'The Conjuring' And Thoughts On Horror

The Conjuring is the latest in a long line of haunted-house-horror films that seem to be cut from the exact same mold, contain the same characters, the same ghouls. and the same scares. This type of movie isn't really something I'd normally be interested in or drawn to but a number of my friends suggested it and said they enjoyed it. It was fine for what it was but it was exactly like every other ghost/haunted house/exorcism movie made over the past ten years.

There seems to be two kinds of horror movies made in the current cinematic climate: haunted house movies or torture porn horror. Although those aren't movies I like I understand their appeal. What I don't understand is why these same movies keep getting remade. Keep getting an ever extending parade of sequels.

Horror is a multi-faceted complex genre with countless possibilities, frameworks, and set ups. I've always been a fan of Stephen King and recently read the books of his son Joe Hill. They write interesting horror stories attacking the genre from different angles. There's more to a story than guy-locks-people-in-house-and-makes-them-hurt-each-other or family-moves-into-house-and-kids-get-hurt-by-old-evil-spirit-while-one-parent-gets-possessed.

These scary movies are no longer scary because we can see everything coming. We know the frame work, we know the set up, there's no sense of the other world, no sense of the unknown. Ghost don't need to hurt people to be scary. They don't need to whisper or reside in cobweb filled basements or have gangley hair or emanate cold. The reason ghost stories are told is because ultimately we don't know whats beyond. We want to hear that story, get taken along that journey, but it defeats the purpose to make a formula out of it.

I want to see a movie that doesn't involve a group of people, just one person. I want to see ghosts that never manifest themselves or always have an observable presence. I want to see people interact or converse with ghosts with no direct physical or emotional threat, the threat of being in the presence of the dead is threat enough. I want to see a movie in a city where there are ghosts. Or a theater or a subway. Not a house in the country.

Horror has rich potential, there's no reason we should be telling the same story over and over again.