Every couple of years or so, a lot of horror experts like to trot out their opinions on the future of the genre. “Zombies are out.” I wish, but not yet. “Werewolves are in.” I wish, but not yet. Recently we’ve been seeing what some see as a resurgence of supernatural horror, which is causing some pundits to predict its death in a sort of a knee-jerk fashion. But here’s the thing, good supernatural horror movies, like last year’s The Conjuring, will never die. The response to both the Annabelle teaser trailer and its more recent full trailer suggest that audiences are as hungry as ever for quality scares.
It all comes down to the unknown. There is so much we don’t understand about the universe and our own lives that the supernatural subgenre can represent metaphorically. On top of that, every single human is wired to fear for their own mortality. I think one of the reasons we’re so resistant to death is that we really have no idea what happens after it occurs. Does our consciousness simply vanish? Is it nothingness? Do we go to some sort of afterlife? Do we become ghosts? Are spirits among us? I’m not a particularly religious person but I have to admit that I occasionally entertain any and all of these possibilities simply because I can’t completely wrap my head around the concept.
These concepts, concerns and fears will never truly dissipate because we will never have concrete answers. That goes for what happens to other people as well as ourselves. In the light of day I don’t believe in ghosts, but I’ve also been known to switch hotel rooms because I’m convinced that there’s a spirit lurking in one of them. The same goes for horror cinema. When we watch something like Paranormal Activity 3, Insidious or The Conjuring, we lose all real objectivity on the matter. Have you ever found yourself watching a zombie film only to find yourself momentarily convinced that they’re real? No. Same thing with werewolves and vampires, right? But when you try to turn out the lights after a particularly effective haunter, it’s a different story. I’m allowed to have all manner of horror ephemera in my house… but not the Annabelle doll. It’s just too unsettling.
The box office backs me up on this. Every five years or so there’s a massive supernatural horror film that captures the zeitgeist, and it happens with a wider audience than with other subgenres. Look at The Exorcist, The Amityville Horror, The Shining, Poltergeist, The Blair Witch Project, The Sixth Sense, The Ring, Paranormal Activity, Sinister, Insidious and The Conjuring. There’s a cultural penetration going on with these movies that you don’t really get from other subgenres. You could even take the upcoming Annabelle as an example. Audiences are primed to see it not only because they recognize the Annabelle doll, which has quickly become as iconic as some of the classic slashers without ever saying a word, but because they trust that the film will do what others can’t … unsettle them.
I don’t believe we’ll see supernatural horror dying out anytime soon. When Annabelle opens on October 3rd you’re likely to see people flocking to it in droves, counting on a sleepless night afterwards.
