In recent years, films like Get Out, The Witch, and The Babadook have shown audiences just how much can be accomplished within the horror genre. With these films not fitting within many moviegoers’ expectations of a conventional “horror film,” and with industry pundits refusing to accept these as horror offerings, terms like “elevated genre” have been tossed around to describe films that deliver compelling stories while also delivering horrifying subject matter. This year’s Hereditary is already seeing viewers refuse to call it a “horror” film, yet star Alex Wolff thinks the film’s more terrifying moments can make audiences excited for the genre again.
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“In the beginning, when I first got the script, and I was going to do it, people would ask about it,” Wolff detailed to ComicBook.com. “I’d be with my mom and a couple friends or something, and my mom would be like, ‘Can you tell them about the horror movie you’re doing?’ And I’d be like, ‘No, no, no. It’s not a horror movie. It’s a complicated family drama. It kind of has some horror, but just a little bit. It’s not a horror movie.’ I would dance around horror for some reason, even though I was a huge horror fan. There was some shame. But now there’s some kind of clout around horror. Horror is cool again.”
Likely due to the rise of the slasher film in the ’70s and ’80s, the dominating misconception of the genre is that they all had a minimal plot and merely served as an excuse to depict blood and nudity. These films performed strongly at the box office, confirming that notion, while also inspiring even more films that relied on these tropes to become the most prevalent representation of the genre.
“We’re in a really good age of horror, where, as the movie went along, and as it came out, and people were so disturbed by it, I just swore myself over to it. I was like, no, this is a horror movie,” Wolff admitted. “This is a really, really good horror movie, and it’s possible to make amazing horror movies.”
Dating all the way back to the birth of cinema, the horror genre has accomplished just as much as any other genre, if not more. Get Out getting Oscar nominations isn’t a first for the horror genre, but it’s hard to deny that theaters see more films like The First Purge or Truth or Dare debut each year than films like Hereditary.
Wolff hopes that recent accomplishments within the horror realm leads to even more genre films pushing the limits of what is expected by audiences.
“Movies like The Witch, and movies like The Babadook, and movies like that really are proving that you can [push boundaries]. Killing of a Sacred Deer is technically a horror movie, and it’s amazing,” Wolff noted. “I just think we’re in a really good generation of horror movies, aside from the same run of the mill stuff that comes out. There is a really good movement of horror going on, I think.”
Fans can check out Hereditary on Digital HD now and on Blu-ray and DVD on September 4th.
Are you excited to see the ways the genre has evolved in recent years? Let us know in the comments below or hit up @TheWolfman on Twitter to talk all things horror and Star Wars!
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Images courtesy of A24 and Focus Feature
