Tuesday 8 October 2013

When Will The Xenomorphs Next Invade the Big Screen?




Soon there will be no one left To Hear...You...Scream.
At this point it should come as no surprise to anyone that I am a massive fan of the 'Alien' Franchise, This is after all my Third article focusing on this film series (Following my Alien Resurrection Review as well as the very first review I posted Aliens - Ah I have come a long way, but at some point im going to have go back, I can do better now.) 

But in recent years the franchise has been struggling due to disappointing sequels (Personally I prefer Alien 3 The Directors Cut -*Obviously* over Alien Resurrection, I know that many of you may disagree, like much of this article it all comes down to personal preference) followed by some truly terrible crossovers which saw to major Sci-Fi franchise's come together only to produce  little more than a visually impressive but mindbogglingly stupid and emotionally empty monster mash up and a sequel that takes two of the biggest Sci-Fi Icons and reduces them to B-Movie Material - I am of course talking about the Alien Vs. Predator Movies (I swear one day I will go into full detail on why I hate those two movies so much but for now our focus is elsewhere).

The end result saw both franchises racing to distance themselves and re-establish themselves as the greats they once were (and this is where things get complicated). While Predators chose to celebrate it's roots in an all-out homage to the first installment while upping the violence, action and stakes, the eventual return to the Alien series with the 2012 Prometheus instead chose to take the Alien out of the Alien Series. 

I'm A Stranger Here Myself. 
Like any good joke the set up was perfect: Ridley Scott the mastermind behind the film that started it all returned to direct a prequel that suggested answers to the many of the overlooked issues of the original, but all we found were more questions, questions we hadn't even thought to ask yet (personally I blame Damon Lindelof).

The biggest problem with Prometheus is that while the film moves away from established Alien territory  it fails to introduce enough new material to stand on it's own and instead is forced to fall back to insinuating that the Xenomorphs would be making an appearance, the pile of engineer corpses, the mural on the wall that clearly shows Xenos, The fact that the Hammerpede had acid for blood the sticky substance between David's fingers are all used to hint at the fact that the Double-Jawed Monsters might be lurking somewhere but all the set up is ultimately meaningless as the only connecting strand to the Xenos we get has nothing to do with the build up and has no real impact on the story save for being and ending sting to placate fans. 

And the while you could say that I should have gone in a little more opened minded the films trailer seemed to be engineered (Sorry) for the sole purpose of drawing comparison between Alien and Prometheus from the shot of Acid burning through the space suits helmet, the cry of "Cut it off" - Kind of a give away.

Make no mistake I enjoyed Prometheus, I really did and I can easily see just what Ridley Scott was hoping to achieve with Prometheus greatly expanding upon the scope and scale of the 'Aliens' universe and proving that there is much more depth to the world than first appeared, while at the same time both distancing itself from and discrediting AVP. 
Art: The Deacon in Prometheus
But as Prometheus 2 inevitably advances, leaving any notion of the Xenos behind in order to expand upon the elements that were introduced but not explored and becoming more Engineer  focused with Ridley Scott himself claiming that a Prometheus sequel would be even further removed from Alien than the first installment I am left to wonder when (if ever) I will see the Aliens that I have come to know and love on the big screen again? and what form they might take from now on? or is this the end of the line for the chest-bursting monstrosities? 

I sincerely hope not as there is still so much potential for the series,

Game Over, Man.
The varieties of the Xenos continues to diversify, Aliens Vs Predator: Requiem finally brought the Predalien to the big-screen but there are hundreds of different subspecies across Alien's expansive media of books, comics and video games and I am still hoping to see the Praetorian make the leap to film one day and while even though the 2013 video game Aliens: Colonial Marines sucked (And boy did it) it did give us interesting new Xenomorph varieties such as The Crusher, The Boiler and The Raven which would be great additions to the screen one day. 


The AVP relationship may have broken down but they did create somthing beautiful together - The Predalien
There are still so many great concepts that could be adapted to make fantastic stories for Alien Movies

  • A Planet-wide infestation that follows the outbreak as it develops growing from the discovery of the eggs to the forced abandonment of the planet as humanity is overwhelmed and a small group of survivors attempt to escape off-world before it's too late.
  • Reuse Aliens: Colonial Marines's starting point in exploring the Marine expedition sent to discover the fate of the Sulaco, Even this limited starting point could be adapted into a follow up to Prometheus that sees the crew sent to investigate the fate of the Prometheus encounter the Deacon (Avoiding its inclusion at the end of the film from being utterly pointless, this may even allow the answers to Aliens unresolved issues). 
  • Hell, You could even reboot the AVP series only this time set it in the future and do it well. (Although I suspect this is probably the least likely option as both franchises go through their awkward breakup stage and avoid one another). 
I know that the series has made several missteps in the past but the franchise still has so much to offer the world of film that it shouldn't simply be cast aside an abandoned, by all mean carry on Prometheus's crazy plot-hole ridden narrative, I have nothing but high hopes and expectations for its sequel but all I ask is that cinema doesn't forget where this story began - In a pulsating egg, in a crashed derelict spaceship, on a desolate wasteland of a planet, in the blackness of space, where No One Can Hear You Scream.

