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jackhammer · 11-03-2011, 07:54 PM

The main problem with Horror films is that they are probably the easiest films to make on the smallest budgets possible and reach viewers more easily. It is difficult to make many other genre films on such low budgets that most Horror films operate at so Horror films are both full of absolute tripe and absolute brilliance more so than other genre.

You can make a Horror film for £45 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colin_(film) and STILL get detractors picking the bones out of it which is absolutely ridiculous but because film is a visual medium first and foremost, it is judged much more quickly than other mediums, yet is much more complicated than an album or a book in that it has to marry all those elements (Visual, Audio and Narrative) into a cohesive whole. This is both it's strength and it's weakness.

Horror films are like the abandoned pup of the litter for the majority of movie watchers and critics which is a huge faux pas in my eyes because many of Horror film innovations that are forced upon them due to time and budget restrictions have become mainstream industry staples - Operatic zooms, use of lighting, soundtrack ambience, make up techniques, marketing and socio - political subtext.

I agree entirely that many Horror films suffer from 'third act syndrome' but then so do 75% of non genre films to me and to single out Horror films for this is unjustified (but understandable considering the amount of trash in the genre).

The amount of film 'nous' in Horror is so undervalued with films like Suspiria (use of colour and sound), Halloween (use of widescreen), The Haunting (use of suggestion), Nosferatu (use of lighting), Duel (use of menace), The Shining (use of steadicam), Bride Of Frankenstein (use of subversion) and Society (use of class distinction) to name a few, are great examples of the most maligned but ultimately; rewarding films made.

I would much rather watch a Horror film made on a shoestring budget than many films with huge budgets with cliched outcomes and approach.

11-03-2011, 07:54 PM	#9 (permalink)
jackhammer Ba and Be. Join Date: May 2007 Location: This Is England Posts: 17,331	The main problem with Horror films is that they are probably the easiest films to make on the smallest budgets possible and reach viewers more easily. It is difficult to make many other genre films on such low budgets that most Horror films operate at so Horror films are both full of absolute tripe and absolute brilliance more so than other genre. You can make a Horror film for £45 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colin_(film) and STILL get detractors picking the bones out of it which is absolutely ridiculous but because film is a visual medium first and foremost, it is judged much more quickly than other mediums, yet is much more complicated than an album or a book in that it has to marry all those elements (Visual, Audio and Narrative) into a cohesive whole. This is both it's strength and it's weakness. Horror films are like the abandoned pup of the litter for the majority of movie watchers and critics which is a huge faux pas in my eyes because many of Horror film innovations that are forced upon them due to time and budget restrictions have become mainstream industry staples - Operatic zooms, use of lighting, soundtrack ambience, make up techniques, marketing and socio - political subtext. I agree entirely that many Horror films suffer from 'third act syndrome' but then so do 75% of non genre films to me and to single out Horror films for this is unjustified (but understandable considering the amount of trash in the genre). The amount of film 'nous' in Horror is so undervalued with films like Suspiria (use of colour and sound), Halloween (use of widescreen), The Haunting (use of suggestion), Nosferatu (use of lighting), Duel (use of menace), The Shining (use of steadicam), Bride Of Frankenstein (use of subversion) and Society (use of class distinction) to name a few, are great examples of the most maligned but ultimately; rewarding films made. I would much rather watch a Horror film made on a shoestring budget than many films with huge budgets with cliched outcomes and approach. __________________ It be my music and film collection. “A cynic by experience, a romantic by inclination and now a hero by necessity.”