There have been a lot of changes in the horror movie industry, such as no more jump scares and a lot of weirdness. But, the question is: do those changes make the movies scarier?
What do you fear the most? The chance of becoming one of the victims of a heartless serial killer or having to fight the unknown, something that you don’t understand? Maybe that something will turn out to be real and have a rational explanation, or maybe if you’re not lucky enough you will never find out what really happened.
Jump scares, serial killers, growing music, plus that traditional (and even cliché) story of the group of friends dying one by one, are all techniques used by directors to make horror in the past. However, nowadays, directors like Robert Eggers and Jordan Peele are changing this. Movies like The Witch and Us were made in a totally different way, without using any of those characteristics used before, giving a whole new sight of what horror can become.
Bringing the fear back
Those classic movies such as “Halloween” and “Scream” don’t seem to make people scared anymore. This could be blamed by the terrible special effects and quality of movies due to the period they were made. But, even the newer ones that are similar, such as the Fear Street trilogy – released by Netflix in 2021 – are not known for how it made people scared. This is something that this new type of horror movies are changing. They are bringing back the fear, without using any of the things others did before.
For example, the well-known movie “Us” by Jordan Peele, is a movie that has only a few jump scares, there is not a psychopath killer, and definitely is not about a group of friends trying to survive. This movie is very successful in making the fear come slowly, and you shiver, like you can’t blink of fear. The most interesting part is that what makes people feel this way are two opposite things: the proximity and the unknown. Despite all the darkness and almost deaths, what really makes people scream is the fact that the killers are clones of the characters. Imagine that one day a person that looks exactly like you appears on your door and tries to kill you.
This is terrifying, plus the acting makes it so real and so crazy at the same time. To add up, the director brought a different and crazy story, but as usual for the director with a rational explanation, that is only discovered late in the story, and before that happens, there is a great fear atmosphere going on.
In fact, building an atmosphere of fear is the biggest ability these new directors have. Besides Jordan Peele, another great new horror director is Robert Eggers. In his latest movie to come out, “The Lighthouse ” he uses very different ways to build that. Unlike most directors, Eggers does not use music as an ally. Actually, there’s only one song in the whole movie, that is when the only two characters of the film sing together. What the director does with the sound is put a boat siren to play every now and then, and use screaming, a lot of fights and frustrating situations, making the viewer very uncomfortable .
Also, the fact that this film is in black and white, and was filmed with a vintage lens to make that old atmosphere more real, the performances are so deep and really touches you, plus that beautiful photography Eggers brought a very creepy and agonizing picture, not much seen.
One thing from this movie used a lot by others is the insanity. In the classic horrors we´ve seen the killer go crazy, be a psychopath. But, in these new ones it is very common to see that who drives crazy is actually the protagonist. In “The Lighthouse” and “The Witch” both by Robert Eggers, he uses the same skill, also seen in “Midsommar”: the protagonist sees a lot of weird, unexplainable things happening around them and only them seems to be rational, but, at the end, they are the ones who end up crazy.
The Uncomfortableness
Another aspect in common between all of those movies is this feeling that some people realize while watching them: the uncomfortable feeling. It makes you restless and thinking about it for a while after you have watched it. Maybe it does not reach all the viewers, but a lot of them seem to find it true. The directors gave up on only “scared” (which of course is still present) and added this other emotion that sticks with you through the whole movie, the restless feeling that makes you unquiet, almost anguish.
The film that used this feeling the best was “The Lighthouse ” with the sounds mentioned before, the desperateness of the main character and the siren. The director seems to do it with all of his films, as these characteristics are present in “The Witch” as well. Besides that, another motion picture that used this feeling very well was “A Silent Place” (2018), directed by John Krasinski.
Although this film reminds a lot of the old ones, with all the jumpscares, the lack of sound in the movie makes you feel very tense and uncomfortable. It is the type of movie that keeps your attention the whole time and keeps you on the edge of your seat, something that the old movies are failing to make. Even though most old productions don’t bring this feeling, one that did it successfully was “The Shining” by Stanley Kubrick. The whole movie gives that sense of agony, that restlessness.
The complexity of the stories
Adding to the differences between the new horror movies and the old ones is the complexity of the stories. The only ones that really went the other way were “A Nightmare on Elm Street” and the more recent one “House of Wax”, that brought some depth besides the crazy part.
Nowadays, the stories told in horror are much deeper and have a lot more layers. A great example of a director that does this is, again, Jordan Peele. With “Get Out” he was able to build a story that was not made around only the surviving but around a much bigger problem that assoles not only the main character, but many others, as well as using a very distinct group of people to tell the story. This movie is another great example of how the unknown can be used to bring fear and deepness. With this motion picture Peele was able to build a story that stays with you and brings a message with it. Besides that, the bizarre events that happen, so common with this kind of movie, have a rational explanation, differently from what’s used to happen:caused by some spirit or demon.
The second example of complexity is “Midsommar” directed by Ari Aster. In this movie, the explanations are not as rational and sometimes they don’t even exist. But, the story is so deep, and has a lot of sides that make it bigger than death. Actually, death is even treated differently in this one. But, above all, what really makes this movie deep is how nothing is what it seems, and not in a way that we´re used to, but in a totally unexpected, shocking way that will make the viewer rethink their values.
The acting
Although classic horror movies have a place in all horror fans’ hearts, the skills of the actors in them are often pretty bad. Movies like “Halloween” or “Jigsaw” hardly have those astonishing performances, since the actors in these films are usually unknown, sometimes it’s their first job, and after that one movie they become better, and very known.
However, nowadays some horror performances are breathtaking, and directors are investing in A-List celebrities to be their protagonists. There are some examples worth listing on these stars: Lupita Nyong’o in “Us”, both Robert Pattinson and Willem Dafoe in “The Lighthouse”, James Mcavoy in “Split” and, of course, Emily Blunt in “A Quiet Place”. These performances are what make the movie truly good. There can´t be a film that is terrifying if the actor doesn’t show the right emotions.
A lot of these horror movies have heartbreaking and creepy stories, and especially the ones that use the unknown, need the actor to sell that emotion, to make the viewers believe that all of those weird events are real enough to make them scared. So, the protagonists of this movie need to portray that going insane feeling really well to make the movie good, being Florence Pugh with “Midsommar” and Robert Pattinson with “The Lighthouse” the best example of this. They managed to show every inch of this insanity in the best way possible.
Another emotion really common in horror is the crazy killer. This one is one of the most important emotions, since it is what usually brings fear. But in the last few years we´ve seen some different types of villains. For example, the character of Lupita in “Us”, who is the killer, is not that common type, who wears a mask and just kills everyone they want. She’s vengeful,wants to kill one person, and the actress brought that ,at the same time, crazy and terrified look in her eyes, which made the movie even scarier. That’s why the performances make such a big difference in the movies, without the great acting of Lupita (and from the whole cast) “Us” would not have been as good as it is.
Horror movies have changed a lot with time. It is rare to see that old narrative of the group of friends trying to survive a killer. Now, they need to survive the most weird and unexplainable situations. This new take on horror is changing the whole industry, and making these types of movies worth watching again.
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The article above was written by Manuela Massera and edited by Nicoly Bastos. Liked this type of content? Check out Her Campus Casper Libero for more!