.....And while we are on the subject - When Will I Get A Predators Sequel?

Friday 20 September 2013

Riddick


Hope Begins In The Dark. (An Introduction)
Looking back Pitch Black was a remarkable film, a perfect blend of strong Science Fiction, A interesting and unique protagonist surrounded by a cast of likable and well developed secondary characters (with Keith David's Imam being the standout but Cole Hauser and Radha Mitchell also deliver power performances in an already strong cast), a new and different visual style (courtesy of Riddick's Eye-Shine and the Monster's Point of View) and a surprisingly original Alien creature design.

Directed by David Twohy back in 2000 Pitch Black saw a spaceship crash land on a desolate world where the survivors slowly realize that an escaped murderer may not be their biggest threat as a total solar eclipse frees a light sensitive race of murderous aliens and sends the planet into complete darkness, Riddick (whom carries a unique ability to see in the dark) may be their only hope of survival.

And while people give Pitch Black's sequel The Chronicles of Riddick a hard time (and I agree with many of the complaints) I respect what they were attempting to achieve by taking the series in a dramatically different direction rather than simply rehashing the premise of the original which had already proved a successful formula,
With the film  instead focusing on the growth and continuation of Riddick's story as he is forced to contend with a planet destroying army whom threaten the whole universe while at the same time fleeing from bounty hunters who are out for the price on his head.

However the difference in the two film's styles proved too jarring for audiences with Riddick going from talented killer to near superhero qualities between movies. 
Chronicles attributes this to Riddick being a member of the Furyan Race and therefor naturally stronger than most but the increase in abilities causes the film to loose the sense of realism created in the original where it seemed like Riddick could just as easily die as any other member of the cast.

(It is also important to mention that The Chronicles of Riddick is another example of how a film's Director's Cut can be infinitely better than the general release version with Chronicle's Director's Cut:
  • Delving deeper into Riddick's Furyan heritage.
  • Better developing both major and minor characters.
  • Better explaining the universe of Riddick.
  • More details on the Necromongers.
It is also more violent restoring footage that was cut to allow for a lower age rating and is all in all a much better movie.)

Humorously due to the lukewarm financial and critical reception that Chronicles received and diminished interest in the series due to little movement over the past years Diesel and Twohy are attempting to regain public interest in the franchise by skipping the planned follow up to Chronicles that would explore the Necromongers and the Underverse and instead returning to the franchises roots with a filler story that retreads elements of Pitch Black (What Chronicles was attempting to avoid), which is a great way to both gain new fans and win back old fans who's interest may have wandered in recent years by giving audience exactly what made them fall in love with the series in the first place.

And so Riddick returns to his roots.

This Ain't Nothing New. (The Plot)
Riddick picks up shortly after the events of Chronicles and sees everyone's favorite Eye-Shined Killer unhappy with his new position as the Necromongers Lord Marshal and longing for his home-world of Furya but he is promptly betrayed by his loyal subjects and left for dead on a wasteland world.
But when Riddick discovers that its is only a matter of time until tropical storms will free a countless number of murderous Mud-Monsters he is forced to activate an abandoned mercenary station's emergency beacon which attracts the attention of two groups of Bounty Hunters with very different goals. 

The films plot progression is pretty basic, easily being separate into its various acts:
  • Act One - Riddick vs. The World.
The first 20 minutes of the film see's Riddick stranded alone struggling to survive a hostile world, this is actually where the film is at it's strongest with a wounded Riddick attempting to reconnect with his animal-side and simply survive on a hostile planet where everything seems set on killing him. 
Its an impressive sequence as the audience gets to see just how capable a survivor Riddick is as he resets bone, scavenges for food, builds up an immunity to the Mud Monster's venom and creates his own weapons.
  • Act Two - Riddick vs.The Mercs.
Riddick himself actually takes a back seat for the majority of this act as the film focuses on introducing and exploring the mercenaries who come hunting for Riddick (namely Dahl, Johns,  Diaz and Santana) before they begin to get picked off one by one as Riddick implents his plan to escape the planet. 
  • Act Three - The World Takes All.
Which finally sees the deadline reached allowing for the emergence of endless swarms of Mud-Monsters forcing all parties to team up in order to flee the planet.
Although their are surprisingly fewer deaths at the hands of the Mud-Monsters than you might expect with Riddick himself killing off the majority of the human cast before the storm even hits.


