CHILLER TV: THE FUTURE OF FEAR

Hey Yankees, after you have woken up from your turkey coma and given birth to your food baby you may want to leave some room for THE FUTURE OF FEAR airing on Chiller TV this Friday, November 25th at 8pm EST. Gathering together some of the horror's greatest contributors, founding fathers, fresh blood, what have you, the special explores numerous sub-genres. What is their appeal? What were the trends? What is the future? 

Bringing together the creators behind some of the genres most favorable titles the special looks to the past. Wes Craven. John Carpenter. George A Romero. Sean Cunningham. John Landis. Anne Rice. Tom Savini. Tom Holland. Patrick Lussier. All have left their mark on particular sub-genres. And to the future? James Wan. Leigh Whannell. Oren Peli [ducks for cover]. Well, it spends more time in the past before it looks ahead. From Fangoria, Tony Tinpone and Jovanka Yuckovic offer their expertise as editorial observers.

The special starts with a look back at the slasher genre; the obvious trifecta being Halloween, Friday the 13th and Nightmare on Elm Street. Their hallowed alumnus speak about the evil next door that wields a knife. The experts ponder if there is a new angle for the genre and if there is any life left in it at all. They talk about the rules, survivor girls, the kills. Vampires prove to be one of the more divisive genres thanks to current trends. And when you look back at the history of the genre it also proves to be one of its most diverse. Nosferatu from 1922. Bela Lugosi as Dracula. The Hammer films. Fright Night and The Lost Boys in the 80s. The current crop of vampires as action heroes in Blade, Underworld and Daybreakers. And the shimmering spectacle of the Twilight films. There is no denying the incredible variety of interpretations here. Then the special moves on to Zombies, another current trend topper in horror cinema these days. The genre submits itself as the perfect vehicle for social commentary because the films are never about the zombies themselves but the survivors' stories. George A Romero bestows his wisdom, thoughts and misgivings about the genre. The special explores the shift created by 28 Days Later, though I would argue that it is not a zombie movie, and how it changed the rules of the genre. George always thought it was about the inevitability of death whereas this new trend puts it solely in the chase and the speed. Moving on to Monsters! John Landis and An American Werewolf in London. John Carpenter and The Thing. Joe Dante's The Howling. All good monster movies. All talked about in this segment of the show. Filmmakers talk about when is the right time to see the monster. They talk a little about themes in monster movies; how they are about our anxieties about science gone wrong, fear of betrayal by someone we know, fear about nature rebelling against us. There is a bit of discussion about werewolf transformations by Landis and Dante. Then the show moves on to Gore and how we respond to it because, heck, we all bleed. There is discussion around how all the reboots of classic horror films tend to have more gore in them. There is discussion about Saw and its influence on the genre and the birth of torture porn; essentially turning the horror film audience into thrill seekers. And now this sub genre is 'a certain type of circus'; that there is an expectation that comes with this type of film. The gore is 'specific to the roller coaster that you are building' as one commentator says. Then we find ourselves with one of the current top horror film draws, the supernatural. Special because we cannot explain it, nor do we know what comes after life, if anything at all. The fear of the unknown is what drives this genre. It has no real rules. There are haunted houses like in Poltergeist. There are possessions like in The Exorcist. And there are evil kids like in The Omen and Pet Cemetery. Then last but not least THE FUTURE OF FEAR touches on the horror comedy; Shaun of the Dead leading the way in the current age. Though credit is given to Abbott and Costello for they tangled with the likes of Frankenstein, The Wolf Man and Count Dracula in films like Bud Abbott Lou Costello Meet Frankenstein back in 1948. And Joe Dante speaks a bit about Gremlins. 

So what does the future hold for horror? After all is said and done, much to my chagrin, everyone pretty much ends up shrugging their shoulders. No one know what will strike a chord with the audience in the future. There is a desire though to go back to movies that are truly scary. Get back to that ritual of sitting around the campfire and telling a scary story as one filmmaker suggests. Watching a horror film is not a solitary act. Okay, in my house it is because I suck and am a lonely man. But we go to the cinema to be scared together. Ever so briefly this expert panel of filmmakers touch on the use of 3D and how a horror film is to be distributed; added in as a if an afterthought. But they all agree on one thing, that horror films are character driven and the better you relate to the characters, and we've said this time and time again on our pages, the more successful your story will be. 

The only thing that the special wants to say with any certainty is that the horror genre is due for a more feminine touch. It repeats this more than once, either as prediction, declaration, or hope. Other than that there is no telling what the future of fear may be because horror taps into the social conscious like no other genre does and when we happen upon the new 'thing' in horror you can bet it will tapped and drain of its very essence in a few short years then we will sit and wait again for the next victim. Life imitates art and the genre will always stumble into the abandoned warehouse/house at the edge of town/remote hillside village, a.k.a. the studio executive's office, and it will be tied to chair and beaten to death. That isn't in the show. That is just my two cents.