Editorials
What Do You Miss In Horror?
Horror has been gracing cinema screens since movies became a reality. From audiences being shocked at the mere sight of a train coming towards them to audiences supposedly fainting and vomiting at the sights on screen, horror has hit us in visceral ways, ways that other genres never manage to achieve.
But as the years progressed, horror had to evolve to keep up with the interests and changes in our society. From being a terror of nightmarish images to an all out onslaught against our senses (and back again), horror has seen radical changes in its approach to try and meet what studio execs think we want to see. Sometimes they’re right and sometimes they fail catastrophically.
We’re lucky in our generation in that we have access to a nearly endless supply of films from across the decades. If we want to see what horror was like in the 30’s, it’s a click of a button away. Want to read about how the horror films of the Cold War era were a reflection of American society and its fears? Google is your pal.
All of this means that horror has changed drastically over the decades. Whether it be what films can get away with – like nudity, gore, blasphemy, etc… – or simple technological advances – such as better cameras or more realistic practical FX – horror has been able to add a great deal to its plate. But with all addition comes some sort of subtraction. Or, at the every least, some concepts and practices get pushed to the wayside.
So let’s talk about some of the things that may have fallen away that horror used to embody. I’ve got a few examples below and then I want to hear from you in the comments!
Atmosphere
This is a big one for me. Many times, I feel that horror movies try way too hard to create a scary atmosphere when they don’t realize that less can be more. For example, haunted house movies always have a house that looks weird in some way. Seeing those houses, it’s kinda hard not to remember Eddie Murphy’s brilliant and scathing attack on haunted houses. Whatever happened to making the house look like it fits the story? If a family is moving into a house, even if it’s haunted, you’d think the realtor would clean up a bit.
Some of the best uses of atmosphere come from movies that leave it in the background and let the story do the work. The Thing is set in Antarctica, which is not a “horror” location. However, in the context of the story, it becomes a menacing threat, one that’s just as dangerous as the alien virus. In The Mist, the supermarket is your every day normal grocery store. But under the circumstances, it becomes a constrictive jail. And in The Wicker Man, the island, which is rather beautiful when you think about it, feels like its hiding something behind every tree.
You see where I’m going with this? I don’t need the paint on the walls to be peeling to know that something’s wrong with the place. I need the story to bring me fear.
A Lack of CGI
Alright, this might just be me showing my age and I’m okay with that. Also, I know that the best CGI is the stuff we don’t see. But when CGI fails, it REALLY ruins the moment. I’d honestly always rather have a guy in a suit with the zipper clearly apparent than a CGI vision that I know simply isn’t real. Seeing actors interact with real objects will be far quicker at making me suspend my disbelief.
Now, there are obviously times when this can’t be avoided. Godzilla, The Mist, Silent Hill, etc… All of these movies, and more, have moments where CGI is a requirement because we simply don’t have the technology (or the budget) to do things otherwise. But I feel like CGI has become a tool for the lazy or the rushed in many circumstances.
More Memorable Music
I LOVE a good horror score. I absolutely delight in spinning a horror record or putting something on iTunes while I work. But I find that the scores that really stand out and remain in my memory are the older ones. The music of Psycho, Rosemary’s Baby, Re-animator, and such have themes that get stuck in my mind and really add to the delight of the experience. For many of us, we need only hear a few notes of Halloween or A Nightmare on Elm Street to know what theme we’re hearing.
However, I challenge people to listen to music from Sinister against The Collector against The Possession and tell me which came from which. I’m not saying that the music in those films is bad, I’m just saying I couldn’t do it.
I believe that music can be an unrecognized and unseen character in a horror film, one that sets the mood more than anything else. That’s why I pay so much attention to it and really enjoy it when it stands out.
Comics
‘Spider-Noir’ Comic Changes Explained: How the TV Series Reinvents Marvel’s Darkest Spider-Man
A little while back, I wrote an article chronicling the Hellraiser franchise’s affinity for Film Noir and touched on how that genre has, historically, always been connected to horror.
This connection can be observed in everything from the cannibalistic serial killers of Frank Miller’s Sin City to the disturbing criminal plots fueling neo-noir thrillers like Stuart Gordon’s underrated King of the Ants. That’s why it came as no surprise when I finally sat down to watch all eight episodes of Prime Video’s recently released Spider-Noir series and was confronted with plenty of classic horror tropes.
What did come as a surprise, however, was how showrunners Oren Uziel and Steve Lightfoot approached these horror elements when compared to the 2009 comic book that the show is based on. From the heavily altered rogue’s gallery to an equally terrifying yet completely different origin story for Nicolas Cage’s take on the webslinger, there are plenty of changes here that I feel might be of interest to genre fans.
With that in mind, I’d like to invite readers to take a closer look at all the adjustments that Spider-Noir made to the story in order to bring this incarnation of Spider-Man to life in all of its monochromatic glory (unless you watched the True-Hue color version of the show, in which case you’ll be treated to a surprisingly comic-booky palette that you don’t usually see on television).