Who's The Better Killer? (The Cast)
Richard B. Riddick still makes a likable protagonist and 'Riddick' proves that no one understands the character of Riddick better than Vin Diesel himself who continues to effortlessly make the character charismatic and memorable, Playing him as a murder with his own code and sense of honor, while his new found desire to search for his home-world of Furya adds a new perspective on the character that while never fully utilized here is great set up for potential sequels.

The film cleverly introduces two separate teams of Mercenaries who come hunting for Riddick one of which is a large team of brutal and immoral mercs led by Santana (Jordi MollĂ ) and a second smaller and more professional team led by Johns (Matthew Nable - In a surprising twist the farther of the bounty hunter Johns from Pitch Black which is another nice call back to the film that I really did not see coming).

Out of the majority of the supporting cast Johns is arguably the most likable character driven solely by the need to uncover the details of his sons demise, who's morals begin to unravel as his need for closure builds.
While his methods seems far more professional and calculated than that of Santana whom uses brutality of the sake of brutality. 

John's second in command is Dahl played by Sci-Fi's strong female actor Katee Sackhoff who does well here despite perhaps not being as well developed as she could otherwise been, also the film seems to be drawing a lot of fire due to a misplaced line about her character being a lesbian that is disregarded later, but Sackhoff delivers a strong performance regardless with Dahl coming across tougher than most of the male characters present easily fighting off the constant and unwelcome attention of Santana.



Santana is a bad man - pure and simple. He is a murdering, raping monster albeit not a particular threatening one, in fact I found it hard to invest in the character at all once I realized that Santana's death was revealed in an early trailer for the film
A sequence in which he is forced to disarm a rigged explosive by turning a key multiple times with each turn threatening detonation (effectively playing Explosive Russian-Roulette) had the possibility of being incredibly tense and dramatic sequence but it's impact is somewhat diminished by the fact that I knew not only that Santana was going to survive this but also exactly how he would eventually die, this seems to suck the energy from not only this scene but the character entirely which is a shame as while Santana is not a likable character, Jordi MollĂ  is able to portray Santana well as the Merc who is so used to being the most feared killer on the planet that he suddenly seems unable to cope when someone more dangerous turns up.

Riddick finds a Jackal Pup (I named him Jim Carrey for reasons involving Kick Ass 2) and raises it to adulthood (Raising the question: Just how long was he stranded?). It quickly becomes one of the more memorable movie mutts and you cant help but enjoy Riddick and the Hound's interactions, with the Jackal eventually becoming the character I most wanted to survive the movie.

The rest of the cast are little more than corpses in waiting with none of them really developed beyond minor traits - one is religious, one is superstitious and its hard to care for any of them but since its their deaths you are watching for anyway this doesn't impact the film at all. 

Karl Urban's Vaako returns (albeit briefly) in a short flashback that explains Riddick's fall from Necromonger Glory and while It is a shame to see the Necromongers swept under the rug and the dramatic resolution of the previous movie resolved so quickly it is necessary for the plot to move straight into Riddick's current situation without a lot of unnecessary back story.


Just Add Water. (The Creatures) 
The planets Eco-System is much more developed than that of the planet we were introduced to in Pitch Black with multiple life forms ranging from
  • A Reptile Bird-Like creature - similar to a vulture. 
  • A species of Eel - that resides in the small water-holes of the planet.
  • Jackal like pack creatures - nicknamed Dingo Dongos by one character.
  • And the Scorpion-esc Mud Monsters - that look like Xenomorphs crossed with Grabboids. 
One of this film's series biggest strengths has always been creative and unique creature design  from the Light Sensitive Monsters of Pitch Black to the Color changing Hounds of The Chronicles of Riddick and in this installment the creatures designs are at their strongest yet with each design seemingly perfectly 'Alien' but at the same time realistically plausible.

As much as I enjoy the species diversity that is found in Riddick, the strength of the creatures in the original came from the fact that they had grown to such enormous numbers below ground that they had effectively crippled the ecosystem, wiping all life off the planet almost entirely (With the only exception being a creature that had evolved to produce light - the one thing the carnivorous species couldn't survive) and as a result the predators had resorted to cannibalism in order to survive due to a lack of any other food source.

While Pitch Black's instigating incident was an eclipse that allowed the light sensitive monsters to swarm the surface in 'Riddick' the catalyst is a traveling storm, when the storm hits thousands of the poisonous Mud-Monsters emerge from the earth where they were hibernating due to needing to keep their skin constantly wet to survive, but what happens after they emerge? do they roam the land until the storm passes before reburying themselves before it passes again? or do they travel with the storm like a roaming plague killing off all life in the storms path? 
(As much as I hate to keep bringing it up) Pitch Black was able to deliver a clear understanding of how life on the desolate planet functioned, It didn't function particularly well, with only one species thriving after murdering off the rest of the planet 'but' the life cycle made perfect sense and the audience could piece together a clear picture of how the planet had reached such a unbalanced state.

