The great HORROR TAKEOVER!
Boyd Hilton explains why scary films are bigger than ever, and we pick the spookiest ones of all time for you to watch this Halloween
As Halloween 2017 approaches, horror has never been bigger. This year, It – the adaptation of Stephen King’s classic novel about a terrifying, shape-shifting clown hounding a gang of teenagers – became the most successful horror film ever, banking $630million so far. Still in cinemas, it will no doubt get another box-office boost this week, too.
Then there’s the current number one movie in America,
Happy Death Day, out here in cinemas this week. A slasher spin on the Groundhog Day idea of the same day repeating itself over and over – this time with a college student getting killed repeatedly – it’s already made five times the amount it cost to make.
As if that wasn’t enough, the gore-fest franchise Saw gets a fresh revival this Friday, too,
with the arrival of new flick Jigsaw (see preview, page 90), which is currently the subject of a huge advertising campaign.
And we Brits are also getting in on the horror movie act, with UK indie flicks The Ritual and Double Date both doing well in cinemas right now.
THE HORRIFIC YEAR
These current big horror hits are part of a huge year for the genre. Earlier in 2017, Get Out – the story of a young black man meeting his white girlfriend’s super-creepy family and friends – became one of the most profitable films of all time, while twist master M Night Shyamalan’s psychological chiller Split, made by the same production company as Get Out, was his biggest success in years. Even Annabelle: Creation, an unheralded sequel to a fairly average spin-off from successful horror The Conjuring, made an impressive $300million.
With horror films being relatively cheap to make, they’ve become a perfect storm for Hollywood studios, as well as acting as effective calling cards for young writers and directors, like Jordan Peele who created
Get Out. And there are loads more on the way, with even the
Halloween franchise being revived for the first time in eight years – a new version coming next year will bring back original star Jamie Lee Curtis, now 58.
With scary movies dominating the box office, it’s safe to say every other genre is running scared…