No one will be surprised by the fact that 2025 is being proclaimed golden year of horror films. All horror films are a reflection of their time, and ours is pretty scary.
Tech dystopia means Frankenstein's monster has become synonymous with artificial intelligence, and Bram Stoker's monster Dracula has always relied on a dark brand of English xenophobia. So it's no coincidence that these 19th-century gothic villains, stars of the earliest horror films of the 1920s and '30s, are returning to theaters in new adaptations from directors. Guillermo del Toro And Luc Besson. Maggie Gyllenhaal will release another Frankenstein. Bride!next year.
Blood-sucking vampires and dead-eyed zombies have long been considered the monsters of capitalism that emerge in times of economic gloom. This may explain why SinnersSouthern Gothic vampire mashup by Ryan Coogler and 28 years laterthe third installment in Danny Boyle and Alex Garland's zombie franchise struck such a nerve. As the philosopher Slavoj Zizek said: watched: “It is much easier to imagine the end of all life on Earth than much more modest radical changes in capitalism.”
Horror films tap into our most primal fears, but they are also uniquely able to embody the anxieties of each new era. Emerging from German Expressionism after World War I, the genre flourished against the backdrop of the Vietnam War in the late 1960s and 70s; The AIDS epidemic and rampant consumerism led to the awakening of vampires in the 80s.
The superhero seemed to reign supreme over the multiplexes of the 21st century. But during the dark times, the emergence of “elevated horror”—horror films with social commentary—finally overthrew their dominance. Horror films much cheaper to produce, which attracts young filmmakers and encourages experimentation. It has become an unlikely vehicle for exploring issues like race, class and gender that have been overlooked by big, risk-averse studios.
Horror also attracts more womenboth the filmmakers and the audience. Last year's Oscar winner Substance Coralie Farjat and Jane Schoenbrun I saw the TV light touched on topics of misogyny, celebrity and gender dysphoria. Movie theaters associate this new wave of horror auteurs with Jordan Peele's 2017 horror satire. Get outreleased a year after President Trump won his first term.
Catharsis, escapism, and the perverse comfort of a worst-case scenario all go some way to explaining the “horror paradox”: why we love being made to feel fear. Steven Soderbergh's 2011 pandemic thriller. Infectionwas one of the most downloaded films of 2020. Horror has helped bring fans back to theaters post-Covid. While we watch the latest dramas on the couch, there is community and safety in being scared together.
Faced with the all-too-real horror of war, the existential consequences of the climate emergency, and fears about where AI might take us, it's no wonder that sometimes we want to go into a dark room and scream. As J. G. Ballard put it: “The highest dystopia is the inside of your own head.” Dr. Coltan Scrivner, a behavioral scientist, agrees. “You walk around behind a mask of calm, but inside your mind is a labyrinth of worries,” he writes in morbidly curiousa new book exploring our fascination with the macabre. “Horror allows you to remove the mask.” This Halloween, the darkest genre has risen again to suit the moment.
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