Devils in the detail: Why is the film industry still so afraid of horror? – The Independent

Theres a horror film renaissance happening. Psychodramas on trauma, haunting commentaries on social issues, and new takes on the genres gothic roots are starting to change the landscape of a category critics have long turned their noses up at.

Year on year, despite horror being responsible for some of the highest-grossing films, its the biopics, war films and dramas that carry clout come awards season. This years Oscar nominations snubbed Jordan Peeles pitch-black comedy Us. As a middle-class mother and her disturbed doppelgnger, Lupita Nyongoo gave two of the best performances last year in one film but she was overlooked for Best Actress, and the film didnt get a look in for Best Picture either.

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The Oscars dysfunctional relationship with horror is nothing new; ever since James Whales 1935 monster movie Bride of Frankenstein, seminal films have been continually passed over in the big categories.

Alfred Hitchcock broke the mould with Psycho. The epochal slasher was nominated for Best Director in 1960, marking the directors fifth and final nomination in that category. Despite multiple nods, the anointed master of suspense did not win a single Academy Award in his lifetime. Rebecca (1940) was the only one of his 52 movies that took home Best Film, and that was claimed by the movies producer David O Zelznick instead.

Years later, Roman Polanskis adaptation of the Ira Levin novel Rosemarys Baby was nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay but didnt win. While it was a landmark nod for the underrated genre, film critics were quick to caveat their praise with a dismissal of horror, summoning as many multi-hyphen terms as needed to avoid it. Penelope Gilliat, film critic for The New Yorker, described it as a gynaecological gothic, while Charles Chaplin of the Los Angeles Times, said it was too well done to be a horror movie. Even in a 2018 retrospective of the film, Varietys chief film critic Owen Glieberman wrote: It doesnt play like a horror film Rosemarys Baby is its own unique category of Goth new-Hollywood metropolis banality-of-evil nightmare.

Gliebermans comment that its a more powerful film the more you get away from characterising it in a genre does ring true although probably not in the way he intended. Horror has long been thought of as a second-rate category code for cheap and formulaic so it makes sense that the more hyphens a movie maker can put between their work and horror, the better position it will be in for critical recognition.

After Polanskis nomination, it was another 45 years before a horror movie was first nominated for the holy grail of Oscars: Best Picture. Although William Blattys The Exorcist (1974) didnt win the coveted title, it did take home two awards but only by hoodwinking the Academy. Steering clear of the H-word, Blatty called his work a supernatural detective story, and the films director described it as a mystery of faith. Linda Blair, the movies star, put the final nail in the thematic coffin when she declared, Anybody who thinks this is a horror movie is wrong.

But if The Exorcist a film about a possessed child that traumatised audiences isnt a horror movie, then what is?

The following year, Steven Spielbergs thrilling shark attack film Jaws was the second horror film (depending on how hard and fast your definition of horror is) to be nominated for Best Picture. It won three of its four categories, but lost Best Picture to Milos Formans One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest.

In 1992, The Silence of the Lambs became the first, and to this day only, horror movie to win Best Picture. Jonathan Demmes horror-thriller, starring Jodie Foster as a young FBI cadet caught up with Anthony Hopkinss cannibalistic psychologist, cleaned up at the ceremony. Again, though, be sure to read the fine print. Ted Tally, who picked up Best Adapted Screenplay, rejected the films classification as horror, favouring detective movie or thriller instead.

Nitpicking the iotas that make a film horror, thriller or even gynaecological gothic may be much of a muchness, but the ousting of horror does a disservice to its massive cultural impact. Reducing horror to escapism and jump-scares ignores its ability to explore politics and social issues, and its capacity to wrestle with psychology and win.

Funny Games places the horror in the familiar setting of home. It follows two young men who hold a family hostage and torture them with sadistic games. The result is far scarier than anything featuring ghosts, witches or demons.

Concorde-Castle Rock/Turner

The Amityville Horror is based on the true story of the Lutzes, a family who were run out of their home after being terrorised by paranormal phenomena in 1975. Just one year before, Ronald DeFeo Jr shot and killed six members of his family in the same house. James Brolin and Margot Kidder lead this film, which became one of the biggest hits of 1979.

American International Pictures

Japanese horror Audition (1999) follows a widower who meets a woman named Ayoma after staging auditions to meet a potential new partner. Soon, though, her dark past begins to surface, which equates to a pretty disturbing climax.

Omega Project

Although parodied to death, The Blair Witch Project popularised the found-footage format to terrifying degrees in 1999. People genuinely believed they were watching real clips of three student filmmakers being terrorised by a Maryland legend known as the Blair Witch.

Artisan Entertainment

Black-and-white silent horror film The Cabinet of Dr Caligari (1920) is considered the quintessential work of German Expressionism, but also one of the scariest films in cinema history. It follows a hypnotist (Werner Krauss) who uses a somnambulist to commit murders, and Wiene's shadowed sets and striking visual style combines to unsettle the viewer in ways most filmmakers only dream of managing.

