<\/p>\n
By Michael Cavna<\/strong><\/p>\n No debut feature better reflects the trending tastes of many audiences right now than a small film not even intended for theatrical release.<\/p>\n The dark thriller \u201cSmile\u201d was set to head straight to streaming. That is, until the reported $17 million movie from writer-director Parker Finn scored \u201ccrazy well\u201d with test audiences, Paramount Pictures chief Brian Robbins said last month, according to the \u201cHollywood Reporter\u201d. <\/p>\n Redirected to theatres and boosted by savvy marketing campaigns, \u201cSmile\u201d \u2013 about a therapist\u2019s seemingly supernatural experiences \u2013 recently won three straight weekends across North America and has grossed more than $165 million worldwide, nearly 10 times its production budget.<\/p>\n In the ramp-up to Halloween, horror films have won five weekends since September began, holding their own while squeezed between the blockbuster contrails of \u201cTop Gun: Maverick\u201d and next month\u2019s massive release of \u201cBlack Panther: Wakanda Forever\u201d.<\/p>\n Just what in the name of bloody good fun is going on?<\/p>\n To be sure, the studio behemoths still reign. The top of the Hollywood box office this year is packed with action and adventure franchises, as well as capes and cartoons. <\/p>\n Peek a bit beneath those floorboards, though, and a different picture emerges: For original films, the most commercially reliable and pandemic-resilient genre in the American market is the horror movie.<\/p>\n Factor in all horror titles \u2013 including a couple of beloved franchises and one feature adapted from a short film \u2013 and the genre has slashed its way to winning nine domestic weekends so far in 2022. <\/p>\n And the promising, \u201cThe Menu\u201d (starring Anya Taylor-Joy and Ralph Fiennes) and \u201cBones and All\u201d (Taylor Russell and Timoth\u00e9e Chalamet) are still to come next month.<\/p>\n It\u2019s been such a Year of the Fright Film that even a Marvel superhero movie like Sam Raimi\u2019s \u201cDoctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness\u201d offered nods to the \u201cEvil Dead\u201d director\u2019s mastery of the form.<\/p>\n Horror has always been a Hollywood staple, of course, and every so often, the genre has a breakout year, like in 2017, with \u201cIt\u201d, \u201cGet Out\u201d, \u201cSplit\u201d, \u201cAnnabelle: Creation\u201c and \u201cAlien: Covenant\u201d each grossing more than $250 million worldwide. <\/p>\n Yet there is a confluence of particular factors surrounding the run of horror hits this year.<\/p>\n In two cases, the nostalgic comfort of familiar slasher franchises helped draw filmgoers. <\/p>\n One of the early weekend winners of 2022 was \u201cScream\u201d (which went on to earn $140 million worldwide), featuring the return of Courteney Cox, and one of the most recent box-office champs was \u201cHalloween Ends\u201d ($84 million and counting), highlighting the return of Jamie Lee Curtis.<\/p>\n Yet much of the current wave of popularity has been powered by original stories like Jordan Peele\u2019s \u201cNope\u201d ($170 million-plus globally) and Zach Cregger\u2019s \u201cBarbarian\u201d ($42.3 million) \u2013 weekend winners both,<\/p>\n Writer-director Ti West has scored twice recently with the strong word-of-mouth hits \u201cPearl\u201d and \u201cX\u201d, both of which star Mia Goth. Genre fans have also especially embraced \u201cThe Black Phone\u201d, \u201cThe Invitation\u201d, \u201cX\u201d and \u201cBodies Bodies Bodies\u201c and the recent release \u201cTerrifier 2\u201d is gaining ground.<\/p>\n \u201cAs a horror fan, I feel so blessed \u2013 there\u2019s something every week I want to see in the theatre,\u201d says Meg Hafdahl, the podcaster\/screenwriter whose horror novels include \u201cHer Dark Inheritance\u201d, and who has co-written the \u201cScience of\u201d book series.<\/p>\n Hafdahl thinks that horror has been \u201cthe perfect genre\u201d for filmgoers who are returning after missing the communal experience earlier in the pandemic. <\/p>\n There is the \u201cpalpable tension in the theater,\u201d as well as the shared \u201ctension and sadness,\u201d she says by phone from Rochester, Minn. \u201cThis is why I love horror: It\u2019s such a roller coaster of emotion to share with people.\u201d<\/p>\n Rob Salkowitz, author of \u201cComic-Con and the Business of Pop Culture,\u201d says that the early stages of the pandemic itself felt like a fright film or a \u201970s apocalyptic thriller like \u201cThe Andromeda Strain\u201d or \u201cThe Omega Man\u201c.<\/p>\n Part of the appeal of horror on film, he says, is that in the face of the story\u2019s deadly threats, there is \u201cfamiliarity to the formula.\u201d<\/p>\n Whether it\u2019s Jason or Cthulhu, at least the killer in horror follows the rules of the genre, Salkowitz says by phone from Washington state. \u201cIt\u2019s a reassuring aspect to a horror movie that it\u2019s going to be resolved, even if you\u2019re creeped out.\u201d<\/p>\n Industry observers also note that the metrics for success are often different with the cinema of jump-scares and psychological terror. <\/p>\n Bloated-budget tentpole movies and many star-studded dramas are expected to have huge opening weekends, while a smaller horror film is allowed more time to find its box-office success, says William Earl, the editor of Variety.com who specializes in horror coverage. <\/p>\n A superhero movie that doesn\u2019t \u201copen in nine digits can be a misfire,\u201d he says, while a film like \u201cTerrifier 2\u201d flies lower but steady.<\/p>\n Horror experts also underscore that given these financially safer projects, studios are more willing to take chances on less proven filmmakers and lesser-known actors, fostering a diversity of rising voices.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople are making horror movies who weren\u2019t necessarily allowed to make horror movies before,\u201d Hafdahl says. <\/p>\n She also thinks that Hollywood is more fully appreciating the breadth and malleability of the form: \u201cStudios are not underestimating the horror viewer \u2013 we appreciate good, well-drawn characters.\u201d<\/p>\n And as a wave of horror films enjoys \u201cmust see in theater\u201d word of mouth, the genre is winning over fresh converts. <\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s such a huge and diverse genre that there\u2019s something for everyone,\u201d Hafdahl says, whether it\u2019s a slow-burn psychological thriller or hardcore gore.<\/p>\n Adds the author: \u201cI love that people are experiencing horror again and in a community space \u2013 not just at home with our big TVs.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By Michael Cavna No debut feature better reflects the trending tastes of many audiences right now than a small film not even intended for theatrical release. The dark thriller \u201cSmile\u201d was set to head straight to streaming. That is, until the reported $17 million movie from writer-director Parker Finn scored \u201ccrazy well\u201d with test audiences, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1244807","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-celebrity-gossip"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1244807","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1244807"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1244807\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1244807"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1244807"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1244807"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}