2. M. Night Shyamalan
Thats not fair, you cant blame modern horror on M. Night Shyamalan. Yes, thats true. But Shyamalan represents everything wrong with contemporary horror. First, theres wasted opportunity. Despite the jokes about it now, everyone loved The Sixth Sense, and it was a legitimately scary film. I really enjoyed Unbreakable and Signs as well. Then, well, you know what happened next. Similarly, contemporary horror could have done so much with things like found footage and even captivity themes; instead it churned out weak imitation after weak imitation. Second, is the gimmickry. In an episode of Its Always Sunny in Philadelphia, the gang works as extras on a M. Night Shyamalan film and keep hitting each other with M. Night Shyamalan twists, basically irritating and meaningless changes in behavior and conversation. Most people know what theyre talking about. Hes actually dead, His mentor is the villain, The water hurts the aliens, The village is actually in present day America! It was clever at first but soon became annoying, like so much else in contemporary horror. Finally, for many Americans, their only exposure to anything resembling contemporary horror is Shyamalan. The Last Airbender might have killed his career, but Shyamalan did bring in the crowds for awhile. So films like The Sixth Sense, Signs, The Village, or, even worse, The Happening may be what people think of when you bring up contemporary horror. Isnt that upsetting? Is it Shyamalans fault, or the fault of every other horror film being made?