The 7 Cardinal Sins of Horror

So, I was watching “Rings” the other day and after only about 15 minutes into the film, I had to turn if off — I had to. It was as if filmmakers and studios just don’t care anymore. I mean, honestly, when was the last time you watched a horror film that made you genuinely scared? Okay that was a bad question to begin with. There has been a few films that have been well-crafted good paced horror films that did just that. However, these films have been completely weighed down by the other hundreds of bad ones that Hollywood just keeps pumping out because people pay money to go see them. And the fact of the matter is that people will keep going into horror films because these movies provide an experience unlike any other movie.

The horror genre is made to invoke fear into a person. The whole idea of sleeping with the blankets on as a means of protection from the spirits have been crafted from horror films. Walking in an empty car park alone at night isn’t the same anymore as you would be thinking that someone somewhere is watching you, just waiting to strike at any time. Heck, even going downstairs into the kitchen in the middle of the night already seems terrifying. Horror films do that, good horror films anyway. These movies have been so memorable that they have influenced an entire generation into being scared of the unknown, and perhaps because those movies did that, we keep giving every other horror film that comes out the benefit of the doubt and more often than not, we always leave disappointed — always.

Throughout the years, there have been tons of horror films that have been released. Some have been so great that they became iconic and set the bar for other films to follow, films that don’t even fit into the genre have since adapted and made it into the craft. These movies started a cult phenomenon and have grown to have millions of followers all over the world. However, today we are not talking about that but rather the exact opposite. While there may be a lot of critically acclaimed horror films out there and are all well deserved to be called that, there are 10 times more crappy ones that Hollywood has been flushing out just for the sake of squeezing some money out of your pockets. Today, we’re taking a look at what makes a bad horror film, or in other words, the 7 Cardinal Sins of Horror.

1. Bad Writing

A good movie regardless of genre starts from a good script, there’s simply no way getting around that. The entire production team that are in charge of making a film will always go back to the story of the film for that is exactly what they’re going to be shooting. A film may have the best director in the world but if the writing is horrible, so will the film. I mean, it would definitely ‘look’ nice (yes I’m throwing jabs at Suicide Squad here) but at that point, it’ll basically just be style over substance.

Good writing almost always follows The 4 Cornerstones of a Great Film, and I’ll talk more about that in another article. One of those includes a good plot and story structure. This keeps the film going and trust me, the audience needs that. No one wants to sit through a movie where the plot isn’t really going anywhere and nothing ever happens (like all the Paranormal Activity films, but a lot of people did sit through those so there’s that)

The introduction is crucial for a film. It sets the tone, introduces us to the antagonist/protagonist depending on the type of film and gives us a brief overview of what the film is about. Great horror films locks us in from the very first scene (e.g. Sinister, The Conjuring, Lights Out). However, most bad horrors do start out pretty great till we get to the build up.

The build up essentially engages the audience into the plot of the film. Once characters and settings have been introduced, the build up is what keeps the story going before we hit the climax. Usually this is done with a series of occasional scares followed by more plot. This a brilliantly done in one of the greatest follow-ups to an already incredible film, The Conjuring 2. The movie starts off by introducing us to the world that the film has already created, then almost immediately jumps in to build the tension up before we get to the part where Ed and Lorraine Warren arrive to London. The Babadook is yet another example that does this flawlessly.

If the build up is successful, it will pay off in the climax of the film. This where things get serious and some of the most iconic moments of cinema happen. A good writer will have successfully drawn us into the film and made us care for the characters and what they are going through and give us a sense of fear at this point. On the contrary, bad writers don’t. Most of the time, this is where you’ll see a lot of fake/jump scares, pointless subplots and crappy CGI to make up for the terrible film.

Finally once the climax is over, we get to the resolution. This is either a happy ending or not — usually it’s the latter. The resolution takes up the least amount of time in the run time of a horror film. This is when all the dust has settled and most directors opt for a typical ‘last scare’ ending before sending the audience off. Sometimes, this works granted that the film you just watched had some sort of value to it. If not, you’ll leave wanting to punch yourself in the face for sitting through 2 hours of nothingness.

2. False Scares / Jump Scares

Let me get this out of the way first — jump scares aren’t always a bad thing. It’s the overuse of them that get to me especially when most of them are not remotely relevant to the plot at hand. Even great movies have had this. Remember when Mr. Boogie jumped out right at you in the attic in Sinister? Case in point. A lot of films have tragically fallen to this jump scare disease. It’s truly sad to see that a lot of horror filmmakers nowadays have chosen to go with a loud noise rather than truly invoking fear into the audience.

