2017 - A Great Year for Horror.

2017 was a great year for the horror genre in Hollywood. While there were the conventional movies in this genre like Anabelle: Creation, Jigsaw, Rings, Cult of Chucky etc, this year also saw the resurrection of a sub-genre in Horror. The franchises  like Insidious, Conjuring and Paranormal Activity uses horror tropes like jump scares and demonic possessions to create a momentary frightening effect akin to being in an amusement park ride. While amusing, it is not challenging the audience and the experience is over after you get out of the theater. But a few films this year upped the ante by using horror to tell deep themes and challenge the audience. The use of horror elements to tell a story or a theme effectively, instead of horror being the end product, is a game changer for the industry. Films like Get Out, XX, It and It Comes At Night uses horror as a story telling tool rather than to just frighten the audience.

(Spoiler alert)

IT

The movie reboot of the classic Stephen King novel and TV miniseries, It, uses horror to talk about themes such as coming of age and loss of innocence. It explores the bonds formed during childhood and their naive innocence, and how it contrasts with the jaded mind of an adult.  A bunch of teenage outcasts form a close friendship over a summer, in a town which is plagued by a supernatural entity which manifests itself every twenty seven years. It preys on the fears of the children in the town and thereby affects each member of the gang differently. The being takes the form of Pennywise - the dancing clown most of the time and shape shifts to mimic the fears of its victim.  It affects Beverly the most, as she is being sexually abused by her father. Her fears manifests as a fountain of blood from the sink, which is a metaphor for her dread of reaching puberty. In a classic scene that celebrates childhood innocence, Beverly and her friends spend the day cleaning the blood off the bathroom floor. The scene is set to a cheerful soundtrack, and the blood by the way, is not visible to the adults. The film takes a pessimistic view of adults who are set in their way and lack compassion and understanding towards children. In the climactic scene, the gang overcome their fears, thereby loses their innocence, and defeats Pennywise. Stephen King's craft and ability to weave such strong themes into a horror story, the brilliant performance by Bill Skarsgard and the nostalgia of the '80s makes this a must-watch film. It would be stating the obvious to say that one can expect a few Oscar nominations for It.

GET OUT

When it comes to creeping the bejeezus out of the audience as well as telling a thought provoking tale, in my opinion, Get Out comes above every other horror film of the year. It is the story of Chris Washington, a black man, meeting his white girlfriend Rose Armitage's parents. At first sight, the Armitages are classic white liberals who are accepting of their daughter's mixed-race relationship. Their unexpected approval and over enthusiastic attention makes Chris more uncomfortable. In spite of being a progressive family, they have all the characteristics of a southern plantation mentality - down to the servants who are a black couple. After a series of eerie events Chris discovers the true intention behind the weekend. Chris is to be sold to the highest bidder to be used as a human vessel for transferring the bidder's conscience. Get Out deals with the complexity of race relations in the US and stresses that, more than overt racism, it is the small things that we chose to ignore that pose the real danger. It lampoons the post-Obama pseudo liberal mindset which is hollow and self-congratulatory. The film is to be noted for its use of images to drive home the theme.

• Using the black man's body, which is obviously physically superior, as a vessel reduces him to a mere object. It is the next step in the evolution of racism.

• Rose's mother  Missy uses a tea cup and spoon as a hypnotic device to subdue Chris. It is a metaphor for the class and suave which is used to camouflage the pseudo liberal's subtle racism.

• Chris picking bits of cotton from the armrest of the chair to plug his ears and block out hypnotic suggestions, is quite ironic as picking cotton is an image that has been associated for ages with black slavery.

• Chris is forced into a sunken place in his mind while he helplessly watches his world through a distant window. This symbolizes the forced marginalization of the black minority. Chris's struggles to fit in during the suspicious weekend party, is a metaphor for the black man's struggle to retain their identity and while conforming to the  majority.

Get Out is riddled with clever usage of imagery that portrays various levels of race relations. It would really take a long independent article to go into the details of this brilliant film. Jordan Peele's directorial debut is a graceful mix of horror, comedy and visual style which disturbs and provokes your thought at a deeper level.

IT COMES AT NIGHT

Hollywood has a lot of experimentation in the post apocalyptic horror genre. 2017 saw the release of It Comes At Night - a film that tells the story of a family surviving in the wilderness after a lethal and contagious virus has taken out presumably all of the human population. While it has all the hallmarks of a classic post-apocalyptic horror film, It Comes At Night uses horror to comment on the human nature of mistrust. It portrays man's paranoia when confronted with the unknown. Paul and his family's survival is threatened when they encounter Will, Kim and Andrew - a family who has managed to survive like them. They decide to live together for their combined strength would be an advantage for both families. Initially the families get along well while sharing the daily chores. Their tentative peace is disturbed when their dog is injured by an unseen entity in the forest. The risk of contagion forces all of them to spend time indoors which only escalates the tension. The cabin fever and sense of paranoia finally breaks out  into a fight between Paul and Will which results in the death of Will and his family. Paul and his family are left infected with only a few days to live.

This slow paced film uses the desolate setting as an allegory for the state of the human mind. The identity of the entity that attacks the family dog is left unanswered which forces the audience into a similar state of mistrust and compels them to take sides between the characters. In the end, one has to come to the conclusion that the 'it' that comes out at night is man's desperation to go to any lengths for survival.

XX

XX is an anthology of four short films, written and directed by women, the first of its kind in Hollywood. Though the film might seem like a straightforward Gothic horror piece at the first glance, it talks about female gender related issues. It stretches them to the absurd level of  horror while still skillfully not losing gravity to the themes it is exploring. It is a visual treat that leaves the audience disturbed, not due to the graphic imagery, but the undeniable reality behind the absurdity.

The Box - In this Jovanka Vuckovic short, she explores the themes of body image and the society's expectations. Susan's family suddenly stops eating anything when her son Danny looks inside a stranger's box in the subway. The red box in the stranger's hand represents the popular and accepted body image. Vuckovic extends this need for conformity to absurd extends. Susan has nightmares about being cannibalized by her family. Eventually Susan's family nonchalantly starves to death. The film explores the dangers of a bad body image and its side effects like anorexia.

The Birthday Party - This short film directed by Annie Clark, talks about women's constant struggle to balance a domestic life. She extends this theme to the absurd when Mary finds her husband dead in the closet while having to manage her daughter's birthday party. This short walks the line between morbid comedy and tragedy and is a true homage to the modern woman's struggle with domestic life.

Don't Fall - This short directed by Roxanne Benjamin, cleverly portrays the challenges of PMS as a monster encounter happening to a bunch of friends camping in the desert. Gretchen and her friends finds cryptic cave paintings near their camp site and at the night time she is possessed by the demonic figure shown in the painting. While this short film appears to be  closest to a conventional horror film, it takes the greatest leap to absurdity, artfully concealing a sensitive topic. The monster's emergence at night time and Gretchen's loss of self control symbolizes the lunar-hormonal cycle and the terrible mood swings associated with PMS.

Her Only Living Son - This Karyn Kusama short follows the harrowing experience of single mother Cora with her rebellious son, Andy. Sticking to the common theme of the anthology, the rebellious son is the son of Devil and the single mother is surrounded by a society waiting for his return to power. Here the position of the mother is relegated to that of just a caregiver until the son of Satan comes of age. Cora finally takes charge and prevents her son from becoming a monster by taking both their lives.

XX does a great job in commenting on women's issues in a clever and morbid way. This female collective creation earns the title XX - the female chromosome.

These movies are a credit to the genre by being a medium to portray social issues like racism and gender issues.