Hello and welcome to another issue of the Guide which – in Gwilym’s absence – is written by me and will accordingly be about one of my favourite things: horror films. Ever since I was a teen gobbling up Scream, Friday the 13th and Final Destination at sleepovers, I’ve always found a good horror film to be one of life’s little pleasures, like an early finish on a Friday or a Double Big Mac.
Of course, horror has got more high-concept in recent years, from Ari Aster’s artfully nightmarish flicks Midsommar and Hereditary to the work of one Jordan Peele. Often, such films are described as “elevated horror”, a term which has become popular in recent times and tends to refer to films which tackle contemporary social issues in arthouse fashion as well as scaring us witless.
But could the tide be turning? Surprisingly, it seems that the most successful horror films of 2023 might just be the ones that tread a more traditional path. Indeed, while Aster’s latest – the Joaquin Phoenix vehicle Beau Is Afraid – has been picking up some pretty mediocre reviews, two films that probably shouldn’t even have been made are finding success on both sides of the Atlantic. Scream VI – a “sequel to the requel” – was released at the beginning of March, more than 26 years after Wes Craven’s original. The original was released so long ago, in fact, that lead actor Jenna Ortega, of Wednesday fame, wasn’t born until six years after it came out. The aforementioned “requel” (reboot/sequel), 2022’s Scream, arguably disrespected the original by pinching its name and making continual, tired “meta” references to ripping up the rules of the slasher genre. It was, in short, quite cringe, with “elevated” horror (including It Follows) used as an early punchline about how snobby audiences had apparently become.
And yet, the tables have turned in 2023: Scream VI ended any sense of victimhood and instead gave the viewers what they wanted – a silly, slippery slasher film with some genuinely heart-in-mouth moments (who knew Ghostface shaking a ladder could be both so funny and so shocking?) And just when it seemed perhaps we had heard one too many creepy phone calls from our masked villain, the opening kill was novel – and gory – enough to hook us in, all without having to make any jokes about The Babadook. Wrote Ben Lee in his Guardian review: “If further Screams can provide this much of a propulsive jolt then there’s more life in the franchise than we thought”. Oh, and it’s already brought in $30m more than the last Scream film.
Another horror flick that’s thoroughly defying expectations is Evil Dead Rise (in UK and US cinemas from today, pictured above) and, well, if you think they’ve been dragging Scream on for a while, consider that if you added the time since the first Evil Dead film on to today’s date, you would arrive at 24 October 2064. Evil Dead Rise should not work, not only because the “scary book does terrible things” franchise has been going for over four decades, but because the premise of every nearly single Evil Dead film since Sam Raimi’s original has been just that. There shouldn’t be anything left to explore (and, really, shouldn’t it be an AI-powered, evil Kindle or something by this point?), and yet Evil Dead Rise is one of the most entertaining films you’re likely to see this year, and is on track for a solid $20m opening weekend in the US.
Despite an initially cliched plot about two sisters who have drifted apart, it rises above the surfeit via a middle eight heavy with stomach-turning action (1,700 gallons of fake blood was used on set) and some genuinely unexpected frights. Plus, it’s just an hour and 36 minutes – long enough to get immersed in a gross story with more depth than you might expect, but not so long that you start to forget what daylight looks like.
This isn’t to say that horror shouldn’t try and do new things. As with TV, endless reboots and reimaginings of existing IP can lead to autopilot commissions that lack originality and verve, and rumours of a plan for new Evil Deads every two years have me worried (I’ll be damned if I’m still cowering from deadites in 2064, at the grand old age of 72). Plus, well, M3gan was a laugh, wasn’t it? In any case, it seems that the “elevated” crowd might have some competition – and “the Joker on Zoloft” sounds like something that is probably best avoided.
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