Horror and thriller films are one of the dazzling elements that Hollywood cinema has been known for from its beginnings until now, due to its reliance on providing a dose of horror and suspense with a dramatic story that may sometimes carry a humanitarian message.
However, the audience has missed this type of cinematic work in recent years, due to Hollywood horror film makers exaggerating the use of visual and sound effects in order to present separate scenes that only terrify the spectator without focusing on a solid story, such as what the audience saw in 2010 in the film “The Swan.” “Black Swan” by director Darren Aronofsky, which dealt with the psychological disorders and conflicts that people experience, deserved to win 5 Oscars. In addition to the elite success achieved by the film, it also won the praise of the audience, as its ratings reached the IMDB website. “To 8 out of 10.
Aronofsky moved on to pure dramatic works later, through which he achieved great success, but it seemed that he missed horror and returned with the movie “Mother” in 2017 with the stars Jennifer Lawrence and Javier Bardem, but it did not achieve the expected resonance, as its revenues at the global box office amounted to Only about $44 million, against a $30 million production budget. This is in light of the presence of the film “Get Out” by director and author Jordan Peele, which was released in international cinemas in the same year and dealt with the racism that black-skinned people suffer in the United States of America in an exciting context, making it the last horror film to win Oscars in that year. 2018.
Although Bale attempted to present similar cinematic experiences through the films “Us” in 2019 and “Nope” in 2022, he was unable to achieve the same success.
The makers of the “Panic” series ignored the poor revenues
With the lack of a dazzling scenario, the filmmakers decided to return to the archives to reproduce new parts of the film series that belong to the horror genre, and are considered part of the memory of fans of horror films, such as “Halloween,” which haunts viewers on the last night of October. The first of every year, where he has presented 13 cinematic works so far, and his last parts were shown last year under the name “Halloween Ends” by director David Gordon Green. Its events revolved around a new battle for the characters of Michael Myers and Laurie Strode, and it achieved low ratings on the website. IMDB with only 5 out of 10.
Although some expected great public success for the film, the modest revenues of $105.4 million nullified those expectations. However, that did not prevent its makers from working on a new part entitled “Halloween: Season of the Boogeyman,” which is scheduled to take place. To be shown in cinema in 2024.
Horror in 2023 could not withstand Barbie and Oppenheimer.
As for the movie “The Nun,” which achieved widespread buzz and resonance upon its release in 2018, its events revolve around the story of a young nun’s suicide under mysterious circumstances, which forced the Vatican to send a team to investigate it, only to discover that she had passed away due to satanic power. The makers took advantage of this success by presenting a second part during this year, but it did not receive praise from both audiences and critics. On the contrary, the film was described as useless, with critics’ ratings on the “Rotten Tomatoes” website reaching only 52%.
The return of the “Puzzle Piece” series (Saw) with its tenth film this year was a dose of hope for fans of horror cinema, but they discovered upon its release that they were faced with only bloody terrifying scenes, with no regular dramatic line, thus failing to compete with the director’s two “Barbie” films. Greta Gerwig and “Oppenheimer” by director Christopher Nolan, which were deservedly the most prominent films of 2023.