Decla-Bioscop

A contemporary classic of horror cinema, 1992 film Candyman which spawned two sequels and has a Jordan Peele-produced remake in the works follows a graduate student whose studies lead her to the legend of a ghost who appears when you say his name three times.

TriStar Pictures

Extreme enough to warrant a ban in Italy and Australia, Cannibal Holocaust (1980) was one of the first films to embrace the found-footage format so much so that Deodato found himself charged with multiple counts of murder due to rumours that several of the film's death scenes were real. He was later cleared.

United Artists Europa

Released in 2005, The Descent follows six women who, upon exploring a cave, battle to survive against the creatures they find inside. It's these creatures that earn this British horror film's placement on this list.

Path Distribution

One of the most controversial films of all time, The Exorcist which tells the story of the demonic possession of a 12-year-old girl named Regan (Linda Blair) became the first horror to be nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars in 1974.

Warner Bros

Sure, it may be dated, but John Carpenter's original Halloween film released in 1978 remains the daddy of all horrors. It re-defined the rule book and has been emulated in everything from Scream (1996) to Trick 'r Treat (2007). The tension, as babysitter Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) attempts to evade masked murderer Michael Myers, only heightens with every new watch.

Compass International Pictures[

Proving that horror is a force to be reckoned with, Hereditary became independent distributor A24's highest-grossing film around the world upon its release in 2018. It tells the story of a family who find themselves haunted after the death of their secretive grandmother and features a final act that left many of its viewers with sleepless nights.

A24

The House of the Devil (2009) follows a student named Samantha who is hired to guard an isolated house with one rule: don't go upstairs. For most of the film's runtime, not much happens, which is what makes the action-packed final third so terrifying. Spoiler: she goes upstairs.

MPI Media Group

Based upon Henry James' chiller The Turn of the Screw, the plot of 1961 psychological horror film The Innocents concerns a governess who watches over two children and comes to fear that their large estate is haunted by ghosts and that the youngsters are being possessed.

20th Century Fox

Forget the effects-laden remake this version of It, released as a miniseries in 1986, is the most terrifying adaptation of Stephen King's beloved novel to date. It follows a shapeshifting demon who takes the form of a sadistic child-killing clown named Pennywise (Tim Curry).

Lorimar Productions

Japanese horror maestro Takashi Shimizu who also directed the pretty scary 2005 remake starring Sarah Michelle Gellar balances mystery with horror in Ju-On: The Grudge, a story based in a cursed house in Tokyo.

Lions Gate Films

To describe the horrors of Kill List is to ruin the film's surprises, but let's just say this: the final 20 minutes of Ben Wheatley's violent drama from 2011 features some of the most unsettling scenes in any film from this decade.

Optimum Releasing

Taking the form of a mockumentary, the little-seen Australian drama Lake Mungo may have received a limited release in 2008, but its story of a family attempting to come to terms with the drowning of their daughter stays with viewers long after.

Arclight Films

The polarising 2008 film Martyrs, often associated with the New French Extremity movement, is the kind of horror that leaves you needing a shower once the credits roll. It follows a young woman's quest for revenge on the people who kidnapped and tormented her as a child.

Anchor Bay Films

Younger viewers may be desensitised by the more extreme horror films to have been released in recent decades, but the scares featured in Romero's Night of the Living Dead including the young girl zombie reveal remain some of the most chilling committed to celluloid.

Continental Distributing

Alongside Cesare in The Cabinet of Dr Caligari (1920), the character of vampire Count Orlok in 1922 film Nosferatu played by Mac Schreck remains one of the most spine-tingling in cinema history.

Film Arts Guild

Produced by Guillermo del Toro, this acclaimed 2007 chiller follows the disappearance of a young boy in an orphanage, which brings many of the building's terrifying secrets to the fore.

Warner Bros Pictures de Espaa

The Others (2001) is a towering achievement for Spanish filmmaker Alejandro Amenbar who wrote, directed and scored this Nicole Kidman-fronted tale about a woman trying to protect her children from supernatural forces. It's perhaps the scariest 12-certificate film of all time.

Warner Sogefilms

Could Paranormal Activity be the scariest film of all time? It's certainly one of them. Just when you thought found-footage had had its day, Oren Peli's small-budgeted festival favourite became one of 2009's biggest hits. Audiences lapped up the story of a couple who capture supernatural presences on a camera in their own home.

Paramount Pictures[

Paranormal Activity 3 earns its place on this list for its final 10 minutes. Set 18 years prior to the events of the first two films, we see the cause of the curse that follows characters Katie and Kristi for the rest of their lives and it's down to a coven of witches led by their grandmother.

