What Do Horror Fans Want?

Day Three of the Halloween edition of “What Do Horror Fans Want?” Today, we’re featuring one of my favorite bloggers/tweeters. He’s a lover of all things scary, lover of photography and just plan out lover! Jonathan Aldebot is the lack of brains behind The Reely Bored Blog; a blog that merely scratches of the surface of Horror. All because he was bored.*


Being a horror fan, I can say, without hesitation, that a lot of what’s being put out there these days is pure garbage and Hollywood is only out to make a buck. Who is their target audience? I would have to say blood & gore thirsty teens who simply go to these movies to laugh and disrupt other moviegoers from enjoying the movie experience! These are the same kids, teens young adults who categorize Twilight as a horror movie! Where I come from, horror was made to instill fear, not make you laugh and root for the villain! What greedy Hollywood execs have done is made such horror icons as Michael Myers, Freddy Krueger and Jason Voorhees heroes! WTF!

Don’t get me wrong, I get a kick out of some of these movies such as “Hatchet” where there is blood and limbs galore and “Freddy vs. Jason” where it was not meant to be taken serious in any way, shape or form. These types of movies are purposefully done so that the audience could care less about its characters and the only purpose they serve is to either A.) Be murdered (hopefully in cool fashion) or B.) Be either the hero or heroin. That’s it! However, such movies, a niche for lack of a better word, usually fall under the category of “For Horror Fans Only”! Is that a bad thing? Of course not, we are the ones who enjoy these movies and it us who may determine a films’ success or failure. Sure, these films are considered successful if it raked in $20 million in box office receipts and was made with a $500,000 budget. But, when I say successful, I mean respect and that is certainly what is lacking in the horror genre. Besides, who really wants their films judged on whether or not they had cool deaths? As a filmmaker, I want my film to be recognized for its story and its attempt at scaring an audience.

Oftentimes, from non-horror fans, I would hear people refer to the genre as stupid and unbelievable! Well, I say to them, it is a fucking movie! (Mind you these are the very same people who are clamoring to find a couple of good scary movies to watch for Halloween. If they’re so stupid, why bother?) That being said, I do understand where the notion of horror as being a sub-par genre comes from, what with films like “House of the Dead” and “Troll 2” under its belt; it’s no wonder why people don’t take the genre seriously. Funny thing is when someone who isn’t a fan of the genre is seeking a good film and you recommend one to them, they usually won’t like it because it didn’t have enough “action” a la blood and guts. I’ve heard this numerous times after someone has put down the John Carpenter classic “Halloween”! It angers me because of the lack of respect and recognition given to this film which is considered by many a classic film of the genre. What happened to it being a scary film? Because that’s as real as it can get! Psycho stalks babysitter. If that doesn’t terrify you, I don’t know what does. But no, this is a new era; a new era that has seen it all and with technology on the rise, old school horror is being left way behind.

CGI (Computer Generated Images) is my worst enemy. Yes, I’ll admit that at times it can work in horror but most of the time I find myself slapping my forehead and shaking my head with disgust! What happened to the good old days of practical effects which were used with great success in many films of yesteryear such as Carpenter’s “The Thing”? Instead, practical FX has been replaced by CGI which, in my opinion, just looks flat-out fake as hell! This new wave of horror solely depends on these films to provide for that cheap scare, aka the “jump scare” often accompanied by a loud noise and a cat. What happened to the suspense building, the real horror in a movie? For the most part it is all but gone. The only recent horror movie that, in my opinion, truly tried to frighten audiences was “The Blair Witch Project” & “Paranormal Activity”, in which my mom was terrified for a week after having watched this movie! These films are pretty damn good both because they emitted horror without showing much, the psychological horror that, when done right, is absolutely brilliant! (See also “Alien”). These films provide “subtle horror” where you wait and wait until a payoff and when you get it, it was well worth the journey!

So, Hollywood, are you going to continue to sell out with more sequels and remakes with hopes of some more big bucks or are you going to provide the audience with some originality and genuine scares, that is, horror!

A brief open letter to Hollywood:

Stop the CGI and plot-lacking horror films and stick to the suspense building, plot driven films with substance and thought provoking story-lines!

Sincerely,
Jona “ReelyBored” Aldebot

* – This message brought to you by Jona Aldebot