Horror in All it’s Glory: Older Classics and What Will Be a Classic
Cover Photo: taken from google. Famous horror movie posters in a collage.
By: Jay Soto
Horror movies began to be popularized in 1974 with The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, and the virality only skyrocketed in the decades to come. Now, horror movies come along every month of the year in all shapes and sizes. However, not all horror movies make an impact like classic horror movies do.
“What makes a horror movie a classic?” Any movie, especially in horror, that makes a major impact for the genre is considered a classic. For example, Psycho is called a classic because it's one of the first slasher (a subgenre in horror that regards a movie about a main killer chasing a group of people and contains a lot of killing and blood; one of the more gorey subgenres of horror) films.
I have watched every genre of horror movie and their analysis videos as the film industry - and horror movies in particular - interest me.
Photo 1: Taken from Google. Halloween's opening credits scene.
During this 1978 classic, John Carpenter revolves Halloween around a child serial killer who escapes prison at 21. This movie takes place in the late 70s in a small town of Illinois. Although it wasn’t the first slasher film, it was the one that popularized that subgenre of horror. Many different components of this movie are now popularly used in newer movies, such as the masked killer, final girls, and the scream queens.
With many other movies of this time, such as Friday the 13th and Scream, Halloween carried the genre for decades, and influenced many of the movies following. What made this movie so influential during its time was the (now cheesy) jumpscares and not like any others from films at this time, along with its risque use of nudity; which is now a classic (and sometimes overused) in the horror film industry. By utilizing confusing plotlines such as a stalking serial killer, you’re left on the edge of your seat wondering when the main character would encounter the cold hard killer lurking and why. Though the killer is not an actual monster like Freddy Krueger or Dracula, Michael Myers is considered a monster because of the way he never dies and the gruesome and vile ways he brutalizes his victims.
After Michael Myers torments and slaughters the friends of babysitter main character Laurie Strode, the two finally meet in an absolutely terrifying way. After Laurie takes care of the kid her friend is supposed to be babysitting along with hers, Michael makes quick work of the last of her friends and begins stalking Laurie and her kids. Running around, screeching for help, the final girl meets the serial killer at the house where he had his first kill years ago. Laurie finds her friends mauled and humiliated, having one hanging by his feet swinging back and forth in a doorway. Michael’s doctor, Samuel Loomis, meets the two and shoots the cold faced killer. When going to check on the body, Loomis sees that the body has disappeared. While you’re terrified and confused, wondering where the killer has gone, the credits roll. This leaves you waiting desperately for the new film, with different interpretations and theories rushing in.
This film is still groundbreaking, even after nearly 50 years; because of the classic music choreographed also by the producer that is played during every suspenseful scene- now used as a token for Michael Myers and the Halloween season in general, much like Mariah Carey’s All I want for Christmas during November - December. The main character’s actor Jamie Lee Curtis is one of the most popular final girls and scream queens (a final girl is the main character in a horror movie that outsmarts the killer, typically in slashers. Scream queens are actresses known for their roles in horror and having realistic, gut wrenching screams that uplift the horror movie) because of this film. This movie began so many different types of horror movies, including multiple different adaptations of this film. This led to different takes on the classic killer and his connection to his killer, along with a long storyline that is still up to date; with the latest film from this original plotline coming out just a few years ago in 2022.
Because of this film, the horror industry skyrocketed. More movies and series surrounded itself in suburbs and cities, rather than just the classic small town occupied by 5 people, along with the tropes like highschool rebels being mauled, along with the sequels previously mentioned. Halloween has become a staple in the horror genre, and it will never be forgotten because of its classic name and groundbreaking killing.
Photo 2: Taken from google. Get Out's opening credits scene.
Compared to Halloween, Get Out by Jordan Peele sticks out like a sore thumb because of its complex plot consisting of racism and mental health. Though it starts in the suburbs, this film actually takes place in both the suburbs and a rural, isolated, mansion. His discography throughout the movie, including songs like “Redbone” by Donald Glover and “Sikiliza Kwa Wahenga” by Michael Abels, keeps you on the edge of your seat with suspension and some points and nodding your head along mindlessly at other points. The symbolism sprinkled throughout the entirety of the movie, some more obvious than others.
In a nutshell, Get Out talks about biracial couples and the difficult life of being a person of color (POC) in America. Once in the brute of the film; Get Out is a gut wrenching masterpiece that revolves around the obsessive and toxic stereotypes of POC and the racial hierarchy brought by racist movements like the KKK, “White Power”, and All Lives Matter in protest to Black Lives Matter.
The symbolism starts with the first scene of the movie, as a black man walks an eerie and dark street and a car creeps behind him while the song “Run Rabbit” plays from the car speaker, getting louder as the car gets closer and takes the man. This reverses the toxic stereotype of people being threatened by black people. Having the main couple be a biracial relationship, the main character feels uneasy dealing with his white girlfriend's family for the weekend. Having to call the cops for an accident with an animal, the black protagonist gets searched and Ided even though he was not the one driving. These instances show the difficulty of being a black person in America, being seen as a villain in many people's eyes. When people from the girlfriend’s family come to visit, they all enter in black cars, while the protagonist escapes in a white car, a hidden symbol confirmed by the director in an interview.
Though the kills are brutal and memorable, this movie truly shines with his main plot being racial profiling and mental health. You’re left on the edge of your seat while you, the main character, Chris, and his best friend, Rod, try to figure out the mystery of his girlfriend’s eerie family and their confusing family dynamic with their black workers. The family uses relationships with black people to gain their benefits while having their white “wisdom and power” by swapping brains. This movie dives deep into racial dynamics and with symbolism like black people being compared to deers and bucks, as the term “buck” was used against colored people during the post-Reconstruction era of the United States, and the father of the girlfriend stated “they’re taking over like rats” when referring to a deer Chris ran over on the way to the family home. Throughout the movie, antagonists foreshadow their violent acts, saying things like “my dads a neurosurgeon” and “my mother loved the kitchen, so we keep a piece of her here with us” when showing the black maid that the grandmother possesses. Even when Chris is getting attacked, there is symbolism with Chris being saved by picking cotton, a racist history that people often use to harass black people. Even under the facade, the family treats Chris as an item for later use- telling him to go under hypnosis to stop his smoking addiction. We later realize that they want him to stop smoking because they want their future vessel to be in peak condition.
When it comes to the changing minds and bodies, this dives deep into both mental health and the concept of superior races. By talking about switching brains from one body to another they deem superior, like the brunt of a black man, the producers show the problem with inferior and superior mentalities. Though they are not happy with the body they are given, the family still believes that they are better than any of the people they have infested. When giving a tour to Chris, the father skips past the basement; where they will later trap Chris; saying there’s “black mold” infesting it, comparing humans to mold just because of their skin color.
Why I consider this movie to be a modern classic is because of the significance and weight this movie holds in the industry and society. Though not everyone watches horror, everyone has at least heard of Get Out. In order to truly understand this movie, you need to watch it more than just once. Watching interviews, horror critics, and the movie more than once, I still managed to find something new in the movie each time. Having foreshadowing like “my dads a neurosurgeon” and “it’s such a privilege to experience another person’s culture” being shoved right in your face while you’re entirely clueless is one of the most hilarious and thought out executions I’ve seen in a movie in some time.
All in all, the horror genre has been changing throughout the generations because of classics, and the industry will continue to change because of groundbreaking horror movies that; in a few years, will be considered classics as well. For more about classic horror movies, visit Dead Meats channel for a more in depth analysis in the kills and the behind the scenes of these one-of-a-kind movies and the interview confirming film theories with Jordan Peele.
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