Paramount Pictures

Played out in real-time, the claustrophobic Spanish horror film [REC] is one of the better examples of found-footage cinema. Released in 2007, it follows a reporter and her cameraman who follow firefighters to a Barcelona building and soon find themselves locked inside with its occupants who are displaying murderous behaviour.

Filmax International

Unless you've been living under a rock, you know the story of Ring by now: viewers of a cursed videotape die seven days after watching it. While the inevitable Hollywood remake in 2002 was better than it had any right to be, Nakata's original is as terrifying as horror films come.

Toho

Released in 1968, Rosemary's Baby follows a pregnant woman who suspects that an evil cult want to take her baby for use in their rituals. Mia Farrow, John Cassavetes and Ruth Gordon's performances tip this psychological chiller into classic status.

Paramount Pictures

Forget the iconic "Heeeeere's Johnny" or that bath scene it's the smaller moments that make Kubrick's 1980 adaptation of Stephen King's The Shining a terrifying watch, notably the trippy final act that sees Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson) lose his mind to the Overlook Hotel.

Warner Bros

Of all the Blumhouse horror films, 2012 release Sinister which features the demonic character Bughuul is the spookiest of them all. It stars Ethan Hawke as a true-crime writer who discovers a box of home movies depicting grisly murders in the attic of his new house.

Momentum Pictures

This little-seen Spanish horror follows a concierge who, believing he was born without the ability to feel happiness, decides to make life hell for everyone around him.

Filmax

The fictional Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974), marketed as a true story, follows a group of cannibals including Leatherface who relentlessly hunt down a group of friends.

Vortex

Many might not reflect upon 28 Days Later (2002) as one of the world's scariest horror films, but its desolate depiction of a viral outbreak seems more real than any other. When merged with the fast-paced infected and the usage of John Murphy's song "In the House In A Heartbeat", it's hard to deny it such status.

Fox Searchlight Pictures

Directed by six filmmakers, including Adam Wingard and Ti West, 2012 anthology film V/H/S is grimy horror of the tallest order. Look no further than David Bruckner's section "Amateur Night" following three friends who meet a mysterious girl who says nothing other than three small words: "I like you."

Magnet Releasing

Twist-filled horror drama The Wailing follows a policeman who investigates a series of mysterious killings and illness in the mountains of South Korea. If the journey fails to scare you, its destination will leave you lying awake at night.

20th Century Fox Korea

The Wicker Man is deemed the best British horror film of all time for a reason. It tells the story of a Police Sergeant who travels to an isolated island in search of a missing girl, only to find its inhabitants practising a form of Celtic paganism.

British Lion Films

For the most part, it's not what you see in The Witch that terrifies, it's what you don't see. Eggers unsettlingly holds his camera a fraction too long in places as he retells the story of a Separatist family who encounter supernatural forces in the woods beyond their farm.

A24

The horrors are all too real in Zero Day, a film inspired by the Columbine High School massacre in 1999. The majority of the film is portrayed through the video diaries of two students who are planning to attack their high school.

Avatar Films

Funny Games places the horror in the familiar setting of home. It follows two young men who hold a family hostage and torture them with sadistic games. The result is far scarier than anything featuring ghosts, witches or demons.

Concorde-Castle Rock/Turner

The Amityville Horror is based on the true story of the Lutzes, a family who were run out of their home after being terrorised by paranormal phenomena in 1975. Just one year before, Ronald DeFeo Jr shot and killed six members of his family in the same house. James Brolin and Margot Kidder lead this film, which became one of the biggest hits of 1979.

American International Pictures

Japanese horror Audition (1999) follows a widower who meets a woman named Ayoma after staging auditions to meet a potential new partner. Soon, though, her dark past begins to surface, which equates to a pretty disturbing climax.

Omega Project

Although parodied to death, The Blair Witch Project popularised the found-footage format to terrifying degrees in 1999. People genuinely believed they were watching real clips of three student filmmakers being terrorised by a Maryland legend known as the Blair Witch.

Artisan Entertainment

Black-and-white silent horror film The Cabinet of Dr Caligari (1920) is considered the quintessential work of German Expressionism, but also one of the scariest films in cinema history. It follows a hypnotist (Werner Krauss) who uses a somnambulist to commit murders, and Wiene's shadowed sets and striking visual style combines to unsettle the viewer in ways most filmmakers only dream of managing.

Decla-Bioscop

A contemporary classic of horror cinema, 1992 film Candyman which spawned two sequels and has a Jordan Peele-produced remake in the works follows a graduate student whose studies lead her to the legend of a ghost who appears when you say his name three times.

TriStar Pictures

Extreme enough to warrant a ban in Italy and Australia, Cannibal Holocaust (1980) was one of the first films to embrace the found-footage format so much so that Deodato found himself charged with multiple counts of murder due to rumours that several of the film's death scenes were real. He was later cleared.

United Artists Europa

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Devils in the detail: Why is the film industry still so afraid of horror? - The Independent

Reviewed and Recommended by Erik Baquero