To be fair again, The Conjuring 2 was full of it — but it worked. Why did it work? Because it wasn’t simply loud noises that had no relevance to the story, it wasn’t someone barging into a door from out of nowhere, nor was it even a perfectly framed shot where a character is standing on the left side of the frame while the entire right side is completely empty just waiting for something to happen. No, The Conjuring 2 delivered these jump scares at times when we weren’t anticipating it, it caught us off guard and delivered. Insidious does the same thing as well. Now that I think of it, I believe director James Wan has seemed to have mastered the art of the jump scare.

Now let’s compare that to Ouija. I sat through that film a week after watching Annabelle — yeah, it was a pretty bad time in my life. The amount of jump scares present in that movie is baffling. Now I’m not here to start a debate on which is the better film because there’s so much more to life than that but the point is that the audience would appreciate a jump scare more and truly be scared if it wasn’t overused and pointless.

3. Character Motivations / Decisions

Ever watched a horror flick and saw one of the characters in it make a dumb decision that usually would never happen in real life that ultimately took you out of the entire movie simply because of that one moment? Yes, I am completely aware that “movie moments” are bound to happen in film to further advance the plot and add entertainment value to a certain film but in most cases, the filmmakers take it a little too far.

This all comes down to the point and purpose of a character doing a certain thing. We as the audience are supposed to relate to at least one of the characters present in a film because it is then that we are able to project ourselves onto them and essentially empathise with them to give us a great movie watching experience. The Matrix had Neo, Back To The Future had Marty McFly and Harry Potter had well, Harry Potter.

These characters were completely flushed out and had a sense of depth in them that we knew almost immediately the type of personality they would possess, hence, letting us somewhat judge their actions throughout the film. We know McFly wouldn’t have want to let his son get beaten up in Cafe 80’s as we know Tatum Riley would never be able to fit through that doggy door. Characters make stupid decisions in all types of films regardless of genre, but it tends to stick out more in horror. Why? Because the whole horror genre is mostly grounded in reality to give us a sense of fear — real fear. It makes us feel what a character is feeling and when we do feel what they feel, we know for a fact that we would never do the same things that they do. I mean, why in the world would you watch a haunted VHS tape when you know that it’s haunted? See what I mean here.

4. Crappy Music

Horror is made from tension. The idea of not knowing what is going to happen next is what keeps us on the edge of our seats and make us completely invested in a film. Steven Spielberg brilliantly did this when he made Jaws. But that aside, would those shots of the shark in the water be as effective if it weren’t for the classic iconic music that has been overused by a lot of other films? Good music goes hand-in-hand with a film and makes it all the more enjoyable. The score sets the mood of a film, it lets us in on the atmosphere that we’re dealing with and if it successfully creeps us out, it has delivered.

Bad movies on the other hand, well other than being bad movies, more than often also has a less than appealing score to go with it. This makes the movie watching experience all the more dreadful. However, it has also happened with good horror films to also have a pretty crappy score but that’s for another article. You see, when watching a film, you are using your ears more than you use your eyes (I mean, yes you do have to watch what’s going on to know what’s happening) because it that weren’t the case, then why are all the cinemas boasting about their new 7.1 Surround Sound experiences and what not? Because your ears are what makes you invested in these films.

I went to film school and the one thing that my lecturers kept saying over and over again is that you can have crappy footage, but not crappy sound. Why? Because audio is that much more important than video. Some films have been so bad that even the ADR is terrible, and that’s really saying something — but these films have been released! And that’s something I’ll never understand. If you’re a passionate filmmaker that loves making movies, and you’ve spent all this time learning about the craft, interning at some studio then finally getting your big break to be a part of a feature film, why would you go out of your way to make a crappy one? Well, that aside, bad audio is something you’re never going to be able to get around with because once you have bad audio, you just have bad audio.

5. Over-reliance on CGI

Now this is one that a lot of newer horror films suffer from. The vast majority of horror films that come out these days tend to have this over-reliance on CGI to tell their story. Now this wouldn’t be a bad thing, granted the final product that we’re getting is some A-class horror movie but 99% of these movies are downright garbage. John Carpenter didn’t need CGI to make Halloween, Stanley Kubrick didn’t need CGI to make The Shining, heck I didn’t think they even had CGI when they made The Exorcist and those movies still hold up.

My point is that, while filmmakers should take advantage of the technology at hand, I don’t think that it’s absolutely necessary to overuse it that the film feels more like a CGI VFX artist’s demo reel than a cohesive movie. CGI can make a film look good and even cut costs where practical sets and effects might be too expensive. However that also comes at a price, because what is lost in these computer generated effects is that raw emotion that you just can’t imitate from having actual actors. Once again, I’m using James Wan here as an example because I truly believe that he is one of the few horror filmmakers that has mastered the art of creating modern horror.

