Editorials
Alright, Let’s Get This Over With. Horror is NOT Dead and It’s Never Going to Die, Okay?
Year after year, time after time, we hear the same argument being thrown about, asking if horror is dead? It always comes after a horror film fails to perform at the box office. This year, it was Adam Wingard and Simon Barrett’s Blair Witch, which originally went under the name The Woods. Brad absolutely loved it while I was more a middle-of-the-road kinda guy.
When the reveal came that The Woods was actually a third entry in Blair Witch franchise, the internet blew up. It was easily one of the biggest stories of the year. Our Twitter account blew up and we were keeping an eye on our servers because of the massive amount of traffic coming in. It was the talk of the town and everyone was sure this was going to be the next big horror hit. Hell, in my piece “Why ‘Blair Witch’ is so Important and Exciting to so Many People“, I specifically spoke about how nostalgia played a big part in the resurgence of interest and, much like Jurassic World or The Force Awakens, it had an entry film that was iconic and memorable.
Alas, the movie fizzled at the box office, drawing in just over $30 million on a $5 million budget. When you factor in marketing, I’d be amazed if the movie was profitable. I’m sure home video will help but the theater run wasn’t nearly as impressive as Don’t Breathe, which made just under $130 million on a $10 million budget or Lights Out which made nearly $150 million on a $5 million budget. Again, you have to factor in marketing costs but they were clearly profitable.
And yet, the failure – and it barely qualifies as one – of Blair Witch raised that ever-tired cry that horror simply must be dead! I mean, c’mon everyone! Can’t you see that people are sick of horror? It’s not like Don’t Breathe or Lights Out, as just mentioned, were huge hits? Hell, let’s forget about The Conjuring 2 and its $320 million box office pull! Ignore The Witch $40+ million gross! Just play dumb when it comes to any fact that smashes an argument!
How annoying as a horror fan is it to hear this? We’re constantly one of the most profitable and exciting genres out there and yet we’re always the most maligned. Even more frustrating is that when we do get critical praise and acclaim, many of our own want to shove those films out of the horror genre. It’s this weird ballet of horror lovers both demanding to be taken seriously while not wanting the genre to become serious. One of the most depressing things I read was a comment that said something along the lines of, “Horror is MEANT to be stupid!” My heart was broken.
Year after year, decade after decade, horror has proven its longevity and its importance. It is often a critique of society and culture, testing the boundaries of fear and taste. It often challenges filmmakers to better their craft and technology. It can save studios from the brink of collapse. Why do you think New Line Cinema is dubbed “The House that Freddy Built”?
Yes, there are going to be flops. But that goes with any genre. Batman v Superman, even with its near $875 million gross, barely made profit for Warner Bros. Are they still moving forward on their DC Universe? You better believe it! So it is with horror. We may have some movies that are dead on arrival (no pun intended) but that doesn’t mean “horror is dead”. We will NEVER tire of being scared. We will NEVER tire of being horrified. If anything, we will always demand it. We will always crave it and seek it out.
In summation, no, horror is not dead. It will never die. And should it ever actually reach that point, horror will pull a Videodrome by reaching into itself and pulling out something unexpected, something shocking, and turn it on the system.
The trailer for Ti West’s upcoming adaptation of A Christmas Carol raised a lot of eyebrows when it dropped earlier this week. While plenty of folks initially dismissed Ebenezer as a derivative project meant to cash in on the recent wave of unnecessary prequels that expand the backstory of beloved characters (such as 2023’s Wonka), Charles Dickens’ original novel already made a point of exploring Ebenezer Scrooge’s origins in detail – meaning that this new film is likely just a particularly faithful adaptation of the source material under a different name.
Couple that with the fact that the movie is being helmed by a genuine horror auteur and I think it’s safe to say that the latest iteration of the first modern ghost story is in good hands.
That being said, one detail that immediately jumped out at me during the brief teaser (other than a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it nod to Johnny Depp’s iconic bedroom death scene from the original A Nightmare on Elm Street) is the fact that many of Ebenezer’s ghosts appear to have been directly lifted from the iconic John Leech illustrations that accompanied the first edition of Dickens’ novel.
Here are a couple of stills from the trailer compared to the original artwork:
The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come in ‘Ebenezer’ and ‘A Christmas Carol’
The Phantoms in ‘A Christmas Carol’ and ‘Ebenezer’
Marley’s Ghost in ‘Ebenezer’ and ‘A Christmas Carol’
Mainly working with old-school wood and steel engravings that would later be transferred to print, Leech was instrumental in crafting the iconic look of history’s most influential phantoms – especially since Dickens is said to have been deeply involved with the creation of these so-called “comic illustrations.”
And since the novel is commonly said to have popularized spiritualism in Victorian England, much of the ghostly iconography that we still see in genre media to this very day (including some of Ti West’s previous films) can be traced back to the author’s partnership with Leech.
Ebenezer won’t be the first A Christmas Carol adaptation to borrow heavily from these designs, but I can appreciate how Ti West is incorporating an important part of horror history into his latest film.
Ebenezer will be available in theaters starting November 13.
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