Riddick's introduction of a more varied wildlife means more complex ecosystem and as such more species interaction (Do all of the dog creature get killed off now that the mud-monsters have overwhelmed the planet? the bird like creatures would arguably survive due to being able to fly beyond the monster's reach) which makes the emergence of the doomsday creature a little more complicated than first time around.
Now I will concede that perhaps I am giving this more thought than is necessary and in truth the storm and the monsters it brings are nothing more than a plot devise to give the film an impending deadline in order to force Riddick off world.


The Action. 
The action is well handled be it fighting creatures or humans with memorable sequences including a nighttime attack on the mercenaries base by Riddick which ends in a great shot of Riddick disappearing into the dark dragging a corpse behind him and another sequence in which Riddick and Johns are forced to fight their way through the hordes of Mud-Monsters up-close on foot as well as a impressive one-on-one confrontation between Diaz (Dave Bautista) and Riddick.
But the standout is easily the films climax that sees Riddick alone facing an endless stream of Mud-Monsters atop a jagged mountain as a thunderstorm rages the scene is stunning and the musical score perfectly dramatizes the moment making it seem both bleak and epic.

Gone To The Dogs. (Conclusions) 
At it's core I suspect that Riddick's biggest problem is the same as the one that can be found in the 2011 prequel to The Thing (and to a much lesser extent the movie Predators) in that while it is a original film that expands the series universe it also follows the pattern of the previous film a little too closely. 
Riddick never reaches the levels encountered in The Thing but the film cannot help feel a little familiar but overall the film is an enjoyable Sci-Fi Monster Movie delivering exactly what you expect from this kind of film.
It's far from perfect but there is no denying that it is an enjoyable watch boasting action and humor and impressive monsters while proving that Vin Diesel and Riddick himself are once again on top form. 

Wednesday 21 August 2013

Evil Dead (2013)



"We've Replaced This Critics Brain With A Chainsaw Blade, But Be Quiet. Let's See If He Notices". (The Introduction)
Those of you who may have read my Evil Dead 2 Review and my recent article exploring whether or not Horror Movies Are As Good As They Used To Be will no doubt be aware of the fact that I am a huge fan of both Bruce Campbell and the Evil Dead series.
So I was a little disheartened to hear that not only was the Horror Classic getting a remake (Not a good sign in a current climate where Remakes of some of the Horror genre's have been receiving a lukewarm reception at best) but also that the films Iconic Hero Ash Williams (Bruce Campbell) would not be present - How could the film possibly succeed without the support of Campbell's legendary Chin? 
In my eye's the project seemed doomed from the start.

But I (and I am willing to admit this) was wrong (and I will now proceed to discuss why).

"This... is my boomstick!" 
Directed by Fede Alvarez and produced by Sam Raimi, Bruce Campbell and Robert Tapert the force behind the original trilogy. The story of Evil Dead sees Five former friends reuniting at a cabin deep within the woods in-order to help one of their own overcome a drug addiction but the discovery of a book bound in human-flesh in a hidden basement awakens a dark force within the woods which begins possessing the friends one by one.
Its encouraging to see so many of the people behind the original Trilogy involved in the making of this movie as it means that the series is still in the hands of the people who care about it rather than simply being interested in how much money can be made from it, it also means that the movie carries the same feel and style as the previous instalment which prevents fans feeling alienated as it stays true to the key elements of the story (The book in the basement, The living forest) whilst changing various elements to make the relationships between the characters stronger and better developed, the reason for their visit to the cabin carry more meaning, changing up small elements to enhance the story and the characters before proceeding to rip them to shreds.

"I Never Even Saw These Assholes Before". (The Cast)
As with the original the film main cast consists of a group of five friends but in this adaptation they are slightly older and have all grownup and gone their separate ways with David (Shiloh Fernandez) - Mia's Brother - having left the group and his sister when his mother fell ill leaving Mia (Jane Levy) to take care of her mother's worsening condition alone (Which would ultimately lead to her drug use) and so his return creates a lot of tension amongst the group who felt abandoned by his departure. 
The relationship between David and Mia is the films key emotional theme as David attempts to mend fences with his sister and support her during her struggle as he failed to do so previously.

Where as in the original version the future victims had travelled to the cabin during spring-break to drink and have sex (as teenagers so often do in horror movies) the remake ingeniously presents a different motive - To Help Their Friend Overcome Her Drug Addiction - this not only gives the characters reason to be at a cabin far away from civilisation  but also works to prolong the disbelief of the involvement of a supernatural element when the situation begins to spiral out of control as the group dismisses both Mia's warnings and early signs of possession as being hallucinations due to her withdrawal symptoms. 
Mia seems to be a likable girl who's life may not have gone in the direction she would have wanted but still has hope for redemption which makes it kind of heartbreaking once she is possessed and begins the slide into insanity as you cant help but feel like she deserved a chance to start anew and is undeserving of all the terrible things she now endures. 


