SEPTEMBER 2019 153
AT ONE POINTin the filmMidsommar, Florence Pugh
tips her head forward and screams. The actress is playing
Dani, a woman struggling to process her sister’s mental
illness, who is dragged by her boyfriend Christian (Jack
Reynor) to the pine-fringed archipelago of Sweden for
a sinister, once-every-90-years festival. Dani’s shriek is
guttural, primal and deeply unsettling, yet makes it
impossible to look away.
Such is the power of the horror genre, which has never
been more popular than it is right now.Midsommaris the
second scary movie from rising director Ari Aster, whose
debut feature Hereditary, released last year, included
a literally head-spinning performance by Toni Collette.
His horror films are just two of the many winning us
over. In 2018,Get Outwon Jordan Peele an Oscar for best
screenplay and in 2019 he returned with the slick Lupita
Nyong’o-led thrillerUs. In September,It: Chapter IIwill
remind everyone why clowns are so terrifying and with a
cast that has attracted top-tier talent – Jessica Chastain, Bill
Hader and James McAvoy – also proves there’s cachet in
landing a role in a first-rate horror film. Next year continues
the trend, with John Krasinski unleashing the sequel to the
phenomenally successfulA Quiet Place.
Also out of the US, horror movie impresario Jason Blum’s
latest film, Ma, starring Octavia Spencer as Ma, the
neighbour from hell, will chill you to the bone.
“One of the few types of movies left that are still
working theatrically are horror movies,” says Blum. “We
have great filmmakers like Jordan Peele, who are making
astute observations about society and our time in the
movies they make. As a result, filmmakers who might
never have considered horror a few years ago are now
interested in it. This becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy –
because horror movies are attracting more and different
filmmakers, they are getting better.”
Horror audiences are filling cinemas for the privilege of
being utterly paralysed with fear for two and a bit hours.
Film experts are calling it ‘prestige horror’, a new era for
the genre critics previously associated with schlocky
scripts, clunky visual effects and cheap, fake blood. “I hate
[the term],” Blum says. “It’s a different way of saying:
‘I don’t like horror but I’m okay with elevated horror.’
Or: ‘I look down on you unless it’s artsy.’”
It’s not a new attitude. Even when horror movies like
The ShiningorMiseryreceived rave reviews and awards,
the genre was still something of a Hollywood joke. Before
our current thrilling, chilling days, horror had a
reputation for being cheap and nasty.The Blair Witch
Project was famously made for just A$86,000 on a
Camcorder. And while the genre is still more affordable
to produce than say a superhero blockbuster, today’s versions are less jerky
handheld footage and more slick production values and string quartet soundtracks.
In the hands of directors like Aster, Peele and Luca Guadagnino, the latter of
whom followed his sun-drenched romance Call Me By Your Namewith the
nightmarishSuspiria, the new wave of horror films is smart, stylish and sinister.
Modern horror movies still follow the tried-and-tested formula of jump scares
and plateaus, shock and relief, but they want to say something more, too.Get Out
tackled racism, the critically acclaimedIt Followsexplored paranoia,A Quiet Place
wasabout communication andMais about loneliness. Aster’s two movies have
both been about grief, anxiety and trauma in their own ways –Hereditarylooked at
PTSD, whileMidsommaris about all the raw, rancid messiness when a codependent
couple tries to untangle their lives.
InMa, Oscar-winner Spencer sinks her teeth into the role of a woman so scarred
by her own teenage experience of bullying that years later she exacts revenge upon
some clueless youths. “We always want to scare and entertain people but I also think
it’s sometimes important for our films to be reflective of the time,” Blum explains.
Aside from being a good old-fashioned scary film, “Ma is also about just how
horrifying the results of bullying can be”, he adds.
And then there’sMidsommar. Unlike some of its genre predecessors, there is
nothing dark and dusty about this film. Set during one of Sweden’s endless nights,
everything is washed out and sun-drenched. But don’t think that makes the movie
any less threatening. There’s something deeply unsettling about all those
maniacally smiling Swedes in their matching cult-like outfits. Dani is rightly
concerned for her safety – just what have she and her boyfriend walked into? How
can they escape? Or will they?
In 2019 audiences want to watch a movie that poses questions like that and makes
them feel something when it answers them. Because that’s what watching horror is
like, a disturbing, visceral, glue-you-to-your-seat experience, one that was made for
the communal setting of a movie theatre. Horror films need to be watched with
others who will gasp and tense alongside you, and will join in a collective sigh of
relief when leaving the cinema unscathed.
“What I love about horror is that it’s accessible to so
many and appreciated and loved by so many,” Blum says.
“There is no shame in loving a scary movie or having fun
while sitting in a dark room with strangers watching
a scar y f ilm.”
The psychological power of the genre is scientifically
proven, too: according to new research, people who visit
‘extreme’ haunted attractions are more likely to leave with
an improved mood, particularly if they entered feeling
tired, bored or stressed.
That’s why watching a horror movie, even though you
are likely clenching your hands, feels like a such a release.
It’s venting through entertainment. It’s a cinematic,
mostly silent rage room. And given the state of the world
right now, maybe that’s exactly the kind of thing we
should all be watching. Maybe what we really need to do
to release is sit in a dark room and scream.
Midsommar is in cinemas now; Ma is out on home
entertainment on November 27.“ We
have great
filmmakers
like Jordan
Peele, who
are ma k ing
astute
observations
about societ y
and our
time in
the movies
they make”