Horror movies have been pumping out the same kind of squeals for years, but where is the old fashioned fun that they used to have?
I heard that “Scream 7” sucked. Normally, you shouldn’t believe everything you read online, but when it comes to movies, maybe you should rethink that.
I was so excited to see another horror movie with some hope to reignite the franchise. However, it gave it more reason to be the same dumpster fire as the next. It isn’t even just because it was a “Scream” movie. All horror movies have the same dim lighting, slow pacing, the most serious tone ever, and then characters are so oblivious that they get picked off so fast through two hours of just straight tension and nothing else. Whatever happened to having fun?
Horror and comedy used to go hand in hand like Jason Voorhees and his machete. For decades, some of the most memorable films weren’t just scary; they were hilarious and absurd, and had some awareness.
Both horror and comedy have the same kind of formula. They both rely on tension, timing, and a payoff. In comedy, it’s a punchline; in horror, it’s the scare. The best horror makes its audience scream one second, and laugh in the next; their emotions bounce off each other.
The original “Scream” (1996) had brutal endings and self-aware jokes about horror tropes, and what about the expectations that were subverted as “Halloween” (1978) recreated the horror franchise? Michael Myers, as horrifying as he is, is still a phenomenon as audiences enjoyed the thrill and the shrills.
Somewhere along the lines of cash grabs and sequels, we lost the fun.
For the past decade, Hollywood has been leaning into a more cookie-cutter mold with slashers and horrors, and slow and psychological themes, without any fun or jokes for a laugh. Films like “Midsomer” (2019) and “Talk to Me” (2022) are impressive and terrifying, but the success of these movies pushed out the fun times that horror could have had.
Recently, however, the new wave of horror movies is coming back in clutch.
On Valentine’s Day, I saw Sam Raimi’s “Send Help,” a movie about a worker and her CEO stuck on a deserted island. Instead of taking the grim premise and survival–story aspect it could have had, it mixed grotesque horror with slapstick comedy and sarcastic character interactions.
Raimi is no stranger to horror comedy, as he worked on “Evil Dead,” proving that terrifying scenes can go along with joyful screams.
Another upcoming film leaning into this energy that I saw in trailers recently is the South by Southwest (SXSW) festival entry, “They Will Kill You.” It’s described as a horror, action, and comedy where a woman has to survive a demonic cult’s death trap over the course of a single night.
“Ready or Not 2: Here I Come,” continues the sequel of Grace MacCaullay, the bride who survived the deadly ritual game in the original film. But now she is with her sister as they’re both forced into a bigger survival game involving powerful families trying to kill them both, along with the relatable sibling dynamic to root for.
I admit I bash on sequels like a slasher and a baseball bat, but this is one I’m actually excited for. Chaotic violence mixed with dark humor is what made the first film work as well. Films like these remind audiences that horror doesn’t have to be all crying and misery for everyone involved; it’s more effective for the best scares and, obviously, to have fun.
The most fun I had wasn’t even from Hollywood’s big lights and huge budget, but rather it was from Amazon’s small-budget horror movies. From dying laughing to the unholy and intentionally absurd story of “The Velocipastor,” with the story of a priest who is able to transform into a dinosaur in order to fight ninjas, to the hilarious idea of “Sharknado” and its own self-explanatory title of a hurricane of sharks.
They’re movies that don’t rely on special effects, just creativity, some personality, and a bunch of ridiculous ideas. Isn’t this how modern horror started out anyway? All the best ones were low-budget. The Horror genre thrived on a small budget. Previous films like “Saw” (2004), “Halloween” (1978), and “Texas Chain Saw Massacre” (1974) have shown this and joined the ranks of Hollywood’s top film franchises. Even “Scream” (1996) was a little low for its first movie, but it was still creative, clever, and fun.
Sadly, now movies have higher budgets with horrible plots. Hollywood runs movies into the ground like it’s burying the fun that it started out with. It’s not the sequel that sucks. It’s the formula.
Horror comedies work because they reflect how people react to fear. When something horrifying happens, people laugh and make jokes about it. It’s the emotional whiplash that makes horror fun; the line between screaming and laughing is where the genre shines.
That’s why movies like “Send Help,” “They Will Kill You,” and “Ready or Not 2: Here I Come” feel so exciting and promising; their trailers already show the nostalgia of horror in the first place.
They remember that horror is ridiculous. They remember that horror is fun.
If horror wants to evolve and dig itself out of the grave and rise like the living dead, the solution is simple: just support the weird, support the fun, and support it on its low budget.
Horror isn’t fear, it’s fun. And about skipping “Scream 7.” Just head straight for a comedy show, I bet you’re going to have more fun at one.