kvrdave

I think these get remade and get sequals more than any other genre. Once in awhile we get a great film like Saw, but then we know we will get sequals (and I enjoy them all), but Halloween? Invasion? Hills have Eyes? Texas Chainsaw Masacre?

Are there just so few original ideas? Even relatively minor films like 13 Ghosts were at least a bit original.

But I don't see remakes for My Fair Lady, etc. popping up like I do for horror films.

Anyone else see this?

JMcCraw

Do you mean the remake?

RichC2

I'm sure he meant the original.

Original horror movies are hard to come by because there aren't many things people fear that haven't already been made a movie of, which leads you to execution over originality in terms of plot. The Descent, imho, is phenomenal because it is so well executed despite its rather cliche premise.

And horror is a genre prime for remakes. Horror used to be (and still is) a low budget genre, so the originals, in many cases, aren't up to snuff in terms of audio/video quality and many folks in modern audiences don't even give em a chance.

The Bus

If you narrow it down, 96% of horror movies are about a killer, an animal/monster, the supernatural, demons, or the undead.

And that happens to all genres. As my friend Kendrick says, "most black movies are either dramas or we are dancing."

It's all in the execution, as Rich says. On paper, The Descent is terrible. Even

has been done before many times. But it is deftly executed.

I am looking forward to Invasion.

DonnachaOne

Horror flicks are usually cheap thrill films, designed to make a buck quick. So the costs are kept down, the attractions basic and the ideas are reused.

It's the same in all genres. Cheap action films are reused, cheap comedies are redone, and so on. The recycling of horror films is more apparent because a cheap horror film is still a big box office draw, ensuring at least one good weekend from the teenage moviegoers. Action flicks require bigger productions.

RichC2

I really hope we get a Director's Cut on DVD. From what I read the drop off in quality between the first half (said to be entirely Oliver Hirschbiegel's work) and second half (the "studio" reshot part) is painfully noticeable.

Dash

every once in a while, something good comes out like 1408 which was a pretty good horror movie.

Zodiac_Speaking

I love horror films but this year has kinda stunk. 1408? Eh. Disturbia? Missed it. Hills Have Eyes 2? no.

Try "Behind the Mask: Rise of Leslie Vernon", atleast it trys to be fresh and succeeds.

Maybe RZ's Halloween and Saw4 will be entertaining.

Mosskeeto

At least to me it seems that many of the most original horror/supernatural genre titles are emerging from Asia and more specifically, Japan. Then they are immediately optioned for Americanized versions: Ringu (The Ring), Ju-On (The Grudge), Dark Water are the ones that quickly come to mind.

RichC2

Sadly that was a late 90s (early 00s) phenom. Since about 2003 (A Tale of Two Sisters, Ju-on (which I don't like, but count anyway)) the asian horror genre has been repeating itself and just downright poor in many instances. I'm actually upset by it, for a while there they were churning out gold.

Lately theres been about 1 horror movie a year that I end up really enjoying (Haute Tension, Severance, The Descent, etc; ).

Rad14

I think it's simply that its all been done too many times!

Don't get me wrong, I love the horror genre and am a sucker time and again for its offerings, but most of them are rubbish, low budget, slasher vehicles with a group of faceless teens being chased and/or carved up.

As others have said, now and then a "good" one comes out, but lets face it, sadly they are few and far between.

Brent L

Then people aren't trying hard enough. I wasn't alive back when the two films I'm about to mentioned were first released, but I think this will be a decent point. Were people as scared to take a shower before Psycho as they were after it was released? Were people as scared of getting eaten alive by a shark before Jaws was released? Or heck, were people as freaked out by demons and exorcisms before The Exorcist?

While it obviously works when done right, instead of films based on things that people in the mainstream are already freaked out by, we need films that lead to people being freaked out by after they watch the movie.

Gunde

Hopefully that's about to change. This years korean 'Black House' and 'Epitaph' are supposed to be quite good. And no long-haired female spirits.

There has also been several great thai horror flicks the last couple of years.

nateman

The Horror genre is in a huge rut & it doesn’t look like it’s going to get out of it anytime soon.

Out of all the horror movies this year, Disturbia was about the only one at least half decent. It wasn’t original but at least it wasn’t The Hitcher, Dead Silence & the all the other mediocre piece of sh*t that’s been produced in the past 2 years. But in the end, Disturbia was a Rear Window remake or “update”.

The Saw franchise IS the horror genre currently & it’s about the only franchise that hasn’t been run into the ground yet.

If they aren’t going to come up with something original anymore, can we at least see another Friday the 13th or Chucky movie? I think The Chucky franchise is the only franchise that has been around for a long time that hasn’t been milked as much as say Halloween, Friday the 13th, The Amityville Horror, etc…

I’m sure the next time we see a somewhat original horror movie; Saw will already have been milked to death by LionsGate.

RichC2

I've only seen Shutter in the past couple years, otherwise Thai horror has been flying under my radar, what other ones are there?

I heard about Black House and Epitaph but haven't really read anything recently about how good/bad they are.

Brent L

What we need is a truly great horror-western. Not just some cheap, poorly made flick set in the old west with horror elements, but something where you can tell they spent a lot of time and care for the screenplay, production, casting, and everything else. I have a feeling that a horror flick like that could end up being a huge deal.

RichC2

I'm waiting for a Civil War or Western remake of Onibaba, heh.

Kicker_of_Elves

I've got an idea. But i can't tell you it. Sorry.

JaxComet

The plus side to horror films is that even when they're bad they're normally still watchable. A bad drama or comedy.....not so much.

I'm much more likely to blind buy a horror DVD than anything else.

nateman

I forgot to mention this but I think the Horror/Comedy Genre is a new platform that the studios should start aims for. Shaun of the Dead is a great example of this & a 2004’s indi comedy/horror flick; Dead & Breakfast (now on DVD) was pretty good as well.

I agree with JaxComet in that I blind buy horror movies on DVD more than any other film genre.

Brent L

I was talking to my cousin the other day how it can be so hard to get a truly great horror or comedy flick, and I'm talking the sort that receive critical acclaim, just great reviews across the board. Then I thought of Shaun of the Dead, which pretty much was equal parts horror and comedy, and it did both at the same time.

RichC2

Indeed, Shaun of the Dead is the best Rom-Zom-Com of our time!

Shannon Nutt

I'd pay to see a remake of My Fair Lady where Eliza Doolittle got hacked up with a chainsaw.

FRwL

It's not a lack of ideas that's keeping this period from being another '70s, it's just that those ideas are being ignored by studios who instead care about money and prefer to have remakes and copies instead of take chances like back then. Filmmakers didn't suddenly get creative in the 70s, it's always been there, every decade could be another 70s if given the chance.

dhmac

I can't be the only one who thinks that Saw is awful, and is a movie that's more of an indication of what's wrong with current Horror Movies than what's right. (In other words, focusing more on gory torture and moronic plot twists instead of building actual scary tension.)