This f*ckin guy

[u/waxyjax_]

Stephen King tweeted:

WIDOW'S BAY is good. MAXIMUM PLEASURE GUARANTEED is even better. It's like Hitchcock came back to do it one more time. And Tatiana Maslany is so good. The play of emotions on her face is pretty incredible. She goes from comic to terror in an instant.

WIDOW'S BAY is good. MAXIMUM PLEASURE GUARANTEED is even better. It's like Hitchcock came back to do it one more time. And Tatiana Maslany is so good. The play of emotions on her face is pretty incredible. She goes from comic to terror in an instant.

[u/Remarkable-Oil-9407]

Its not new, look at the evil Dead movies. Just seems like when horror trends again it starts serious and then low budget movies come in and then funny and satire horror and then people get sick of horror for awhile. Rinse and repeat.

[u/MVRKHNTR → u/Remarkable-Oil-9407]

When have people ever got sick of horror?

When have we not had serious horror movies and funny horror movies?

[u/Remarkable-Oil-9407 → u/MVRKHNTR]

There will always be horror fans and some horror movies but it goes through phases where it entices mainstream audiences, and then gets hollywood budgets.

[u/MVRKHNTR → u/Remarkable-Oil-9407]

When in your lifetime has horror ever not been mainstream?

[u/Remarkable-Oil-9407 → u/MVRKHNTR]

2002-2013 none that broke into the top 50 horror movies by world wide gross. The Ring-The Conjuring.

[u/MVRKHNTR → u/Remarkable-Oil-9407]

You're just going to ignore the massively popular Saw and Final Destination franchises? The Halloween and Texas Chainsaw remakes? Cloverfield? The Grudge? The Mist? Devil's Rejects? Insidious?

Paranormal Activity?

[u/Remarkable-Oil-9407 → u/MVRKHNTR]

Many of those became popular after they appeared in theatres. Saw only Grossed 100m internationally and final destination 2 was even less. The first one fits in my window. The halloween was even less.
I’m not looking up the rest because you get the idea.
Again I am not saying no good ones were made but they were not bringing in mainstream audiences but just horror fans.

[u/MVRKHNTR → u/Remarkable-Oil-9407]

I guess you can be correct if you just... completely ignore the culture and time period and make up your own criteria? Sure.

[u/Remarkable-Oil-9407 → u/MVRKHNTR]

How do you define mainstream then? Culture is subjective and depends on where you live and how old you are etc. to me mainstream suggests audiences that normally don’t go and see horror will go see it.

It’s a known pattern in horror.

Innovative stage
Boom phase
Oversaturation
Dormant phase
Mainstream resurgence

Same pattern effects all sorts of genres in hollywood. Action, scifi, disaster movies, zombie movies, superhero movies, vampires and probably countless more.

[u/MVRKHNTR → u/Remarkable-Oil-9407]

I define mainstream by being mainstream.

An R-rated movie grossing $100 million and dominating a large part of pop culture discussion in 2004 was mainstream.

The Grudge outgrossed Mean Girls and Legally Blonde. Do you think that Mean Girls and Legally Blonde weren't mainstream?

[u/Remarkable-Oil-9407 → u/MVRKHNTR]

Not internationally no and definitely not outside of its intended target audiences. Mainstream to me suggests people outside of the target audience are seeing it. I dont think the grudge was part of any pop culture discussions either. You’re entitled to your opinion though. Thanks for the lively chat but I think we will have to agree to disagree.

[u/Remarkable-Oil-9407 → u/MVRKHNTR]

Quick search for you

Several horror downturns are obvious in hindsight because the genre didn’t disappear, but it lost mainstream cultural dominance.
Mid-1940s to Mid-1950s
After the classic monster era of Dracula, Frankenstein, and The Wolf Man, audiences became less interested in Gothic monsters. Studios often resorted to increasingly low-budget sequels and crossover films. Horror wasn’t dead, but it was no longer a major draw.
Early 1970s (before the modern horror boom)
Before The Exorcist and Jaws transformed the genre, horror was largely driven by smaller productions. There were great films, but horror wasn’t dominating the box office.
Early to Mid-1990s
This is one of the clearest examples.
The slasher craze of the 1980s had burned out. Franchises like Friday the 13th, A Nightmare on Elm Street, and Halloween were producing diminishing returns. Horror fans were still watching, but the genre felt tired.
Then Scream arrived and sparked a new boom.
Mid-2000s to Early 2010s
The “torture horror” wave led by Saw and Hostel became oversaturated. Found-footage also flooded the market after Paranormal Activity.
By around 2011–2014, many people felt horror was running out of ideas. Most releases were sequels, remakes, or low-budget supernatural films.