"We just cut up our girlfriend with a chainsaw. Does that sound 'fine'?"
Over members of the group consist of Eric (Lou Taylor Pucci) a school teacher who is responsible for reading from the book and summoning the evil that now threatens them, early in the film Eric seems like he will become an unlikable character due to being responsible for the whole situation as he goes out of his way to read the contents of the book (Which someone had gone to great efforts to make illegible) and yet as the situation worsens Eric not only seems o take the brunt of the violence but also seems to be the only character willing to take the steps needed to set things right.
The rest of the cast are not so well developed and although their reasons for being present are nothing more but impending corpses and even though each gets their own moment in the gory limelight (Olivia(Jessica Lucas): Shaving with Glass, Natalie (Elizabeth Blackmore) disarming herself) their character do not receive the attention the brother and sister duo.

"That can't be your face... did your neck throw up?"
A Farewell To Arms. (The Violence)
Calling this film violent is like saying that the Pope is a some-what spiritual individual.
Simply the variety of the films violence and weapons is utterly INSANE!, With characters being attacked with/or attacking the possessed with .
  • Boiling Water.
  • Fire.
  • Branches and Vines.
  • A Machete 
  • A Crowbar.
  • A Nail-Gun.
  • A Pair of Pliers.
  • A Stanley Knife.
  • A Electric Knife.
  • A Shard of Broken Mirror.
  • A Chunk of a Broken Sink.
  • A Needle.
  • A Hammer.
  • A Shotgun.
  • A Chainsaw.  
  • A Truck.
  • Being Nearly Drowned.
  • Being Buried Alive. 
And each and every one of these weapons are used to great effect as bones are smashed, limbs are severed, flesh melts, blood is spewed and the violence is so well handled that when the characters are injured its convincing enough that it makes each and every single confrontation so tense that regardless of the weapon they are facing each new wound could be any characters last.
"When you've just emptied two barrels of a shotgun into the head of your favorite bartender it's a pretty good bet that happy hour's over."
The film does often linger on shots of the weapons several scenes before they are wielded such as the nail-gun being display in use early on in the film before being used against the survivors later on, while many of today's horror films use this technique (A specific scene from the recent remake of 'Friday the 13th' involving a wood-chipper jumps to mind) the sheer number of weapons in this film cause these shots to make it impossible just what weapon is going enter the fray next.

"Hey, She-Bitch". (The Deadites)
While the origins of the Book of the Dead are explored in detail in the 1981 version the remake only offers a glimpse into its origin, With the audience aware that something horrible and book related has occurred at the cabin in the past but never revealing the full details of exactly what happened and how it came about, this creates a better sense of mystery surrounding the book.
The Deadites (with the exception of Mia) do not talk once they are possessed removing any trace of humanity by replacing normal movement and sound with bursts of twitching and clicking sounds.
The newly possessed also seem to be fans of self mutilation: cutting, burning and generally deforming their own facial features. 
If there is a single complaint I have against the deadites in general it is that the old 'revert to innocence in order to lower their victims guard' trick is a little overused leaving the audience screaming their best Jurassic Park "Shooooot Errrrrr!!" impressions at the screen.

"Another poster child for birth control."
The final confrontation features several genuinely eerily moments early on as the audience is able to make out the appearance of the attacker but not the facial features. Once the face of the demon is revealed the effectiveness wears off somewhat but the creature still holds a dangerous and menacing presence and makes for a great final confrontation in possibly the greatest horror movie environment ever.

"Klaatu... Verata....Ni????". (Conclusions)
So is the 2013 Remake better than the original?
Well No. - But it is unfair to judge the two films by the same standards (Not only due to the lack of Campbell's Chin) The original version The Evil Dead's production consisted of a group of friends who came together to try and make a Horror film whist operating under a tiny budget, so it was required to be creative 
and original in order to build tension using inexpensive but effective filming techniques like the 'Possession Cam' while the 2013 remake features both a considerably larger budget and the benefit in the advance of film technology. 
But the best way to describe the remake would be to call it The Evil Dead for Today's Horror Audiences as it is more reliant on Gore (Which it does exceptionally well) than suspense based scares, whilst its larger budget allows it to be more daring than its predecessor. So all in all Even thought this film suffers from the absence of Bruce Campbell (But wouldn't everything be better with more Bruce Campbell?) this movie is a faithful and enjoyable adaptation of the 1981 original which not only does its source material justice but also delivers its own barrage of shocks and gore whilst keeping the audience guessing about just what is going to happen next. It  creates hope for both the future of the franchise and the horror genre in general and I highly recommend that both fans of the original and horror fans in general should check it out.

Also the film features the best post-credit scene EVER!!! (and it doesn't even feature Samuel L. Jackson)

Friday 26 July 2013

Are Horror Movies As Good As They Used To Be?

