Friend of Blog@, James Zahn (writer of Death Walks the Streets for Fangoria) has written an interesting piece on how the current recession in the U.S. is affecting (and will affect) the horror industry.
The horror industry has been a victim of it’s own actions, much like the auto manufacturers, the credit card companies, the retailers, and every other business in a state of decline. While the reasons may be different, the outcome can be the same. Entities will evolve and survive, or continue on the same path of stagnation, painfully awaiting their inevitable deaths…
The companies responsible for bringing viewers filmed horror entertainment are the poster children for what’s been wrong. Much like the auto industry, they’ve fallen victim to an emphasis on quantity vs. quality. Why should a car buyer settle for something outdated and overpriced from Detroit, when they could get something stylish and affordable that was built overseas?
He goes on in part one to talk about the direct effect some horror-focused film companies have already felt, as well as comic and video game makers. While part one is admittedly (even by Zahn himself) a bit of a downer, he promises part two will offer suggestions to make things better.
[via Fangoria Online]
December 3rd, 2008 at 1:23 pm
We have Supernatural. We have Stephen King. We have Hack/Slash. We have Steve Niles and Robert Kirkman. What else do we need?
December 3rd, 2008 at 3:04 pm
Movies that don’t stink would be nice; it seems like the only horror that comes out theatrically these days is watered-down remakes and “Saw” sequels. At the very least, fix the system so that the good stuff that goes direct to video can get released and be profitable at the theaters.
December 3rd, 2008 at 3:34 pm
Well, we certainly need someone capable of writing horror at a higher level that Steve Niles, considering that his only good writing was when he was doing word for word adaptations of Richard Matheson and Clive Barker. 30 Days of Night is one of the worst structured horror stories I’ve ever read in any medium, and somehow the subsequent movie was even worse (which should be impossible, seeing as the comic was a failed movie pitch to begin with).
American horror in general needs someone like Junji Ito or Clive Barker circa the Books of Blood/Damnation Game era, people who are actually capable of coming up with new or unexpected ways of disturbing and unnerving us instead of just rehashing the same vampire, zombie or werewolf movies we watched in the 80′s but making them BAD ASS AND EXTREME.
I’m at work right now, but I’ll try to check out the article and post my thoughts on it in the next day or so.