I believe that the 21st century has been a time of immense growth for many industries around the world. Particularly, the film industry has been impacted by this change. The technological revolution has provided a surge of different opportunities for film from various parts of the world and from various different backgrounds. This has opened the door of film making to many different minds...some of whom may be a bit too twisted to be producing anything that is intended to be shown to general audiences.
More specifically, I believe that horror films have undergone the most rigorous evolution. Times have drastically changed since Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho, struck deep fear into the hearts of all shower-takers, and since Roman Polanski's Rosemary's Baby convinced you that your neighbors were satanists. Nowadays, decent horror movies are very few and far between. Could this be because the film industry has become all-too-reliant on special effects, CGI, and gore? Not only that, but is the horror film industry doomed to make remastered remakes of classic horror films like The Blair Witch Project forever?
As an avid film-watcher myself, who has been exposed to everything from The Birds to classic musicals like West Side Story, all the way up to the most contemporary and deep films of our time, I have certainly noticed a trend in the evolution of horror. Let's take, for example, Steven Spielberg's 1975 masterpiece, Jaws and compare it to the 2013 film The Green Inferno.
Jaws, a cinematic classic and a famed horror film, had a total of one minute and 47 seconds of blood in its entirety. It relied strictly on the fear of the unseen and the fear of isolation, as well as impossible odds. The three main characters in the film are on a small, old boat in the middle of the ocean that was ultimately inept against the likes of the massive great white shark they were trying to wrangle. The film scared the audience with the solid fact that the shark (whom Spielberg called Bruce) was simply bigger and scarier than the protagonists of the story...and that he could, you know, eat them alive. To this day, the film has remained in the top 5 of E! Hollywood's Scariest Films list.
Meanwhile, The Green Inferno, caused people to leave the theater to vomit due to the immense amount of gore portrayed in the film. The movie tells the story of two college students who are captured by a Peruvian tribe of hungry cannibals. The viciousness of this film requires little elaboration, and relied heavily on blood, guts and torture. I don't swoon easily, but I was unable to watch longer than 20 minutes of the film, but even in that short time, it was obvious that the filmmaker is a deeply disturbed individual, whose primary goal was to disturb the audience as badly as he could possibly achieve. In all seriousness, I do not recommend this film who anybody with a weak stomach, or anybody who hopes to get a good night's sleep.
Movies that bet on the same outcome as The Green Inferno have become all too prevalent in my opinion. Films like Saw and Hostel run in the same race, and the Saw series is the highest grossing horror film series of all time according to IMDb. I yearn for films that challenge the likes of Rosemary's Baby or The Omen. Movies that strike a nerve that don't simultaneously turn your stomach. Where is the horror film savior that will make being scared fun again? As opposed to strictly disturbing? Are you out there? Anywhere?
Lastly, for anybody wishing to broaden their horror film horizon. I recommend movies from 2005 and before, everything after that gets awfully bloody awfully quick. For anybody wishing to challenge themselves--and their gag reflex--I still don't recommend The Green Inferno, but perhaps something a bit more recent may better suit you. Good luck, you're going to need it.