The Evil Dead - 1981
The Horror, The Horror. (An Introduction) 
After recently watching and hugely enjoying the 2013 Horror Movie Mama (Staring Jessica Chastain and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) and while I found it genuinely suspenseful and creepy with some greats scares thrown in it dawned on me that I have not genuinely found a Horror Film "Scary" in a very long time.
Then a strange thought struck me the last scene from a movie that truly sent chills down my bones and left me feeling shaken was in fact from a from a film rated with a 12 certificate - Lumpy (Andy Serkis)'s demise in the Bug Pit from the 2005 remake of King Kong (Those damn worms still creep me out and i'm not even bothered by insects) but since I would class this more as disturbing (And It Is!) than scary I cannot remember the last time a film has genuinely scared me.

Now this may simply be a change in me since as a child I would often be terrified by movies that even so much as hinted at being scary with my overactive imagination devising far worse scenes than I could ever see on screen (Seriously I still remember the first time that I watched The Mummy on VHS and even before the expedition set off in search of Hamunaptra I was already hiding behind the sofa out of fear of every single sarcophagus) but as I got older my imagination was reined in and I began to actively seek out scares growing to love films like The Evil Dead, Alien and The Thing to name but a few.
But over the years the genre has begun to suffer with these types of movies seemingly being less well received by critics every year leading me to wonder if its not just me who may have changed of the general audience or even the genre itself.

There is no denying that the style in which Horror is portrayed is constantly changing as it moves from the glory days of the Silent Slashers, The Paranormal Visitations and Possessions, to the impact more modern styles of Horror Story-Selling such as Meta-Movies that explore the Horror Movies own conventions, the 3D Film Craze, Hand-Held Camera Docu-Horrors and 'Gore-fest Movies' (Classified as Torture-Porn by Critics) have had on the genre.
This all proceeded to raise the question:
Are Horror Movies As Good As They Used To Be?

Back to Basics. (A History of Horror)
Now to best answer this question it is necessary to explore the history of this genre.

The Horror of Dracula - 1958
The earliest traces of the horror genre in film can be found back in the 1920's in which several silent short films featured elements of the supernatural, although Le Manoir du Diable (The Haunted Castle) a Three minute long French Film by Georges MĂ©liès is credited by many as being both the first horror film and the first vampire film, while Japan also explored horror early on, Hollywood dramas would later to go on to use Horror Themes in films such as The Phantom of the Opera, Wax Works, The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Dr. Jekyll and Mr Hyde.

As Cinema progressed so did the Horror Genre with the 1930's seeing Universal Pictures release a series of Gothic movies that would send some of today's biggest movie icons including Dracula, The Wolfman, Frankenstein into the limelight.
The 50's and 60's Horror slowly moved away from its Gothic structures creating films like Night of the Living Dead, The Haunting and Rosemary's Baby and probably the most famous of all Alfred Hitchcock's work with films like Psycho and The Birds.

The Shining - 1980 
But it is upon the 70's and 80's that we reach the foundations of the horror films that we know today with the genre moving from B (Low Budget Commercial Pictures) to more financially backed A-Movies that satirized modern society resulting in the release of films like George A. Romero's Dawn of the Dead that mocked consumer culture, the Devil taking up the mantle as villain in films like the Omen and The Exorcist. Werewolf and Vampire movies once again came into their strength with the release of An American Werewolf in London, Fright Night and The Lost Boys.
While Wes Craven released his cannibal slasher The Hills Have Eyes which he would later follow with the definitive horror movie A Nightmare on Elm Street, Steven King's Novel Carrie was adapted into a movie along with his hotel-horror novel The Shining that would go on to be considered a classic.

Alien and The Thing proceeded to create the schematic for many great Science Fiction Horrors that would follow
But while the big budget movies reigned supreme Horror's B-Movies made a strong return as well with interdependent movies such as The Evil Dead and Poltergeist.
But the true contribution to the horror genre was the production of the most noted slasher films ever, such as The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, John Carpenter's Halloween, Friday the 13th (All of which followed the rule: If your killer wears a mask, he's scary) Films that would go on to become major franchises that would shape the future of the horror genre.

The 90's are most notable for the influx (Yeah I just used the word 'Influx' in my article: truly I have made it) of sequels most of which were poorly received by fans and critics alike largely due to the excessive number of Slasher movies that were released  following the styles sudden success. 
The 90's also saw the birth of the Meta-Self Referential Horror Movies including Wes Craven's New Nightmare, Candyman and Scream that tried to explore new possibility of the genre through acknowledging the conventions of previous movies (such as the Rules in Scream exploring what it takes to survive a horror movie)

Today Of The Dead. (Modern Horror)
"Welcome to Fright Night. For Real". - Fright Night (2011)

Outside of remakes the horror movies mid 2000 onward slowly became focused on two main horror categories gore based torture-porn films such as Saw, The Collector and Hostel; And found-footage and handheld movies like the Paranormal Activity Series, Apollo 18, Diary of the Dead, REC and The Last Exorcism 

As audience have grown to expect more from film the level of just what can be shown of screen continues to grow resulting in films pushing violence and gore to the limits producing films like the Saw Series that expertise solely in being as visually grotesque as possible but at the loss of key elements like character development.  

