Jumpin said:
I can't say I agree with you on the points that horror films aren't great today, or that the Japanese and Koreans are somehow doing things better.
I'm going to tackle American vs. Japanese horror first. Because I have yet to see a Japanese horror film that doesn't look amateurish. American re-makes of Japanese horror movies tend to be vastly superior. The Grudge is a good example. The Japanese Grudge not only lacks tension and any big payoff moments, but the plot is very flat, and it has a very haphazard and yet repetetive feel to it. Japanese and Korean horror movies are generally on par with B-horror films in the west. The Grudge is also not considered very high up on the scale when it comes to Western horror films for the last 15 years, but it is still a massive improvement over the Japanese version. In fact, the Japanese horror film genre is comparable to the B-film genre in the west, they just try to cram a bunch of fucked-up stuff into it, and say "there, horror!" and it doesn't end up being scary, more silly and/or disgusting (aka cheesy) - much like Western B-horror films.
The horror genre has improved drastically since the era of Friday the 13th; those old films are hardly scary anymore. First of all, visual effects and cinematography have generally improved a great deal (there are exceptions of course, B-horror monster films like Sharknado, which use bad CG) - but a lot of old horror films have terrible effects, and even those with brilliant effects like The Thing, still have a lot of poorly done stuff - the slime and gore were done well, but when they make it walk, it looks like a puppet being pulled along by cables.
Plotting has also improved a great deal helping for a much better build in tension. Many of the horror films of the 70s and 80s are simple string alongs of - this is how this guy/girl dies, now this is how this guy/girl dies, now this is how this guy/girl dies - and this is how the remaining people kill the villain. While this element does remain true, it is much more intricately woven into the plot, and a lot of the time (like in Conjuring and Insidious) it's not even used, because the plot and character development are woven to such a point where you do not want any characters to die. Plots are much more varied today than they were in the past. In addition, less predictable than in past films where you can easily guess when everyone is going to die long before it happens.
Dialogue and writing are generally done better these days, with exposition being far better delivered - almost always through revelation while keeping a sufficient amount shrouded in mystery (horror films of the 70s and 80s often did this terribly), and acting also tends to be a lot better and more natural feeling than in the past, where it was often very stilted performances; comparable to B-movies of today. HUGE improvements in the field of audio have occurred in the genre which act with the plot elements to create very great tension.
The usage of audio and improved plot builds much better tension than ever before. It is integrated very well with the plot, creating a sense of unease, and on the border of panic as payoff moments approach - and the payoff moments, thanks to improved plotting, tend to hit at better times. This is something older horror films almost completely lacked - many people took cues from Hitchcock in this era, but I don't think they quite understood what he wasdoing, more like "wow, that track he used made me feel tense at this moment, let's make another track like that one)" - they knew what it did, but didn't really grasp why or how. These days, understanding of audio in horror is MUCH more widespread and the knowledge is far more deeply developed than ever before. There's a lot more in the way of resources put into audio design.
We're currently at a time where some of the best horror films of all time are being created. Super hero films aren't ruining horror in any way, and neither do the same forces determine how all the movies will be. Horror films are completely different, and if anything, more of a rebellion against those types of cookie cutter films.
|