As a lifelong horror fan, I have noticed that most of today's horror movies are very poor, and certainly not a patch on the old horror flicks like Universal, Hammer and Amicus. This troubles me, as with so much of this celluloid garbage being churned out all the time, it does not bode very well for the future of horror movies.
These are the main aspects of contemporary horror movies which, in my view, detract considerably from their enjoyment factor;
1. The Found Footage (I blame the boring Blair Witch Project for this explosion in shaky-camera syndrome).
2. Too many obnoxious, boozed-up, sex-mad teens (esp in the American horror movies).
3. Annoying flashbacks mixed in with puzzling intercuts of the plot.
4. Characters you don't sympathise with
5. Too much reliance on excessive blood and gore rather than concentrating on crafting a good, engrossing story
6. The stupid actions of the protagonists (e.g. WHY oh WHY do they ALWAYS run up the stairs to the bedroom or get into a car when the monster/psycho is chasing them? In real life, your nerves would just go and you would run like Billy O!).
Can you think of any more things that spoil modern horror movies?
Alan Toner
Horror Author
www.alantoner.com
