have garnered success, attention, and massive audiences that only seem to grow after their release.
Every time a middle-aged celebrity shows up to an event sporting what seems like an entirely new face, countless edits of them set to an audio clip from The Substance flood everyone’s For You Page. Whenever someone encounters an off-putting, dimly lit hallway and posts pictures of it with eerie music in the background, the comments are guaranteed to be swarmed with mentions of “the backrooms.” These movies have no doubt cemented themselves in the culture, whether you’re a horror fan or not. But what’s driving this horror revival, and what does it mean for the film industry?
While the renewed cultural buzz around horror films may seem sudden to some, it’s a pattern that’s been observed for years and will, no doubt, repeat itself in the future. Horror as a genre has been around as long as humans have been telling stories, through folklore and myths. For centuries, fear has been a central storytelling device. Often used to help us process our anxieties, fear in every form shapes how we move through society. So it makes sense that in times of great uncertainty or division, horror movies sweep both box offices and award shows.
Frankenstein, often considered the first true sci-fi horror novel, explored the ethics of playing God in scientific discovery and drew on discoveries of the time, as well as the climate crisis later dubbed “the Year Without a Summer.” As Mary Shelley spent days at a time locked indoors because of the weather, she had nothing but her writing to process her fears and anxieties about the world around her. In a more personal way, as the daughter of a feminist philosopher who died shortly after giving birth, Shelley also filled Frankenstein with feminist themes that often tackled her own fears and warped relationship to motherhood.
More recently, the horror genre has explored topics like the effects of late-stage capitalism, digital surveillance, climate collapse, and bodily autonomy. As we face new challenges like AI and the impacts of societal pressures, we turn to art for comfort. Whether as the artist or the viewer, there’s something cathartic about finally putting a monstrous face to a long-brewing fear that has festered in its unknown dangers. Films like The Substance and Obsession explore themes of misogyny and the commodification of women’s bodies. Obsession also offers meaningful commentary on how the constant validation on our algorithms can distort our relationships, directly calling out society’s use of AI and social media.
As tensions rise globally and across our country, the film industry seems stuck in a never-ending loop of bad remakes, mediocre sequels, and oversaturated franchises; horror movies feel like a beacon of hope in an industry that seems to be losing its spark. Rather than replaying and recycling the past, horror films use the terrifying realities of yesterday and the unknown fate of tomorrow to hold a mirror up to society.
Modern horror movies aren’t just putting a face to our fears; they’re dissecting what scares us and forcing audiences to confront what their anxieties say about who we are as a society. While trends may come and go, the film industry can always rely on the morbid curiosity we are all wired with, which brings us crawling back to the theater every time a new, bone-chilling movie is announced or an ominous trailer drops.