1. The State of Horror
Though I have matured in my tastes as a filmmaker, as a kid my passion for film was nourished by horror -
good horror. I still remember sneaking downstairs late at night and either taping or watching horror movies like Gremlins (dont laugh, I was young), Piranha and The Fog on our little portable TV, sat atop a wine crate. In fact, some of my favourite films - Alien, The Exorcist - are horrors, and one of the best periods of filmmaking in my opinion is the 70s in America, when gems like Dawn of The Dead and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre were being made, which perfectly reflected a new America, disillusioned by Watergate and raped of optimism by Charles Mansons cult killings. Found footage is the future because it does exactly that - it captures the state of things now, where everything revolves around the Internet and social media, and everything is captured by cameras. It draws us to the multiplex and holds a mirror up to the screen showing us an all-too real depiction of contemporary society. That is why horror Remakes (Bar The Thing) fail - they miss the point of the original, and dont bother to update the original source material and make it relevant to a new audience. Not a single horror remake is scary or effective anymore (they are totally unnecessary - for chrissakes, theyre remaking The Toxic Avenger. The Toxic Avenger!). Modern American horror cinema is, with a few exceptions, terrible - its all gory, or full of nudity (again, missing the point of the inclusion of sex and nudity in mature horror cinema), and full of remakes for (yuck!) "brand recognition". And everysingletraileristhe same! The same music, jump-scare at the end, fractured and jumpy editing its either home invasion, supernatural possession with a creepy kid, or a relocation of an effective original (Ringu, Ju-On, The Eye). Saw bucked the trend, but like Nightmare on Elm Street, Halloween and (admittedly to a lesser extent) Friday The 13th, it undermined a fantastic original by churning out ineffective sequels. The best horror films now being released are coming from Asia, France and Spain (and, with Kill List, I guess good ol Blighty as well). But fear not, The King is dead - love live the Camcorder King. If the next generation of American filmmakers learn to effectively harness found footage horror, it may just return from the brink and experience a terrifying renaissance!