MOVIES
America Will Eat Itself Alive: The Future of Horror in the 2020's
Horror media has always sparked and reflected our larger societal fears. What comes next?
You open your door tentatively, hearing fireworks going off somewhere nearby. You step outside as a helicopter whizzes overhead, chopping the air into savage chunks. In the street, people are staying far apart, masks covering most of their faces. Sirens blare in the distance.
Nope, you’re not in a nightmare and you’re not watching The Purge — you’re in Los Angeles in the year 2020.
Needless to say, the new decade has started off with a bang — murder hornets, a brutal pandemic, an economic recession, protests against police brutality and racial injustice…and it’s only June. We’re seeing a level of worldwide upheaval that is (apologies for this massively overused word) unprecedented.
We’re being plucked out of our normal lives, our familiar routines, and being faced with a new reality that is so Other and very much a threat — which makes it perfect fodder for a new decade of horror movies.
Chances are you (like most people) tend to think of a horror movie as something to be watched on a date, at a sleepover, or during Halloween. These films are campy…