While the rise in popularity of Found Footage Films could be attributed to the fact that before film audiences were overexposed by the massive number of these types of films that would be eventually released the found footage style was able to create a unique sense of believability new to Horror films, as film like the Blair Witch Project were able to create the impression that the footage could be real and have actually been discovered, The style also limits what the viewing public's awareness to what it happening on screen as the audience is only ever able to see what the camera (And character behind the camera) sees allowing the character and viewer to be surprised at the same time.
Despite being used almost exclusively by the Horror Genre the effectiveness of Found Footage Film was ultimately lost as more and more films adopted this style due to its ability to produce effective scares at low cost.

Thanks to films such as 28 Days Later, the 2004 remake of Dawn of the Dead and  TV shows such as The Walking Dead Zombie Films have flourished over recent years and have seem to become so popular they may now their own sub-genre outside of horror films, while The Twilight Saga succeeded in staking the future of Vampire Horror in its tracks producing films such as 'Daybreakers' where the vampires took on the role of the protagonists and it seems that only recently this trend has begun to subside with films like the 2010 remake of Fright Night and Let Me In which see's the blood-suckers finally return to their original role.

- Oh and for the last time: 3D in Horror Films Is..Not...Scary!

Evil Reborn. (Sequels, Prequels and Remakes)
 "I'm coming apart! Oh, mother of God, I'm coming apart!" - The Amityville Horror (1979)

Horror Movies produce more sequels than any other film genre 
Seriously I cant get a Serenity or Dredd sequel but there have been: 
  • 7 Saw movies.
  • 7 Original A Nightmare on Elm Street films a cross-over and a remake. 
  • 8 Original Halloween films and a remake...That Got A Sequel. 
  • 10 Friday the 13th films with a crossover and a remake (and a future remake planned)
  • 6 Child's Play films (with Curse of Chucky out in October).
  • 5 Paranormal Activity films (with the Fifth installment being released next year)
  • 5 Wrong Turn films (This saddens me greatly)
The problem the genre encounters is that the quality of each movies seems to drop further an further the longer the series goes on. 
This is because Horror's strength comes from originality and the more focus is given to each movies world the less original the scares seem to be and so the movies is forced to try harder to gauge a reaction from audiences, 
A perfect example is the Paranormal Activity films with the  paranormal occurrences from the first film starting out very small (the sound of footsteps and key's dropping on the floor) before building and building as the film progresses allowing the suspense to build along with it allowing the major moments (such as Katie being dragged out of the room by an unseen force) to cause the greatest reaction from the audience, the second installment leaps for the big scares early on (Such as all the cupboards opening and trowing out their contents) and instead has to rely heavily from jump-scares (From a damn Automatic Pool-Cleaner) and the same major scares used during the first installment for the rest of the movie.
Even the films that were once considered the champions of the Western Horror Genre like Halloween, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Friday the 13th, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Child's Play are struggling to find their feet but only from poor sequels but one remake after another.
In fact the sheer number of horror films that have been remade or re-imagined in recent years is utterly staggering:
  • Carrie
  • The Hills Have Eyes. 
  • The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
  • Dawn of the Dead.
  • The Amityville Horror.
  • The Evil Dead.
  • The Wolfman.
  • Halloween.
  • Friday the 13th.
  • A Nightmare on Elm Street.
  • Maniac.
  • The Last House on the Left.
  • The Omen.
  • When a Stranger Calls.
  • The Wickerman.
  • The Hitcher.
  • I Spit On Your Grave.
  • Invasion of the Body Snatchers. 
  • Prom Night. 
  • Psycho.
  • Fright Night.
  • One Missed Call.
  • The Crazies. 
  • Dark Water.
  • House of Wax.
  • The Fog.
  • My Bloody Valentine. 
To name but a few and while foreigner language Horror Movies like Let The Right One In, The Devils Backbone, La Horde, Shutter and REC seem to continue to be well received by critics and audiences alike the current lack of creativity in the Film Industry is preying upon these movies for English language remakes such as Quarantine which is simply a shot for shot retelling of REC and Let Me In a US remake of  Let The Right One In  films like The Grudge, The Ring and Pulse are all creations of this policy to recycle foreign movies into more audience approachable versions....
and they say creativity is dead.
A Nightmare On Elm Street - 1984
The Men Whom Fight The Darkness. (Characters of Horror)
 "A survivor, unclouded by conscience, remorse, or delusions of morality".- Alien (1979)

