KMC Forums - the three generations of horror, what do you say?

If we were to compare the story telling craft of the old time horror thrillers from today (by today i mean horror form the 80'-present) to horror flicks of yesteryear (30's-50s, To horror renaisance 60's-70's) Which era would prevail as the most atmospheric and gripping? Older horror from the 30's to the 50's had to rely on story telling and writing to tell the stories as well as having a guideline of restricted violence to follow. I would also venture to say that most horror flicks of the day were geared almost completely towards the younger audience. However, the thrillers are what really perservered from this era. So does the storytelling, innovative directing and fine scripts out way the lack of raw violence, and unkown character direction?

Now the 60's through the 70's started a type of revolution in the content that was included. There was almost a complete disregard in the type of content that was included into the movies. This began a type of renaissance in horror movies. Be it the social ills ofthe day, the contained self expression on the public or the sophistication of the movie going audience. There started not only a mainstream outlet for horror movies but also a type of sub outlet which was the grindhouse exploitation flicks. This era really captured and started the genesis mixture of the sarcastic, comedic,cynical and exagerated gore movies. The story telling in this era as far as i can tell became an unrestrained mixture of innovation and complete abodonment. We had movies focusing on nothing but devopling outlandish circumstances on how gore could become the main character and drive of the movies. However, there were also movies that used this freedom into capturing horrific images with a slightly exagerated storyline, resulting in a disturbing piece of work. So Does, the innovation of gore and accepted outlet violnce inspire movies that rank above the movies from the golden age which relied on story telling more than anything?

Now we have the era which is most widely known the 80's to present. The 80's seemed to market the gore aspect as violent movies became acknolwedged as a popluar commodity. Though most of the popular slasher flicks were birthed from fairly decent movies with original story idea's They were recognized as being potential cash cows which in return were turned into mindless sequals, delivering gore with few scares. The popularity of these sequals spawned the slasher trend which almost put the horror genre on pause as far as originality is concearned. I know however, that the slasher movies are not the only horror flicks that came from this era, but is mainly known for these types of movies. Under the slasher craze, there was brewing a new monster of horror. Taking the psychological and violent aspect of movies from the 60's and 70's, there were filmakers advancing on these tactics to combine the horror genre with a way sending out a message in their movies. Now we enter the ninties, even though the slasher trend is still alive and well, there is also a second market that consists of a melting pot of all types of horror movies that seemed to follow no specific formula, but more of a mixture of what worked in the past to tell a contemperary story of frights. This seems atleast to me, what we have today, A melting pot of many different styles of horror movies, I am not going to say there is no originality in horror movies today, just that horror movies are using past tactics in making their own unidentifiable style. However, now that horror has been recognized as profitable market, most studio's only green light horror movies which follow sucessfull formula's, but there are still a few gems that fall into the completly innovative and original market.

So what are some of your thoughts...Which era best captures what a horror movie is and should be? or is it not that simple...If it is not this simple for you, simply suggest which era for you has your favorite horror flicks?

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