Page 30 - aruba-today-20180414

A30 PEOPLE & ARTS
Saturday 14 april 2018
Horror, cheap and in-demand, comes to Hollywood's rescue

By JAKE COYLE it handily beat when ac-
NEW YORK (AP) — Finding counting for inflation. A
dependable, bankable sequel to "It" will shoot this
box-office hits for anything summer.
without a superhero has The success of "A Quiet
been a downright scary Place" confirms that horror
proposition for Hollywood. is still surging. That's good
The solution, it turns out, is a news for upcoming releas-
nightmare, too. es like A24's Sundance sen-
Horror has emerged as one sation "Hereditary" (June 8);
of the most lucrative and "The First Purge: The Island"
in-demand genres in Holly- (July 4); the latest "Conjur-
wood, a box-office success ing" spinoff, "The Nun" (July
story as well as — thanks to 13); Screen Gems' "Slender
a new generation of ambi- Man" (August 24); David
tious genre filmmakers — a Gordon Green's "Hallow-
creative one. Like perhaps een" (October 19) from
never before, horror is hot. Blumhouse; and the an-
For an industry that has ticipated "Suspiria" remake
struggled to find areas of from "Call Me By Your
growth outside of the pag- Name" filmmaker Luca
es of comic books, it's now Guadagnino.
hailing slashers as saviors. This image released by Paramount Pictures shows Noah Jupe, from left, Millicent Simmonds and The once-ghettoized genre
"Right now it's pretty obvi- John Krasinski in a scene from "A Quiet Place." is more mainstream than
ous what audiences want," Associated Press ever before. On TV, "Strang-
says Jeff Bock, senior box- er Things," ''American Hor-
office analyst for Exhibitor tions to debut with $50.2 Productions, the horror fac- budgets with filmmakers ror Story" and "The Walking
Relations. "People want million. Despite costing only tory that has done more eager to push the genre Dead" have been among
their horror fast and cheap. $17 million to make, the ex- than any other to lead to- forward. the most popular series in
And that should be music pertly sound-designed sus- day's renaissance. As the That's a drastically differ- recent years. At the mov-
to the ears of studios." pense film may pass $100 producer of dozens of low- ent strategy in tentpole- ies, films like Robert Eggers'
It certainly was to Para- million over this weekend. budget, often social pro- obsessed, risk-adverse Hol- "The Witch," Jennifer Kent's
mount Pictures — the most For the ascendant genre, vocative horror releases, it lywood. The goliath of the "The Babadook" and David
hit-starved of the major stu- this Friday the 13th will be has blazed the path for the industry, the Walt Disney Robert Mitchell's "It Follows"
dios — when John Krasinski's a victory lap. Also open- 21st century horror film. Co., doesn't even make have heralded the break-
"A Quiet Place" last week- ing will be "Truth or Dare," Blumhouse, which has a horror films, making it one outs of some of the most
end blew away expecta- the latest from Blumhouse distribution deal with Uni- of the few movie realms promising young filmmak-
versal Pictures, was be- its intellectual property- ers.
hind two of 2017's biggest backed blockbusters don't Krasinski, the former "Office"
hits. There was "Split," by M. dominate. In a movie in- actor, acknowledges he
Night Shyamalan, a veter- dustry where bigger is pre- wasn't "a horror guy" before
an of the last horror craze sumed to be better, low- making "A Quiet Place,"
in 1999 when his "The Sixth budget horror has proven but he promises he's been
Sense" was released along an exception. converted.
with "The Blair Witch Proj- "Making low-budget horror "The thing I learned most
ect." And, of course, Jor- movies has always been from watching all these
dan Peele's "Get Out," a $5 a pretty good idea. Blum- horror movies to catch up
million movie that grossed house just sort of upped was how ignorant I was to
$255 million worldwide, the game a little bit by get- stay away from them," says
earned four Oscar nods ting really, really talented Krasinski. "You realize that
(and won for Peele's script) people to get on board some of the best films are
and stoked more discus- and make some cool stuff," being made in the genre
sion than any other movie said Steven Soderbergh, space. From 'Get Out,' to
in 2017. "I am convinced who brought a new (and 'The Babadook,' to 'The
that budgetary boundaries inexpensive) perspective Witch' to 'Let the Right One
created better, more origi- to the psychiatric hospital in' — I mean, these movies
nal, more subversive mov- nightmare by shooting his are just phenomenal.
ies," Blum said last fall while March release "Unsane" "I might be late to the party
accepting an honorary with iPhones. but I want to stay," he adds.
Gotham Independent Film Depending on what you "I want to stay as late as
Award. "Lower budgets al- classify as horror, the genre they'll have me."
low us to take risks, to make last year accounted for Kyle Davies, distribution
movies no one imagined about $800 or $900 million chief for Paramount, be-
would get made." in domestic box office, one lieves the success of "A Qui-
While the economics of of the highest totals in de- et Place" — like "Get Out"
horror have been appreci- cades if not ever. New Line and "It" before it — has less
ated by the movies since and Warner Bros.' "It" be- to do with its genre than its
at least "Frankenstein" and came the highest grossing story. At its core, "A Quiet
"Dracula" almost a cen- horror film of all time ($327.5 Place" is about trying to
tury ago, Blumhouse has million domestically, $700.4 keep a family together with
reinvigorated the genre million worldwide), though mysterious, unknowable
by pairing $5 million-or-less 1973's "The Exorcist" still has threats all around.q