Movies Thoughts on the massive cultural explosion of Horror in the mainstream?

[NatalieZaki]

I'm sure this has been talked about before, but it's interesting to see as someone who grew up watching all the campy and dumb horror movies see a brand new cultural appreciation to the genre. Obviously, there's been the recent success of Backrooms and Obsession, but also many horror films getting massive critical praise, such as Jordan Peele and Ari Aster's works, when back in the day, horror films wouldn't even get a scoff from critics. It has been great seeing this genre grow to what it is today. (Sadly, this doesn't really apply to horror video games ever since the mascot horror trend started slopping out trash)

 

[Vexicrypt]

Idk, this sounds a bit biased to me. Horror movies are still getting legacy sequels, which are pretty basic and boring. And all these "elevated horror" movies are just another trend that works for now, though getting a bit stale too. As for the games, horror genre is much much more than mascot horror these days. In fact it seems to me that you might be looking in the wrong direction, because I see everything except mascot horror games. They exist and still coming out, but its just a drop in a sea.

 

[iamthemilkman]

They don't seem nearly as big as they were when Scream, I Know What You Did Last Summer, Final Destination, etc., movies were coming out.

'70s and '80s horrors will always be my favorites, though. One of my favorite "gems":

 

[Evaccaneer Doom]

Idk, this sounds a bit biased to me. Horror movies are still getting legacy sequels, which are pretty basic and boring. And all these "elevated horror" movies are just another trend that works for now, though getting a bit stale too. As for the games, horror genre is much much more than mascot horror these days. In fact it seems to me that you might be looking in the wrong direction, because I see everything except mascot horror games. They exist and still coming out, but its just a drop in a sea.

Yeah, the only mascot horror anything I know that has a movie is Five Nights at Freddy's, Poppy's Playtime, and at some point Bendy and the Ink Machine. Two of these are still in development.

Meanwhile Iron Lung is also a horror game adapted to film and was so successful it started rivalling Hollywood movies.

 

[Macaulay Kong]

When has horror not been mainstream, though? lol. Horror movies have been massive hits and part of mainstream culture for decades. If you mean games, specifically, I suppose those are a more recent thing but classic survival horror franchises always sold pretty well for their time. Resident Evil and Silent Hill both reached millions of copies which was a lot more impressive back then compared to today when publishers claim a game is a flop if it sells 9 million instead of 10 million copies

 

[ShinnAsukaYESTaylorSwiftNO]

When has horror not been mainstream, though? lol. Horror movies have been massive hits and part of mainstream culture for decades. If you mean games, specifically, I suppose those are a more recent thing but classic survival horror franchises always sold pretty well for their time. Resident Evil and Silent Hill both reached millions of copies which was a lot more impressive back then compared to today when publishers claim a game is a flop if it sells 9 million instead of 10 million copies

in fact, horror was the most common genre on VHS aside from porn

 

[Burzuru Burzuru]

i think horror generally does well in sales, and its very formulaic.

 

[BrawlMan]

Honestly, horror has been at its best around the late 2010s and 2020s. We're seeing way more variety other than just let's be another slasher, or copy the Saw franchise. I am not into horror much as I used to, but I'm still willing to give more unique, original horror films a chance, and support them the best I can.

We've also been getting good gothic horror films again as well. That's not something I would have expected in the 2020s. Take what you can get and just have fun with them

 

[CraigJinx]

I think horror movies have always been in the mainstream since the dawn of cinema. Sure there has many low budget independent releases but that is the same for all genres.

 

[electro56]

it's nothing new