The lipstick face demon from Insidious was effective because that was a real person in a suit with makeup on running around chasing after the kid. Yes, CGI was used here and there but it didn’t take away from the overall film. For me, when I watch a horror film, if there’s way too much CGI or way too much bad CGI (trust me, you’ll see those quite a lot in horror movies), my brain is checking out. It’s kinda like that bad medicine you’re forced to take as a kid when you had a flu or something — it’s leaves a rather unpleasant experience.

6. Excessive Gore

Ok it get it. Gore-fest, torture porn, gorno or whatever you cool kids are calling it these days is a thing. I get that — I really do. But those movies were never really intended to be made to be taken seriously. They’re made to simply add shock value into your lives the same way Marilyn Manson added shock value into your lives in the 90’s (I love his music by the way). The point is, those films are serviceable movies and for what they are, it’s a pretty fun time — I for one sometimes indulge myself into some of Eli Roth’s work as well, because its fun.

However that is not what we’re talking about here. The point I’m trying to get across is less about those films that are made to be included in the torture porn subgenre and more about those straight up horror movies that feel the need to be gory because I don’t know, maybe that equals scary? I really can’t see the reason here. Let’s start with the first Saw film (using James Wan here again because goddammit that guy is good as what he does) which in comparison to its sequels has the least amount of gore in it. Why? Because it didn’t need to. Saw didn’t need to become a complete blood-fest to get its point across because the true scares aren’t even in those traps — it’s scary because of of the way it’s written. The sequels that never seem to be ending could never come close to the first Saw and perhaps that is why it chose to ultimately turn itself into a torture porn film and the people that went to see it after that knew exactly what they were getting into.

The Final Destination films on the other hand is one that though got really repetitive after the second one, utilises gore as a way to tell the story — while not a good one, it’s at least had a story. The film was self-aware of what it was and did it well and in comparison to a lot of other films out there, it’s not even that gory. The usage of excessive gore is only accepted if and only if it has relevance to the plot or if it simply doesn’t give a shit and just wants to make a film about piranhas, whatever. Fact of the matter is, no one who is truly invested into a film because of it’s story and character development and pacing would really think “you know what this movie needs? It needs a scene of someone ripping their flesh using their bare hands!” because at that point, that wouldn’t even matter.

7. Franchise Building

You see it everywhere now. One movie is used to catapult for a sequel, then another sequel and maybe a spin-off in between and soon enough you’d be seeing these movies just milking money off of one film that was decent to say the least. This happened with the Saw films, which had a really good first movie, then Paranormal Activity, the Conjuring has its own universe now and even Universal’s going at it with The Mummy to kickstart their Dark Universe. Point is that a lot of studios these days are trying to tie in several films to build a franchise and make more money without really having a proper plan.

This began with the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which by the way is doing extremely well with over 16 films and counting. This worked because it was long thought out and planned and took years to accomplish. It wasn’t one day that an Iron Man film came out that the studios thought of making it into a franchise — it was meant to be a franchise from the start. Let’s see now, the MCU started their run in 2008 and the big payoff for their Phase One, which was one of the best films ever made, The Avengers was released in 2012. That’s 4 years of planning and God knows how long before that was it in the works behind the scenes.

Compare that with The Conjuring universe. In no way am I saying that The Conjuring films are bad movies because they’re not — they’re actually the better horror films available today. But I’m talking about the universe AROUND The Conjuring, those spin-off films, or to be even more specific, Annabelle. Annabelle was released a year after The Conjuring, and it was blatantly made to feed off of the success of the brilliantly made Conjuring. The film was directed by John R. Leonetti, the cinematographer behind Child’s Play 3, Insidious 2 and The Conjuring itself. As a director, the man had only made 2 films at that point — The Butterfly Effect 2 and Mortal Kombat: Annihilation. With that track record, it’s pretty safe to say that the studios just don’t care. Now, I’m not judging the man because he’s done some beautiful camerawork in The Conjuring, but as a director I honestly think that it was a pretty bad idea. You see, if a studio cared about building a franchise with spin-offs and sequels, you’d think they would have had it down to science and planned everything out properly — but they didn’t.

And that is precisely my point. Studios are simply pumping out all these garbage films for the sake of having their own cinematic universe just so they can make more money instead of focusing on making an actual good movie that can standalone on its own without the need for a sequel or spin-off. The Babadook was able to do this and truth be told, a lot of films from independent studios are doing this really well. Maybe it’s because of the smaller budget these newer studios have, but whatever the case, it’s working and I think studios should just make good films and not focus on the byproduct of those films.

And so there you have it. Those were the 7 Cardinal Sins of Horror, the 7 main things that if everything else sucks but these are done right, would most likely make a really good horror film. Because at the end of the day, we all love some good scares especially when it’s done right.

Originally posted on http://www.theslatanist.wordpress.com