Feeding the Machine: Today's Problem with Modern Audiences & Modern Horror

FEEDING THE MACHINE
The Problem With Modern Audiences & Modern Horror

About two weeks ago, I dragged  my reluctant friend and myself to go and see the final chapter in the Paranormal Activity franchise: Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension, because unfortunately, I cannot leave a film series unfinished. I have seen all the sequels, and did not like any of them, (The Marked Ones I have a slight soft spot for because it had the balls to try to go somewhere new. It still sucked but hey, well done for trying) so I knew that one day I would have to see this sixth entry anyway. The film, of course, was awful, and is probably the worst in the whole series, not helped by the bloody awful 3D gimmick.
But the most shocking thing I found about the film was the audience reaction. Of course, by this point I have taught my friend the ways of horror cinema, as beforehand, he did not care about the genre at all. To have him strongly agree that the film was really, really rubbish was a sign that I had taught him well. But the people we sat with seemed to have watched a completely different film than we did…
The audience were terrified. Many people did not occupy the cinema, and understandably so, because Spectre was playing in the next room. Behind us were a couple; in front of us were a trio of squealing girls, and a few other filmgoers on the other side from us. The film clearly worked for them on some level, because all throughout the film, we could hear:

-“I’m so scared. Like, really, really scared.”

-“Oh my God, this is too much.”

-“I really don’t think I’ll sleep tonight and OHMYGODWHATTHEFRIGWASTHAT?!”

And when the film finished, everyone was nervously laughing and praising it for being one of the scariest films they had ever seen. I took off my 3D glasses, sighed, and gave my friend a pitiful look. He did the same. We left, feeling robbed of our precious £10. On the drive home, we wondered just why the audience felt so scared and unnerved by what they just watched.

Then it hit me: the audience we sat with were not horror fans. By their standards, this was the definition of horror. These are the kind of audiences that look at horror as nothing more than something to give them cheap scares and make them jump. 2015, like the last God knows how many years, has been full of films like this. The Woman in Black 2: Angel of Death, Sinister 2, and the remake of Poltergeist are typical examples of horror films that are not meant for horror fans. They are meant for modern audiences who do not understand what horror is. This is what brings me to the whole point of this article. These audiences are examples of the people who are simply feeding the machine.
The machine represents the studios, ran by the people who know how to milk money out of modern audiences with these jump scare flicks. The audience that go to see these films are feeding the machine, allowing the studio’s to think that this is what is acceptable for horror films today. And then, the majority of people will complain about the laziness of the films. Critics, real horror fans, and perhaps smarter film goers, will catch on that clearly nobody is putting effort into these types of films, but the idle batch we sat with seem to think otherwise, thus feeding the machine and creating a cycle that never seems to end.
It’s a real shame, because it’s films like Paranormal Activity 6 that are stealing the limelight from the true horror films. Ones with intelligence, substance, and genuine stories of interest. Around the same time as The Ghost Dimensions release, a film called Crimson Peak came out. It was fantastic, had a beautiful visual aesthetic and great performances and a really bloody and exciting third act. And audiences found it boring. How anyone could possibly say that is a complete mystery to me, but similar things have happened with other films…
Last year, a really smart and wicked horror film came out called The Babadook, which had zero jump scares and had a twisted theme revolving around how parents could be afraid of their own children. Besides critics, the film was heavily overlooked. The same went for It Follows. These smart films are not getting the attention they deserve, whilst low budget pieces of rubbish like Sinister 2 get praised as truly horrifying.
This is a serious problem for the genre. The repeated phrase today is: Horror is dead. No, it is not. There are still films  being produced that are haunting, creepy and subversive. But they’re just overlooked and forgotten. The machine keeps on being fed, and its killing horror cinema. Do not be surprised when they reboot the franchise, as well as make more sequels to the ever growing list of rubbish that keeps coming out. And do not even get me started on remakes.

By Dan