by Jeff Mount

Created on: January 27, 2009

Modern day horror movies rely largely on gimmicks and gore rather than good cinematography and a good old fashioned plot.

The 'Saw' series sums things up pretty well for this argument. The original movie was pretty good, but every one since then has been increasingly lame and formulaic. There is absolutely nothing of any redeeming quality in these movies other than shock value. I am not scared when I see somebody's tongue being ripped out and fed to the family cat, but it does make my stomach turn.

Modern horror movies are seemingly more concerned with turning our stomachs than scaring us because, let's face it, it's just a whole lot easier to take the easy, gory way out rather than actually take the time to write a creative and inventive script. It could be a generational thing, but I have a hard time believing that people really want to see torture and gore compared to watching a compelling plot that creeps the heck out of them.

Unfortunately, gore sells. The proof is in the box office numbers and until things change we will get more of it slopped onto our movie-going laps. It seems like a horror movie will generate an audience just because it is a horror movie, and it's sort of 'hip' to see horror movies right now. The shelves of Blockbuster and Hollywood Video are lined with absolutely horrible horror movies that are rented just because their cover is enticing. I mean, these things are really garbage. I've fallen victim to this myself, you walk down the aisle and a grisly picture catches your eye on a DVD: a witch with a bloody severed head in her hand, and you think, "Wow, this one looks great!" Then you get home, put the movie in, and are so bored by the low budget, bad acting, dog manure movie you just rented that you absolutely have to take it out and watch Two and a Half Men. For shame, Hollywood.

This is not to say there haven't been some gems in the last few years. 'The Blair Witch Project', 'The Ring', 'The Grudge', 'Touristas', and 'The House of 1000 Corpses' were all very good in my opinion. However, give me the old horror movies like 'The Shining' (original version of course, although the made for TV one wasn't all that bad either), 'Amityville Horror', 'Rosemary's Baby', 'Burnt Offerings', or 'The Changeling' over any horror movie that's come out in the last 10 years. These movies not only had a creative plot, but they also created an incredibly creepy, eerie mood through their music and cinematography.

Hopefully someday horror movies will return to their original form. Until then however, enjoy another five or six installments of 'Saw' (barf).

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