Many love a good scary film – the kind that sends shivers down their spine and keeps them on the edge of their seat.
But with tens of thousands of horror films, can anything feel truly unique or has this genre been oversaturated?
Indie filmmakers may have just the solution, writes Film News Blitz’s Priya O’Reilly.
The history of horror
The idea of horror has been around for thousands of years, with the first scary film being released in 1896 titled Le Manoir du diable (The House of the Devil).
So with 130 years of horror film releases, it makes sense that originality is hard to find.
Many have argued that the genre has become “somewhat jaded” and that “there doesn’t seem to be any fresh ideas or original stories on the horizon.”
Obsession and Backrooms, two new horror films that hit theatres in May of this year, took viewers by storm.
They received overwhelming praise and were enormous successes at the global box office.
Now, how did these two films achieve such reverence?
Youtubers turned horror directors
Obsession was directed by Curry Barker, a 25-year-old who started his career on YouTube.
His channel titled It’s a Bad Idea features comedy sketches and short films, some of which have gone on to win awards.
The 2023 short film The Chair is one of his most popular and picked up awards at several US film festivals.
And now we come to Obsession, and with a budget of only $750k, it has become one of the most talked-about low-budget films in recent years.
During its stay in theatres, it generated over $400 million, shattering the 53-year-old record to become the highest-grossing film in cinema history with a production budget under $1 million.
So if you haven’t checked it out, you really should. We wish you the best time watching it…
Backrooms also has similar origins.
The film was directed by Kane Parsons, who at the time was only 20 years old.
He too has a YouTube channel called Kane Pixels, where he uploaded found footage-esque videos.
His most popular video is The Backrooms (Found Footage), which has since received over 90 million views.
The film was also a box office success, generating $384 million with a production budget of below $10 million.
These two films have truly made their mark in the horror genre.
What have critics said about these films?
The films have quickly become fan favourites, with people taking multiple trips to the theatres just to relive the scares.
Critics have stated that Obsession is “a chilling, modern psychological horror that uses a dark magical twist to tackle the ‘nice guy’ trope, toxic consent and dating coercion.”
Many have also praised the acting of Inde Navaratte, who played the character Nikki Freeman in the film.
Similarly with Backrooms, critics have celebrated “the fantastic lead performance from Chiwetel Ejiofor” and its perfect delivery at creating a “hauntingly surreal experience.”
What else is out there?
Backrooms and Obsession haven’t been the only horror films created by YouTubers, however.
Talk To Me, a 2022 Australian film, was brought to life by brothers Michael and Danny Philippou; the film quickly became A24’s highest-grossing horror title at the time.
The brothers are known online as ‘RackaRacka’ and are best known for their horror comedy sketches on YouTube.
Final notes
It appears that the horror genre has received some new ideas from new faces.
With unknown directors creating some successful scary masterpieces.
Maybe all is not lost, and there is still room for some new frights.
The future for horror looks terrifyingly bright.
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