Why aren’t horror movies scary anymore? I’ve heard more than a few horror fans question whether there are any “scary” movies being made anymore and the question typically comes from fans of a certain age. I’m 46, so I think I have some leeway to criticize my middle aged compatriots. The question always puzzles me, though. My view is that it may be going over their heads that they are asking this question through the eyes of their younger selves. Most of us dinosaurs remember when we popped in a VHS copy of EVIL DEAD or THE EXORCIST for the first time and got our shit absolutely rocked! But why was our shit so thoroughly rocked then, whereas now, most horror movies barely disturb our shit, let alone rock it?
Personal bias is the usual starting point whenever a question is asked regarding taste. We all think that we have good taste or that good taste is even a real thing. So, with that as our guide for chasing that same terror-high we felt so long ago, some have concluded that they just don’t make “scary” movies anymore. I, personally, couldn’t disagree more with that sentiment and it’s not because I don’t think you have good taste, which I don’t… because again, it’s not a real thing. It’s likely that most of us just aren’t predisposed to consciously analyzing the nature of our fears in relation to entertainment.
Our relationship to fear changes as experience shapes our understanding of the world. When we were children, none of us could have predicted that middle age would include watching the previous generation die-off all around us, one by one. We couldn’t possibly understand that parenthood comes with an inherent dread for what our children will face in the years ahead. Our fears as children were based on challenges to our more primitive instincts concerning safety. Monsters, ghosts and slashers were a more direct threat to those ideas. Due to lack of experience, we only had our imagination to fill in the psychological gaps of the potential fear triggers that awaited us in the real world.
As adults, most of us don’t view those old horror tropes with the same raw sense of unease that we once did because we understand these things aren’t real. That may sound reductive but I have a genuine take about it. Maybe not a good one, but a genuine one, so stay with me. When we–folks of a certain age–look to horror, we expect those same stimuli to grip us viscerally in the ways they used to. But those expectations are largely erroneous. We’re looking at horror, and the world as a whole, through much different, if jaded, eyes now. Most of us know the difference between reality and fantasy. Most of us, anyway, but I’ll save my anti-religion rants for my locked Facebook account.
The 2018, Ari Aster directed film, HEREDITARY is a great example of how a shift in one’s perspective can shape what we find scary. You could watch this movie and appreciate the beautiful cinematography and the standout acting performances but still not find it scary based on your own individually outdated criteria for what scary means to you. But if you shift your focus and consider what actually frightens you about life, you can engage this film from a different angle with that in mind.
In HEREDITARY, we have a story of generational trauma. This trauma was passed on to Anni (Toni Collette) from her mother, which Anni passed on to her own children. We have the dissolution of a marriage and the complete breakdown and annihilation of a family unit both figuratively and literally. If you happen to have a family of your own, this concept would strike at the very core of your deepest fears. Each subsequent day of life puts us in closer communion with mortality. We’re grownups now! We no longer need proxy scares to activate our fear receptors. Life has done it all for us. Now we’re primed to see the deeper dread hiding between the plot points and behind the gore.
Another, more recent example is THE SUBSTANCE, from 2024. Admittedly, much of the criticism for why this movie wasn’t particularly frightening was largely based on the campiness throughout the film, its comedic tone, and the over the top, cartoonish gore drenched finale. I also have some issues with the film in that it thinks itself to be an all encompassing commentary on the nature of how society devalues women as they age and how this pressure creates unhealthy means–physically and mentally–that some women take to hold-off that perceived decline. It is that, to a point. However, what the film seems to be unaware of is that there are cultural and sociological intersections that create more complicated paradigms in terms of how certain women are viewed by the larger society, which casts their “desirability as a commodity” in a completely different context. Sorry, I had to get that off my chest.
My rant notwithstanding, there were plenty of people who recognized the existential dread that THE SUBSTANCE’s given premise suggests, and how it taps into some very real fears for many women and the real life dread of living in a world where women are still treated as ornamentation and the damage this can do to one’s self image. I’m a big proponent for approaching watching most films from a more thematic perspective. This approach seems like a more logical way of preventing expectations from circumventing our enjoyment.
Listen, I know that I’ve done a pretty great job of sounding like a pretentious dickhead thus far. I won’t apologize for it but I will say that, in spite of my views, I would never discount the value of good old fashioned jump scares or plot forward, antagonist driven terror. For instance, Michael Myers will always be my GOAT slasher. It’s not because he represents some high-minded concept of my fear of my impending mortgage payment, or something. It’s simply because he’s objectively terrifying. Not much thought needed there.
There’s room for all perspectives in the horror community and that’s the way it should always be. I simply wish some of us middle aged horror buffs could shift perspective a bit to experience the thematic, subtextual horror within these films. This generation of directors such as Jordan Peele, Robert Eggers, Michael and Danny Phillipou, Zach Cregger, etc, appear to be creating films for this very audience.
Some of my favorite horror films have come out in the last ten to fifteen years by writers and directors who seek to use their craft to create allegorical works of fiction that examine reality based fears through the lens of fiction. Just as there is no such thing as good taste, there is also no such thing as consensus in taste. That aside, I’d like to present five films that I think combine both surface level frights and subtextual horror that could challenge your opinion on modern horror.
BRING HER BACK (2025)
One of my favorite films of 2025, BRING HER BACK is a gut-wrenching examination of grief from the loss of a child and the depths of despair faced by those left to cope in its wake.
THE RITUAL (2018)
Released in the U.S. in 2018, THE RITUAL explores the ideas of survivors’ guilt and festering resentments among a group of friends, lost in the wilderness as they try to survive an ancient, eldritch horror.
GOODNIGHT MOMMY (2014, Austria)
Not to be confused with the 2022 American remake of the same name. The 2014 Austrian film is an emotionally heavy watch, for sure. The themes that GOODNIGHT MOMMY suggests are flipped once the twist is revealed, but it proves to be a very rewarding watch.
THE WITCH (2016)
For some reason, my initial impression of THE WITCH was lukewarm and my memory of it was of a film that went nowhere. I decided to rewatch it not very long ago and ended up wondering what movie I thought I’d seen, because this movie was packed with atmosphere, masterful cinematography and a story dripping with dread and tension and familial distrust. I must have been distracted on my initial viewing and that’s on me because this movie–directed by the previously mentioned Robert Eggers–is exceptional.
AUDITION (1999)
I know I’m breaking my “modern” horror rule with this one, but I feel like this is a movie that has flown under the radar of so many people for so long that I would be remiss if I didn’t mention it.
If you turned this movie off after the first twenty minutes, you’d probably swear you were watching a Japanese rom-com. I recall the first time I watched AUDITION, I said, “what the fuck am I watching?” on three separate points in the film and each time I said it, it was from a completely different context. Director Takashi Miike is a chameleon with a prolific career that spans over three and a half decades and nearly every genre. AUDITION is a standout in his catalog for its subversive nature and stabs of unflinching brutality and cruelty. It’s a must watch.
I’m sure I’ll get plenty of disagreement about my perspective on this topic so, let’s fight about it! That’s all the internet is good for, right? I’ll meet you in the comments with my brass knuckles. Later, folks!
