2020 and the Future of Horror
Movies began as the art form of the masses. For the poor, the immigrants, and the poor immigrants of our nation, the earliest days of film — back when they were shown in nickelodeons — provided art and entertainment that was cheap and didn’t require knowledge of English.
Since then, film has come a long way. During that evolution, film became a barometer for the conditions of the society in which it was made. Along with science fiction, no other genre has been as much of a mirror of ourselves as horror. From the “aliens who look just like us and want to take over” movies during the Red Scare of the 1950s, to the haunted house renaissance of the post-2008 housing market crash, horror has provided a lens through which we see our darkest fears come to life.
At some point, films will get made again, and not just little Zoom videos for YouTube. Given that the first half of 2020 alone has provided a lifetime’s worth of real-life horror, what can we expect in the next decade?
First, it’s important to understand the relationship between horror movies and real life circumstances. In order to deconstruct a horror movie within its socio-political-economic circumstances, we need to ask three questions about when the movie was made:
- What were we afraid of back then?
- How did that fear manifest?
- What was the worst-case scenario?
As an example, let’s take the recent film Ready or Not. The answers to the questions above would be:
- What were we afraid of? Class systems. In the case of Ready or Not, our heroine Grace was raised an orphan (and, it is implied, poor) and is now marrying Alex, the scion of an extremely wealthy family.
- How did that fear manifest? There is a direct connection between Occupy Wall Street in the early 2010s and the recent democratic campaigns that promised an end to American plutocracy. In the years leading up to Ready or Not, the American working class became increasingly outspoken against our nation’s richest few. In Grace’s case, she’s automatically liked by some members of Alex’s family and hated by others, but she’s still forced by all of them — Alex included — to participate in a longstanding family tradition of initiation in order to be fully accepted. This speaks to a distinct feeling many working- and middle-class individuals have regarding “getting rich,” in that the upper echelons of society may often seem like some sort of exclusive club that, no matter how hard you work, will always be just out of reach. Ready or Not shines a harsh light on the idea of America as a meritocracy.
- What is the worst-case scenario? That the rich don’t care about the poor and underserved of society, without whom the upper classes could not maintain their money and power. On Grace’s wedding night, the rich’s disdain for outsiders takes the form of an old family superstition that requires Grace’s to die before sunrise.
So, what does this mean for the events of 2020? Here’s a short and incomplete list of things that will influence horror films once the cameras get rolling again.
- The Covid-19 pandemic
- Quarantining
- Distance learning
- Social distancing
- Record unemployment
- Murder hornets
- Cannibal rats
- Homicidal police
- Systemic racism
Some of the fears raised by these events include:
- Contracting a virus
- Dying alone
- Protecting children and the elderly
- Running out of toilet paper
- Going broke
- Going stir crazy
- Crippling loneliness
- Murder hornets
- Cannibal rats
- Peaceful protesters being killed by our own military
Two of the most obvious manifestations of these fears would be an uptick in pandemic movies, zombie movies, and zombies caused by a pandemic. Please excuse me while I die of boredom.
The more creative filmmakers will be inspired to make subtler movies that reference our current particular time period, emphasis on “subtler.” I would not be surprised to see slow-burn, The Shining-style films centered around isolation and depression or anxiety. Based on my personal experience and that of my parent friends, we’ll probably see plots that involve murderous children, demon children, murderous parents, demon parents, and other parent-child horrors. Haunted houses may reawaken for a second modern round after everyone has spent months sheltering-in-place.
Speaking of distance learning, this hardship was especially felt by families in the lower socio-economic spheres and families with special needs children. How nice it would be if those two particular points of view were given voices in future horror movies.
I also anticipate a slew of Biblical horror, both literal and modern. Whether the murder hornets were an actual threat or not, they definitely made headlines for a while. Both religious and non-religious types may have spent the past few months feeling as if humanity is being punished, erased, or fought-back against, and all of that is sure to influence at least a few horror movies; expect at least a few “nature strikes back” style pieces.
As for whether or not Hollywood will face the music with more Black horror — I honestly can’t make a call on that one. Hollywood likes to pride itself on being liberal, but the Oscars… Even in the 21st century, we still have Black movies centered on slavery, White saviors, or Magical Negroes. I don’t know if Hollywood can or will broaden their horizons, but I’m hopeful that filmmakers like Meosha Bean, Gerard McMurray, and of course, the ubiquitous genius Jordan Peele will step up and show us all how Black horror gets done right.
With our current wave of Black Lives Matter rallies across the country, and with the most recent SCOTUS rulings regarding gay people in the workplace, we can anticipate more diversity both in front of and behind the cameras. This might take a while and might be slow going, but I have zero doubt it’ll happen. Hashtags such as #DiverseVoices and #RepresentationMatters have been on Twitter for years now. Since horror creators love to push envelopes and work outside the mainstream, we should finally get some quality LGBTQIA+, Black, and other marginalized voices telling their own scary stories. Sometimes merely existing in a certain body can be a frightening experience; now let’s put that in the context of, say, quarantining alone for months at a time and you finally go outside in a mask.
Dystopian futures never really go away, but we’ll probably see a significant rise in police-state, fascist, and martial law worlds. Depending on the outcome of the 2020 election this will be especially true, as U.S. presidents in movies almost always mirror whoever is sitting in the Oval Office at the time the film is made. The 2020 elections will also predict whether scientists will be good guys or bad guys. Based on this year, the horror dystopias we’ll see soon will make The Hunger Games look like Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. I expect no shortage of evil cop villains, but also good cops (probably rogues) who just want to help. And of course, we’ll have a slew of doctor- nurse- and EMT-heroes to save the day.
Even if I’m wrong on all accounts, one thing about horror films remains true: they show us the worst of ourselves, but they also give us hope that we can overcome whatever monsters are thrown our way. I don’t think of horror as scary; I think of it as hopeful. If you don’t believe me, go watch The Furies (2019, Shudder), Midsommar (2019, Prime Video), or Get Out (2017, Prime Video). All of those films are gory, frightening, and hard to watch, and yet they all have happy endings…of sorts.
Horror filmmakers have an endless bounty of inspiration to draw from. Whatever other movies get made, I had better see at least one movie where a tiger eats a redneck, and one “Murder Hornets vs Cannibal Rats” on SyFy.
…or else.
Are you a horror fan? What movies do you want to see come out of all this mishegoss?
