I’m bad at acknowledging the 1960’s–much less anything before the 1960’s!–ever happened.

Which, honestly, is pretty generous of me! I was born in 1980, so I don’t even have any tangible proof that the 1970’s happened either, but I’ve decided to allow them into my thinking. I used to be relatively anti-The-1970’s, but I have since realized the 1960’s is where I actually hold most of my disdain. After all, the 1970’s had some boss movies, and that’s what really matters. The jury is still out on the 1960’s. According to Letterboxd, I’ve seen only six films from these alleged “1960’s”; though, to be fair, two of them are a solid 4.0 out of 5.0 (Yojimbo and The Time Machine). That’s a 33% success rate at great movies as far as I know, so I guess I should forgive the wildly overrated music and lifestyle.

Why am I talking about this? Well, my INTENTION is to talk about Horror In The 2020’s here today, and I thought I might preamble into that by describing horror in each decade leading up to where we are now.

And by “leading up to where we are now”, it turns out that I would have meant “from the 1970’s to the 2010’s”. Because that’s, you know, when things started mattering. The 1970’s are basically considered, with one movie or another, to have invented the Slasher subgenre of Horror, and really… can horror be considered to have existed before the Slasher subgenre? Probably not. It’s the best subgenre! Unless we count the humble Horror-Comedy.

(That said, there are some folks that consider 1960’s Peeping Tom an originator of the Slasher subsect of films, and I should probably watch that someday to formulate my own thoughts)

This is sure discounting the Universal Horror era of horror, I suppose. Dracula and The Wolf Man and Bride Of Frankenstein and all that. Those are from well before the 1970’s. How do I describe that era? When horror wasn’t scary, but was revolutionary in adapting famous material and characters to the screen? I mean, I guess I just did it. But that wasn’t one solid decade; those films spread from the 1930’s to the 1950’s.

So anyway, let’s forget the past and talk about the 2020’s!

The 2020’s, as far as horror goes, has been a wildly up-and-down decade. I’m certainly watching MORE horror than I ever have before thanks to our old friends at Shudder, Screambox, and Tubi. Honestly, I’m watching more of every type of movie than I ever used to, but ESPECIALLY Horror. It’s wild that there are multiple streaming services specifically dedicated to the genre, and others still that specialize in it. On the unfortunate side of things, though, that means the quality of what I’m seeing is all over the map!

Let’s start with the bad.

I feel like a lot of what I watch are lower budget, independent efforts. And those can be great! I’m not inherently saying those are bad, but we’ll touch on that in a second. I have noticed a lot of these movies are wildly similar, as they attempt to make up for a lack of budget by trying to create an “atmosphere”. They rely on camera tricks and slow pacing and subdued acting to try to create a creepy sensation in the viewer.

This can absolutely work! But when you see it done over and over again, it starts to feel a bit tedious. It’s always some boring ass demon or malevolent presence, and his haunting is glacially paced and mostly involves creepy noises. There’s always a protagonist character returning to some paternal figure or residence of their youth, and it’s all an off-shoot of “folk horror” these days.

These movies lack a sense of joy about them. They are so dour and moody, and they think that their precious atmosphere is everything. It makes it feel like filmmaking isn’t even fun. Not every horror flick needs to be the aforementioned horror-comedy, but I at least want to feel some kind of positive energy from the experience. I want to think, “Man, this must have been fun to make!”, not “Man, I bet everyone behind the camera was frowning and quiet the whole time”.

Make Horror Fun Again!

There have, thankfully, been several 2020’s independent horror pictures that, despite being light on budget or experienced talent, have managed to remind us that horror isn’t all about a doom and gloom atmosphere and spooky, like, doorways or some shit. Movies like Sissy or Unwelcome or Visitors or See For Me or The Closet all came out to various streaming services from various countries this decade and did better than others at stretching their money and ability further than it should go. They were all a blast!

It’s why the wife and I always joke about Shudder Roulette; you really never know what you are going to get when you go on a streamer and find some indie picture to take in. But the good stuff is fantastic, so at least there is that.

Some of my favorite movies of the 2020’s have been the aforementioned offerings. So what is the grade on low budget, straight-to-streaming horror? Honestly, I love it. Even when it’s bad, I love it. Sure it can be repetitive and boring at times, but the good outweighs the bad, and I genuinely love all horror. Are most of the worst movies I see from a given year these outings? Yes. But I still find it in me to appreciate them.

So where does that leave theatrical horror this decade?

Look, I love going to the cinema. And I have the AMC Stubs A*List monthly subscription to prove it. But something has happened since COVID-19 came and went, and it’s that we as a society have become barbarians. Going to the theater nowadays is a crapshoot! Will it be a good time? Will it be an abject nightmare? It’s hard to say! But, for whatever reason, horror is where the terrible crowds strike the hardest.

The three worst theatrical experiences of my life have been when I’ve seen M3GAN, Evil Dead Rise, and The Strangers: Chapter Two. Which, let’s face it: probably my own fault for seeing The Strangers in cinema on that last one. Who does that? But I have had three abhorrent experiences, and they were all for horror outings, and all since COVID.

Does Horror just have the worst fans? Or does it draw out the bleakest crowds? Who knows? But it’s gotten to the point where I can only talk to my wife into going to the movies if we go at “off” times; i.e., not early evening on the weekend. She can no longer deal with people sitting next to her, taking off their shoes and socks, and lifting their feet up into her face (a real, actual thing that happened during The Strangers Chapter Two).

I’m not… I’m not talking about the actual quality of the movies this decade, am I? But it’s really hard to separate the experience from the film, you know?

I feel like a lot of theatrical horror has to be a commentary ON horror these days. Or some kind of meta take on the whole genre. Not all of it, obviously, but there are a lot of movies that you really can’t help but feel are taking the piss out of the entire thing we call “horror movies”.

The problem, such as it is, is that this can be done well, or it can be done amateurishly. Which you can say about anything, but it feels especially prominent here. Sometimes you get Hell Of A Summer, which was a really lazy lampooning of the slasher genre and Gen Z; sometimes you get The Blackening, which I thought was infinitely wittier, with much more to say.

Ultimately, I still love Horror, and I probably always will at this point. And I love that we live in a world where there is so much of it. And in the 2020’s, there are so many ways to enjoy it!

Is this decade going to be as classic as the 1970’s and 1980’s were for the genre? Almost undoubtedly it will not be. But I do think those decades are more top-heavy, whereas the 2020’s may actually be more well-rounded. Or I’m thinking that just because of, again, services like Shudder and Screambox and the omnipresence of voices online recommending movies to you. You don’t have to tape trade to see non-theatrical releases. They are right at your fingertips at home. That will never not be awe-inspiring to me.

I will say I might prefer the 2020’s against the 1990’s (the end of the slasher craze, that then led into a revival of haunted house and ghost movies), the 2000’s (the era of… ugh… torture-porn), and the 2010’s (a lot of films that focused on horror as an allegory). But again… am I just focused on the quantity? Who is to say?

Well, me. I’m to say. It’s my article.

Anyway, these Friday The 13th columns always get a little rambly, and this one is no different. But now I want to hear from you! What are your thoughts on 2020’s horror? What do you think of services like Shudder vis a vis hoping your local VHS renter has a good selection? And do you think the 1960’s actually happened? I’m still skeptical.

Until next time (which, Jesus, there’s another one of these NEXT MONTH?!)… take care!