The 21 first century has been BAD, and I mean BAD in horror. Just as the 90's were. But while the 90's was filled with Scream movies wannabe, the 21 first century is filled with stupid and pointless remake. The originality isn't there anymore, at least in Hollywood. What some people seem to forget, is that most of us horror fans have seen the originals, so the remakes have NO impact on us. How the **** are we supposed to be scare by a story we already know ? The only horror remake that ever succeed to do so, was the Thing remake by Carpenter. And that happened because Carpenter, while a big fan of the original one, didn't follow the original movie at all, and instead went to the original source for inspiration (the short story in this case)
Nowadays, Hollywood is in the worse shape it has ever been as far as horror goes. Nearly no talented filmmakers goes into horror anymore. Where's the spielberg (jaws), Cronenberg (the fly), Carpenter (Thing, Halloween), Kubrick (shining), Ridley Scott (alien) of todays ? All the best horror movies weren't made by unknows, but rather by some of the greatest filmmakers there was.
What if directors like Del Torro would go full horror with a new project ? What if he really tried to scare the audience for a whole movie ? What if scenes like the one with the Pale man in Pan's labyrinth populated the whole movie instead ? What if Scorsese would try horror ? What if Cronenberg would come back to the genre ? Or Ridley Scott ? Why isn't Shyamalan trying to make a fullblown horror movie instead of suspense movies with some horror elements in them ?? That's what's been missing. That's why horror has suck, at least in Hollywood, for the last 20 years. Some people have mentionned the ring remake and 28 days later. These are some of the rare exceptions, but both of their problems were that they had no originality in their script. The ring was a replica of his original self. Where's the fun in that ? Where's Carpenter's terrific unpredictable changes here ? 28 days later was already on a better track, taking the zombie theme on a whole new level. The second half felt like a cheap Day of the dead rippoff, which killed the movie for me back then, but then again I haven't watched it since I saw it in theatres. I still respect the movie more than nearly anything else that came out these last 20 years.
Now, the worse is, if Hollywood is in bad shape, we should be able to find interesting horror movies that surface everywhere in the world, wouldn't we ? But unfortunately, the rest of the world isn't doing that much better. Japan had a great boom with the original The ring, and soon follewed by the even more scary (but less original) Ju-On back then. Ju-on brough the fear of small houses, being confined and mixed it with ghosts. It was brilliant. Until they decided to do 3 sequels and 2 remakes. Heh. Same with the ring. And then what happened in japan ? They decided to make EVERY horror movies in those shapes. Horror in Japan has become a joke, unfortunately. And what's worse ? Hollywood are remaking every thing from back there. What's worse than a japanese rippoff of another japanese rippoff movie ? An hollywood remake of a japanese movie that was a rippoff of another japanese movie. Now THAT'S an horrific though!
The eye was great! The first half of the eye was such a successful horror experience from the Pang brothers. Just as good as the ring and Ju-on. Of course, they had to destroy the second part and make it into a redemption movie, where everything is explained and fixed. I hated that. Still like the movie, and still think, while partly a failure, it is one of the only good horror movie of the last ten years out there, imo.
And then there's the descent. I'd put it up there with the eye and the others. Just like the eye, it had a great first half, and a very disappointing second one. I liked the second part, but it killed all the suspense and scares it build in the first half. In the first half, the director was able to bring the claustrophobia fear to the audience so well. Such a feat to do! I was in awe! And if you are already scare when there are no monsters, can you imagine later ? But no, the fear and the claustrophobia all go away in the second half. It becomes something else, more of an action sci-fi thriller than an horror movie. I was rather disappointed. Still a pretty good horror flick, though, for the simple reason the first half succeed so well, which is more than nearly every other horror movies out there.
So, I'd say we have the original The ring, the original Ju-on, the original The eye (also being remade right now, with Jessica Alba. Bwaha. So sad, yet so funny), the descend and 28 days later.
Saw was good too, I guess. Hills have eyes had one hell of a great direction by Alexandre Aja. But the script was pretty bad, and unscary. Worse, it was a remake of a movie that was already a rippoff of Texas Chainsaw massacre. Bad idea, imo.
Silent hill ? I love the monster costumes. Such a success! I find the game ****ing scary, and so well done. So much potential in there. But the movie was a huge disappointment. Gans is no horror director. He just doesn't get it. You cannot scare people with 3D coackroaches! That guy should get an award for ruinning scenes with creatures so well done. How he could fell is beyond me.
Where should horror movie go ? In the ends of GOOD director and good writers. Really, it is as simple as this.
I'm looking foward to Stephen King's the mist, personally. The director is Frank Darabont, a great director who made The Shawshank Redemption and the Green mile. The movie is an adaptation of one of the greatest and scariest Stephen King story. The FX will be done by the people who did Pan's Labyrinth. And the cast is shaping really well.
Del Torro is also interested in adapting a Lovecraft novel. How incredible that would be I cannot even begin to imagine it.