It should come as no surprise that main characters in horror films need to be compelling, or else why should the audience care when bad things happen to them? it is a vital part of the films mechanics that we should want them to escape or survive.
This important notion is lost upon the Saw franchise which after introducing some complex characters in the first two installments seems to lose its way come the third and instead begins focusing on death traps than the victims attempting to survive them, In fact the audience is encouraged to root for the characters death in order to witness the gruesome demise the complex death trap creates but this more gore based approach to the films creates a cycle of death the films are unable to recover from as with characters being introduced solely for the purpose of dying in the traps preventing the audience the time to become emotionally attached to them before their subsequent demise (even characters that survived previous installments return only to be killed off).
And yet horror movies have given cinema some of its most memorable characters such as Ashley Williams (Bruce Campbell), Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver), R.J. Macready (Kurt Russel), Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson) characters whom the audience can (if not always related to) care about and this is where another recent problem with the genre occurs, all the before mentioned characters are from films before 1985 in fact there are very few horror characters in the past ten years warrant mentioning at all. this is due to the films shifting their focus from the films protagonists to the villains as characters like Jason Voorhes, Chucky and Michael Myers became more popular.

IT'S ALIVE! (Defining Moments in Horror) 
"They're Coming to Get You ,Barbara!" - Night of the Living Dead. (1968)

The horror genre has provided audiences with many powerful cinematic moments over the years, ranging from the first time the girl crawls out of the television in The Ring, Robert Carlyle's desperate flight from the farmhouse as he is pursued by an ever increasing number of sprinting infected in 28 Weeks Later, The Flock of Birds growing in the playground in Alfred Hitchcock's masterpiece The Birds, To Jack Nicholson pounding on the door with an axe in The Shining each of these moments are as powerful or cinematic as any other genre and it is important that they are viewed as such.


The Birds - 1963
All Work And No Play Makes Jack A Dull Boy. (All Work And No Play Makes Jack A Dull Boy)
"All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy". - All Work And No Play Makes Jack A Dull Boy.

All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. 
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. All work and No play makes Jack a dull boy. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. 
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. 
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. 
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.  All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.  All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. 
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.
All work and no play makes Jack........

Wait...uh sorry, back to the article. 

Laugh In The Face of Death. (Horror Comedy)
"It doesn't matter what happened. What matters is what looks like what happened and what looks like what happened...is purdy nasty!" - Tucker and Dale Vs. Evil. (2011)

A surprising growth in horror interest recently comes from Horror Comedies that  rather than spoofing horror movies like films such as Dracula: Dead and Loving It and The Scary Movie series follow the conventions and plot styling of scary movies but with the scenes playing out comically prime examples of this are Shaun of the Dead and Tucker & Dale vs. Evil, 
Shaun of the Dead at its core is approached as a standard Zombie Movie but gains laughs from the characters attitudes and responses to the situation they find themselves in, while Tucker & Dale Vs. Evil instead plays upon a reversal of the conventions of a Hillbilly Slasher movie with college kids attempting to kill two innocent hillbillies the wrongly believe are out to murder them. 
The one thing that HC's have been able to achieve over standard Horrors in recent is to make their characters memorable - Shaun, Ed, Tucker, Dale and Bill Pardy are all lovable characters that you genuinely hope make it out of their (albeit comedy) struggles alive, so why is it that and humored version can accomplish this when the 'pure' versions no longer can?   
Shaun of the Dead (2004)
The Terrifying Conclusion (The Answer)
"A ghost is an emotion bent out of shape. condemned to repeat itself, time and time again.” - Mama (2013)

But in truth the largest change to the Genre in past year has been the pacing; Whereas previous films looked to build tension gradually through a combination of atmosphere and the films score the approach to Horror eventually became predictable as horror-movies became more and more similar new techniques such as Jump-Scares and False-Scares were developed and employed in order to catch viewers off guard by subverting the audiences expectations, whilst this originally worked these techniques became popular with film makers and were used up to a point where audiences came to anticipate them as well, and since has since failed to develop an  new tools to catch film-goers unaware the genre has failed to progress much in recent years.

So are Horror Films as good as they used to be? 
No.

But are any films? Why do audiences now jump at the prospect of seeing legendary action stars like Arnie or Stallone star in action flicks like The Expendables, The Last Stand and Bullet To The Head if not in hopes of recapturing the glory days of action cinema? 
Not that action films (or more to the point Horror Films) released these days are bad (Skyfall was incredible!) but cinema changes with trends and it is only natural that we should occasionally miss what we once so thoroughly enjoyed (cheesy or not) and today's horror audience requires more than just the faceless killer they once found so terrifying becoming more demanding as their expectations rise, You cannot scare an audience with the same tricks that you could get away with mere years ago (Jump-Scares are now just annoying) but this is a good thing as fear is by far one of the most difficult emotional responses to generate from an audience which is why its so rewarding when done well. 
So while there is still hope for the genre it depends upon its ability to try new things and remain original, As the more you know about something the less you fear it.