HOLLYWOOD—I love horror movies. I’m not even going to sit here and lie to you about it. I’ve been a fan since I was like 4 years old. Yes, I know it’s totally crazy, but you like what you like people. However, as we enter the abyss of October which coins all things spooky and scary, the realization has hit me: horror is at a bit of a crossroads for me.
I really don’t know where things are headed. There hasn’t been a movie that wowed me as of late, as we deal with sequels, remakes, reboots and the requels. What is a requel, it’s a reboot and sequel combined with a touch of the pass to keep the old audience, but lure in new audiences.
FYI, you have another reboot/remake of “A Nightmare on Elm Street,” and I wouldn’t be surprised if we see the return of Michael Myers aka “Halloween” in the coming years. With that said, this weekend, I did something I haven’t done in a while: I watched actual horror classics, a few that I had never seen to be honest. I had never seen George Romero’s 1968 classic, “Night of the Living Dead.” I have seen clips and heard about it, but I have never sat down to watch it.
Man was I stunned. I was so intrigued and glued to the TV screen because I loved what I was witnessing. One, I loved the notion that this horror flick is in black and white. You don’t see horror like this anymore. Guess what, the other classic in black and white, which I also watched was “Psycho,” the 1960 one involving Alfred Hitchcock, Janet Leigh and Anthony Perkins. I have actually considered an idea for a horror film that is actually shot in black and white. I think it could throw a curveball for audiences and usher in a realm that could be interesting to see.
Back to “Night of the Living Dead,” it ushered in the zombie trend, it had its share of violence, but it had an intense level of dread where I didn’t know what was going to happen. I slightly was spoiled on the ending, but one of the characters that I thought would survive, did not survive, and how that unfolded was a surprise to say the least. They say, and even I have said it, simplicity is the best form of horror. If you get too complicated, you lose your audience.
I took those two classics, and then compared them with 2 more iconic classics, this time filmed in color with John Carpenter’s “Halloween (1978)” and Wes Craven’s 1984 classic, “A Nightmare on Elm Street.” “Halloween” is easy, one of my favorite movies of all times. The music, the suspense, the terror the camera work by Carpenter is exceptional. How so? It ushered a trend that horror since that date has attempted to capture, and none have. Michael Myers is a quintessential villain and that mask is scary as hell, not to mention the buildup to the big climax that does not disappoint. Gosh, I wish I was born and, in a theater, when this movie was released to audiences, to be a fly on the wall to witness the audience’s reaction would be glorious.
With “A Nightmare on Elm Street” is pure genius. A boogeyman that can kill you in your dreams. Craven was at the top of his game with this idea and Freddy Krueger is the villain that spooked you with that green and red sweater, dirty brown hat and those ‘finger knives.’ You had another case of strong character development, an enthralling narrative and a heroine in Nancy Thompson you just love.
I was indeed spooked this weekend, but I loved every minute of what I was watching because it reminded me more than ever, why I love horror and what I want to do as a filmmaker with the genre, which too me is dead. There is this excessive level of violence, gore, lack of character development, terrible acting, lackluster chase sequences and endings that just do not land for the audience.
Horror needs to go back to its roots and the only way to make that happen is to remember what makes horror iconic: suspense. Not many filmmakers and writers understand that what that means and how to do it right, but the classics have all the answers, if just a few people looked at that, it can make all the difference for the genre for years to come.
Written By LaDale Anderson
