Jamie Lee Curtis Joins the Cast of Halloween (2018)

If you liked this article, please like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter and please consider Donating to keep the blog going

One of the curious trends of the 2010s has been the stealth “return” of horror as a dominant force in cinema.  I use air quotes there because horror, as a genre, has never really gone away as it’s fundamental to storytelling as a craft, same as drama or romance.  However, horror has undeniably changed in how it’s perceived and how its made in the 2010s versus previous genres.  

There are a lot of factors to this like the rise of indie art-house horror hits like Babadook, It Follows, and The Witch as well as the return of summer horror blockbusters like The Conjuring and Purge franchises.  The biggest changeup, though, is in the spread of horror influences and how we’re making new films. 

Despite the 2010s as an age of franchises and cinematic universes horror has doggedly rejected those trends, settling more into a ton of very individualistic and different films between one or two actual franchises.  There’s not a lot of common ground between stuff like Lights Out, IT, You’re Next, and Krampus but they were all sizeable horror hits.  

Even among the heavily sequalized horror series like Insidious, they don’t have the same spread and impact as predecessors like Nightmare on Elm Street, Scream, or Saw.  Now, in the waning days of the 2010s, that seems like it might be on the road to change with the coming of Danny McBride’s Halloween reboot, which will see the return of series star Jamie Lee Curtis as Laurie Strode. 

Film Land - The Collector (2009)

If you liked this article, please like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter and please consider Donating to keep the blog going

Edited by Robert Beach

One of the big trends of 2016 is that horror, as a popular genre, is back with a vengeance. This particular shift has been building for a while now with a lot of recent horror output being new films or modern series. The Purge franchise has roared through three installments to wave the banner of political horror; The Conjuring and Insidious have become a dynamite double feature complete with spin-offs. What’s more, art house horror has been a major force lately with popular hits like Babadook, It Follows, The Invitation, and VVitch making a major splash. 

Home invasion horror reared its head as a major genre force this year, not having been present since the 2013 horror boom with You’re Next. 2016 gave us the Netflix original Hush, the tense indie thriller Green Room, and this week’s studio hit Don’t Breathe.  Now, I can’t stand the genre most of the time, and I didn’t like any of the three films I just mentioned. Instead, I’m focusing on my favorite home invasion horror flick of all time and one of the best horror films of the 2000s: The Collector. 

Film Land - The Invitation

Edited by Robert Beach 

This past weekend saw the release of The Invitation, a masterwork of directing and performance that stands as a true triumph of its genre. I was originally planning to review the film, but that’d honestly be doing it something of a disservice. See, I went into The Invitation with literally no knowledge of the film aside from a few vague tweets from critics I followed praising it. That ignorance made the experience infinitely richer and more engaging. 

Cold is honestly the best way to experience this film, so by way of review, allow me to just say it’s an absolute great, an instant classic and a high watermark for a genre that’s been turning out a lot of great entries lately. It’s full of tense moments, engaging surrealism, and a powerful emotional core; All of which is backed up by cinematography and acting in peak performance. I’ll be discussing the film’s content in great detail going forward, including spoilers. If all that appeals to you, I implore you: see The Invitation now and then finish reading this piece later.