Monday 19 October 2015

The Thrill and Horror of it All

Over the last couple of generations the underlying fears for our safety as a whole have increased exponentially and horror films have kept pace. As an industry Horror is characterized by the attempt to make the audience experience dread, fear, terror, or horror. The film plots often involve the intrusion of an evil force, event or personage, sometimes of supernatural origin, on the mundane world and the consequences thereof. Horror movies are a sequence of events that depicts elements of horror and trauma. This cinematic genre incorporates a number of themes that include slashers, vampires, zombie, monsters, serial killers, alien mind control, evil children, animals attacking humans, haunted houses and a range of other fear-inspiring characters.

In the early days of the horror genre the stories were typically taken from legends and off beat stories of fright and fancy. In todays world all you have to do is look at the local news to find the perfect story line for an epic horror movie. It's this constant view into the darker side of human nature that fuels our fears and the horror industry. As a whole we tend not to discuss our deepest darkest fears and going to see a movie that addresses these fears is more often than not a subconscious need to release and deal with them.

These days Horror movies are getting faster, crazier and more bloodthirsty than ever before. If you look these films are keeping pace with the horrors and atrocities we see and have seen on the news from around the world. Massacres, genocide, serial killers and random acts of violence that make no sense to any normal human being. As the nature of these horrors have increased so to have our insecurities and the film industry has had no choice but to keep pace with the what if scenarios that run through peoples heads.

Some say that the horror industry is the cause of a lot of these fears and the degeneration of society as a whole. That people wouldn't commit these atrocities upon each other if they weren't exposed to it in film and on television. What these people forget is that film, TV, books and other media can only imitate reality not create it. The writes and directors take inspiration from the things they see in real life and create something that they can only hope will convey the emotions involved in the actual event.

Regardless, these fears are not going anywhere and we as a whole will seek out easy and socially acceptable ways to address them. In the various genres of horror, whether it's gore, splatter, exploitation, action, erotic or otherwise different fears and needs are addressed. Outside of the level of production this can be one of the major reasons for a films success. In a general sense the more widely held the fear the better the film will do.

Horror films are going nowhere because of their ability to penetrate and release those deep held and quite often irrational fears. It's the thrill and horror of it all that makes them so popular.

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