Wednesday 13 June 2007

Is horror dead?

Much had been written about Hostel Part II prior to its Stateside opening last week. Some of it, regarding the film's perceived exploitation of women and place in the "torture porn" market, was very negative. But if you believe the old adage about all publicity being good publicity, I'm sure there were some big grins at Chez Roth and his Lionsgate chums. Alas, all that bluster only amounted to just under $9million for its opening weekend. That was less than 28 Weeks Later last month which made nearer $10million. What does it mean? Is horror dead? Probably not. Like every great horror movie villain, and many of the terrible ones too, horror as a genre constantly resurrects itself. But clearly, for now, the market doesn't want horror. Of any variety. The LA Times has a good article about this at http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/movies/la-et-horror9jun09,0,6480504.

So, is horror dead? No. It's just resting...

2 comments:

Unknown said...

slightly left of your point is the debate of whether Hostel, Saw, Turistas and the like are, more specifically, slasher films. horror would be films that deal with the supernatural and things beyond human reality (zombie movies, nightmare on elm street type stuff). i think to lump hostel into horror makes it weak. but as a slasher film it might be at the top.

of course, this is purely speculation on my part as i have never and will never see the movie. i like my vacations and far off islands with sunny beaches are places of rest and relaxation. leave your psychos offa them, damn you eli roth!!

Mark Salisbury said...

You make a fair point. Horror, as a genre, does tend to encompass many different sub-genres and Hostel would slip into the slasher pot. But from a business point of view, Hollywood execs are probably looking at the disappointing openings of movies like 28 Weeks Later and Hostel and lumping them together and proclaiming that horror, for now at least, isn't working with audiences. How that reflects on the box office performance of 30 Days Of Night, The Invasion and even I Am Legend remains to be seen. And, of course, there's the upcoming Saw IV...