The Dark Origins of Marvel’s Spider-Man Noir
Our first order of business should be to examine the origins of the Noir comics themselves. Originally published as part of the Marvel Noir alternate universe that reimagined several characters as hard-boiled crime-fighters, Spider-Man Noir became the most successful book in the entire run. This highly politicized story about Peter Parker coming to terms with the capitalist evils of the Great Depression seemed to have struck a nerve with audiences looking for a darker take on the wall-crawler, which is likely why we’d soon see several sequel stories as well as a video game adaptation of the character in 2010’s underrated Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions.
Of course, it wasn’t just Spider-Man’s darker disposition that made this version of the character a hit, as 1930s New York City was depicted as being much more hostile than what we generally see in the standard Marvel Universe. From Peter’s powers coming from an Eldritch Spider God that spawns man-eating arachnids to Vulture being an ex-Freak-Show Gimp with a taste for human flesh, you can definitely understand why this Web-Head isn’t pulling his punches.
Unfortunately, this alternate universe was a little too popular for its own good, with each subsequent sequel/adaptation further diluting the political anger and classic horror influences that fueled the original comic-book run in order to appeal to a wider audience. Spider-Man Noir was nearly unrecognizable once we got to the Spider-Verse crossover that turned the character into a household name, though this would at least lead to an interesting adaptation in 2018.
The Classic Horror Influences Hidden Throughout Spider-Noir
Jack Huston as Sandman in ‘Spider-Noir’
When Phil Lord and Chris Miller finally translated Spider-Man Noir to the big screen, with Nicolas Cage bringing the character to life in an unexpected case of pitch-perfect casting, he was still mostly relegated to comic relief as his nazi-punching antics and over-the-top edginess were played for laughs. However, while this version of the character had little to do with the comics that spawned him, Spider-Noir’s newfound popularity eventually resulted in the announcement of a darker live-action spin-off – a spin-off that I was cautiously optimistic about.
While the showrunners ultimately decided to go in a completely different direction than the 2009 comic, the new team of writers appeared to understand Noir as a genre in ways that even the folks at Marvel Noir couldn’t quite grasp. That’s likely why 2026’s Spider-Noir boasts plenty of horror elements, just not in ways we’ve seen them before.
The series is obviously borrowing tropes and aesthetics from period-accurate monster movies, with Universal’s 1930s output being a particularly big influence. From the re-imagining of Sandman and Tombstone as tragic figures to The Spider even being operated on by a mad scientist with hilariously antiquated techniques, this bizarre collection of super-powered freaks could have easily shown up in a classic creature feature.
The scares aren’t all retro, however, as the showrunners also injected plenty of body-horror into the mix during their attempt at unifying the origin stories for all these larger-than-life characters. Hell, the Spider himself is now revealed to have gained his powers after being bitten by a half-mutated Man-Spider during World War I, and the aforementioned mad scientist keeps a disturbing collection of failed experiments in her basement, proving that not all of her patients were lucky enough to simply gain superpowers after being experimented on.
Nicolas Cage Reinvents Spider-Man Noir for Television
Ben Reilly/Spiderman (Nicolas Cage) in SPIDER-NOIR
Photo: Aaron Epstein/Prime
© Amazon Content Services LLC
I also really appreciate how Cage insists on depicting Ben Reilly as an arachnid trapped inside of a human body, with his uncanny physical performance and classic Hollywood impressions keeping your eyes glued to the screen while also providing some of the show’s funniest moments.
I still think it’s a shame that the character is no longer politically motivated, and I miss the detail about Uncle Ben having been cannibalized by Vulture after his social activism ruffled too many feathers, but at least this time our protagonist actually feels like someone who could have been written by Raymond Chandler if he were a fan of Superheroes.
In fact, the writers nailed the snappy back-and-forth that Noir authors like Dashiel Hammett used to refer to as the “riposte”, and it’s fun to see supervillains being depicted as horrific movie monsters instead of specialized henchmen – with The Spider feeling like just as much of a Freak Show attraction as the rest of them. Purists might be put off by the lack of reverence for the source material, but I think that’s a small price to pay when even the show’s most clichéd moments intentionally harken back to the golden age of Hollywood.
That’s why I’d argue that Amazon’s Spider-Noir isn’t really an adaptation, but rather an equally valid take on the same premise that inspired Marvel back in 2009. And in a world filled with recycled storylines that only serve to advertise future releases, I’d rather have two completely different visions of the same character than a straight-up retelling of the same handful of ideas.
At the end of the day, there’s enough space inside this comic fan’s heart for both man-eating Vultures and a Cronenberg-inspired Man-Spider. And if you’re also a fan of nostalgic creature features with comic book flair, I’d highly recommend this street-level superhero story with a spooky twist.
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