When it comes to horror, too few people have gotten it right. The genre has been hit or miss since the 80’s or 90’s with far too few hits. Gone are they days of true horror films to be replaced with the gore films and loud noises. Where’s the fun in that?
[Rick]
So many of Stephen King’s books have been made into movies, it was only a matter of time before they received the reboot treatment. 40 films from his work, and that’s not including any sequels. Not all of his work fell under the horror genre, but some of his best work has. From Carrie to Pet Cemetery, and Children of the Corn Stephen King nails horror films.
Then, of course, there’s the one film that started everyone’s coulrophobia (fear of clowns), IT. Originally a novel released in 1986, It became a tv mini series about whose storyline resembled another 80’s horror staple, A Nightmare on Elm Street. While the two stories differed in various ways, both shared an antagonist that would haunt people for years. Freddy Krueger and Pennywise were two hauntingly chilling villains that brought out all too real fear in audiences.
Fast forward to 2017 and at least one is back.
The Take:
We’re so ready for a fresh take on an old favorite. The horror genre has been missing a sense of reality that plays on people’s actual fears. As silly as a fear of clowns may be, for some reason they creep people out. When you venture into a realm of real and possible dangers and play to the audience’s fear, horror movies become more terrifying.
A movie like Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds may not be the masterpiece as it was in 1963. However, with the unpredictable nature of the animal and people’s disgust with them, it played to the audience’s fear. Too many times, horror will have a loud soundtrack or creepy kid in it to try and freak the audience out. Horror movies used to be based on fear and fewer and fewer exploit actual fears. If the 2017 version of IT can restore the connection to an actual fear, I’d be willing to bet it will be a huge success.