Posted: 01/26/07

Hollywood's Horror Movie Tsunami

By David Outten & Ted Baehr Managing Editor of Movieguide®

As a MOVIEGUIDE® reviewer, I see a lot of movies I would not choose to see were it not my job. I'll admit my least favorite genre is horror movies. To my surprise and dismay Hollywood is about to unleash waves of horror shows unlike any time in history.

In the first five months of 2007 horror fans can look forward to more than one new horror show every week according to Box office Mojo's schedule of coming movies. Some, like HANNIBAL RISING, are labeled "Thriller" when in fact you can expect gruesome violence from the prequel to the Hannibal Lecter horror shows. Others like ALPHA DOG are labeled "Drama" but will drag you through frightening scenes of kidnapping and murder. Regardless, there is a steady torrent of movies actually labeled "horror" as the genre. There are 22 labeled "horror" in less than six months.

The-numbers.com has an analysis section on film genres since 1995. According to their chart, as recently as 2002 there were only nine horror shows released. In 2004 there were 20 horror shows for the first time, soaring to 29 in 2005. In 2006, the-numbers.com recorded 25 horror shows. 2007 may offer that many in the first six months.

When reviewing one of these movies, theatres will often assault you with four or five horror movie previews that leave you feeling as if you've been mugged before you get to the main mugging – and for some reason it seems the volume is higher during the previews.

God help the horror addict who pays $9 or $10 for every movie to see all of 2007's bloodletting. If someone paid to see every one of the movies listed below they would spend $297 or more in less than six months and fill their mind with enough extreme violence to become a mass murderer.

Note from the list below these horror shows are not just offered by small independent studios making cheep movies. All the major distributors are included in the assault and some are spending big money to gross you out.

January 12

Primeval, Buena Vista, Horror Thriller

January 19

The Hitcher, Rogue/Focus Feature, Horror Thriller

Alone With Her, IFC, Drama/Thriller

January 26

Blood and Chocolate, MGM, Horror

February 2

The Messengers, Sony/Columbia, Horror

Rogue, Dimension/Weinstein, Horror

February 9

Hannibal Rising, MGM/Weinstein, Horror Thriller

February 16

Ghost Rider, Columbia/Sony, Action Horror

Breach, Universal, Drama/Thriller

February 23

Captivity, Freestyle Releasing, Horror Thriller

March 2

The Hills Have Eyes, Fox Atomic, Horror

Zodiac, Paramount, Serial Killer Thriller

March 9

Fido, Lionsgate, Horror/Comedy

The Host, Magnolia, Foreign/Horror

March 16

Premonition, Sony/Columbia, Horror Thriller

March 23

Dead Silence, Universal, Horror Thriller

Mr. Brooks, MGM, Thriller

March 30

The Reaping, Warner Bros., Horror

April 6

Grind House, Weinstein/Dimension, Horror

Severance, Magnolia, Horror/Comedy

April 13

Disturbia, DreamWorks/Paramount, Drama/Thriller

The Invisible, Buena Vista, Horror Thriller

Perfect Stranger, Sony, Thriller

April 20

The Abandoned, Freestyle Releasing, Horror

The Kingdom, Universal, Thriller

Vacancy, Screen Gems/Sony, Horror Thriller

Civic Duty, Freestyle Releasing, Thriller

April 27

Fracture, New Line, Thriller

May 11

28 Weeks Later, Fox Atomic, Horror

May 18

1408, Dimension/Weinstein, Horror

May 25, No one wants to compete with Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (which has some horror/monster elements)

June 1

The Tripper, Freestyle Releasing, Horror

June 8

Hostel 2, Lionsgate, Horror

So, why does Hollywood produce so many horror shows?

Many make money. Rarely do they hit the top ten, but often they bring in more than $40 or $50 million.

Many horror shows do not require major stars and big special-effects budgets. A modest priced horror show can make a profit. Occasionally, one will make a whole lot of money. THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT was made for a pittance using a home video camera and brought in $140,539,099. The wonderful Christian movie FACING THE GIANTS, made on a similarly small budget, brought in just more than $10 million. If it had made $100 million, we might see a lot more Christian movies. To be fair, however, BLAIR WITCH was released in a lot more movie theaters than FACING THE GIANTS, and had a large publicity campaign behind it, as do most other horror movies.

There is a lesson here. If we would like to see more Christian movies like THE NATIVITY STORY, FACING THE GIANTS, ONE NIGHT WITH THE KING, and END OF THE SPEAR, we need to get out the audience. These movies did not require the kind of budgets necessary to make CARS or PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN, but if we want more of them they need to make a lot more money than your average horror show.

If we really want to stop the horror show tsunami, we need to convince teenagers from Christian families not to go. Christian parents need to tell their children, "I don't care who else is going. You cannot go see that movie." 2007 could be the year Hollywood learns to cut back on horror show production IF CHRISTIAN PARENTS WILL HELP THEIR CHILDREN MAKE MEDIA WISE MOVIEGOING DECISONS.

As much as we hate watching this trash, my fellow reviewers and I will provide parents with all the ammunition necessary to know which movies are bad and specifically why. You can tell your children, "You do not need to see BLACK CHRISTMAS where cannibals eat the eyes of their victims. If you're interested in Christmas, see THE NATIVITY STORY and see the real story of Christmas."

We are in a war for our culture, not just in Los Angeles and New York. Your local Wal-Mart and your local video store can be filled with weekly releases of filth or with fine uplifting movies. Your vote at the box office counts. Your vote at the video store counts. Your children's votes count. If you can get friends out to good movies, their votes count too. Later this year, I hope to be able to report on the collapse of the horror show market, but I can tell you this: in 2007 waves of horror are coming.

Please help Dr. Ted Baehr, Movieguide® and the Christian Film & Television Commission™ ministry stop the waves of horror in 2008 by reducing the audience for horror in 2007. Support the good, oppose the bad, be the light of the world.

By Ted Baehr Click here for bio and archived articles