With Halloween coming up, I thought I’d take a look at why horror seems to be the genre where endless sequels of decreasing quality can often keep being produced, and people will still watch them. Now, this is not intended to be disparaging to the horror genre in any way, but merely an observation on how it seems to be the only genre that can sustain a ridiculous number of sequels and spinoffs without killing their original franchises. It is also mainly focusing on the more generic horrors in general.
Surely, if a franchise takes a dive in terms of quality, or if the films kept on being a repeat of the original, you’d stop watching, right? That seems to be the case for most franchises where viewership and box office decrease accordingly and thus franchises end. However, horror films seem to be a continuing exception. We now have 11 Friday the 13th films, the fourth Insidious is about to be released, including spinoffs there are six Paranormal Activity films, eight Saws and currently four films in The Conjuring universe, with two more in post-production. In each of these franchises, perhaps the first one or two where good, but they have all suffered a huge dip in quality, and yet we still watch them and they are still being churned out. Perhaps the reasoning lies in what we want from a horror film and our attitudes to the genre in general.
One of the reasons why we may continue to see horror films even mediocre or ‘bad’ ones is that we’re more forgiving of the genre. People generally watch horrors for the in-the-moment experience, thus a film with some jump scares and a few tense moments will satisfy. Audience’s are less likely to desire or need fresh, progressing story arcs or much character development in order to enjoy the film. For a lot of people, much of the horror genre (perhaps due to this oversaturation from less-than-good sequels) becomes quite disposable. The movie-watching population in general (excluding those particularly into the genre or with a greater interest in film) aren’t generally looking for something to be their new favourite film when dipping into a horror-fest for Halloween. A lot of this comes from the fact that people are less likely to rewatch horrors as the scares will be less effective, or, people don’t want to be as scared again. Thus, it becomes something that is more about feeling scared in the moment meaning that a film can survive on pretty much jump scares alone for a satisfying-enough viewing (and even the bad horror films can generally scrounge together some of these).
Another reason why the industry may be cranking out these endless sequels is that the genre lends itself to easy regeneration, as well as relatively low risk on release. It is very easy for a franchise to regenerate with each film in this genre as, chances are, almost every character (if not all) will have been killed off in one film, allowing for a whole new cast and story in the next. This allows them to bypass the issues of overall continuity or story progression, and also lets the films stand on their own (meaning that the fact that a film is the fifth in the franchise won’t put people off, as they don’t need to go back and watch the previous four). The nature of events in more generic horror films can also be easily manipulated to extend beyond a single, seemingly resolved, story line. If the killer has been killed off, a copycat one can arise, if a demon or ghost has seemingly been defeated, the rules of the supernatural can be bent to allow it to come back. This allows an easy way to create a never-ending saga. Similarly, a lot of effective horror can be made on an incredibly low budget, especially in the found-footage genre that has become increasingly popular in recent years. With the films so low cost, the financial risk of release is low too, thus studios can afford to put out more of them.
Finally, oftentimes people watch horror films with other people, and it becomes more of a social activity. Of course, this happens with practically every genre, but it seems more prevalent in the horror genre as either people don’t wish to be terrified alone (isolation can make the films much scarier) or prefer to be able to laugh about it afterwards with their friends. Therefore, when a horror film is bad (most likely because it has crossed the boundaries of the ridiculous), it can then become very funny. A bad horror film may not scare you so much, but can still provide very entertaining viewing, just for different reasons. Unlike in other genres, a bad horror is less likely to simply be boring, and more likely to morph into an unintentional comedy.
Overall, it appears that many of us enjoy horror films with a less discerning eye than perhaps we cast over other genres. The quality of a horror film does not always dictate its entertainment value, thus meaning that many people can enjoy a lower quality effort. It appears there must be something about them that means that franchises can be sustained over decades and in spite of (or perhaps because of) terrible entries, even if it means we start watching them more for the laughs than the scares.
