The release of Go out In 2017, the film upended Hollywood — not just at the box office but, briefly, the entire horror genre, which had long been the industry’s top-grossing genre. The film grossed 56-fold on its $4.5 million budget and was less a breakthrough than a victory lap for Blumhouse, the studio that for nearly two decades had championed low-cost horror films in hopes of turning big profits.
In part, Go out It was exceptional: it was not the first film in which the real horror is racism, but it was one that balanced terror with humor and absurdity. Eager to repeat that success, Hollywood greenlit a series of horror films about racism. Many of them were disappointing and, in some cases, appallingOverall, it was tiring to see so much repetition in a genre that thrives on novelty. But at least these films were… about something. Now we're into the next wave of horror movies, which tend to be about nothing.
The three highest-grossing low-budget horror films of the summer: Maxxxina, Long legsand Cuckoo —They represent a move toward big moods rather than big ideas. They also represent a missed opportunity. All three focus on atmosphere rather than actual scares. A horror movie doesn't have to be smart to be enjoyable, but is it unfair to ask them to at least not be so dumb?
(Mild spoilers follow.)
From the group, MaXXXina Getting closer to having an idea. Director Ti West closes his speech. unknown In the trilogy, Mia Goth, who stars in all three, plays an adult film actress who lands a role in a Hollywood movie. The best scene comes early on: After being threatened by a man in a dark alley, Maxine pulls out a gun and reverses the power dynamic. She forces the would-be assailant to strip and then crushes his testicles with a stiletto heel, which is briefly shown on screen, as grotesque and violent as anything I've seen all summer. The theater gasped, groaned, and laughed. It was truly the stuff of great horror movies. But even more, it also suggested MaXXXina It would go in a fascinating and transgressive direction: that perhaps this kind of absurd brutality could be justified in the moral universe of the film.
Unfortunately, it quickly takes another direction. While the first two films in the series unknown The series find their excitement and creativity in budget constraints, MaXXXina It's a high production affair, and much of that money is apparently used for I remind you that it is set in the 80s.But the charming tributes of unknown or the strange twists of Pearl. MaXXXina It avoids the pretentious idea that seems to be put forward in its first act: true ambition turned into savagery. Unfortunately, after the ball-smashing scene, the rest of the film is figuratively bloodless.
(If you think I'm being too harsh, I offer you a review of MaXXXina by my colleague Charles as a counterpoint.)
Meanwhile Long legsa box office surprise (and the biggest opening in Neon studio history), it doesn't even bother to be about anything. Even with a straightforward introduction about an FBI agent hunting a serial killer, the film's best attempts at creating narrative tension boil down to incoherence. Characters say things like, “You're not afraid of a little darkness because you are the darkness.” Come on.
To his credit, Long legs is the prettiest film of the bunch. Melancholy in tone and occasionally creepy, director Osgood Perkins knows how to compose a scene that makes the air feel thick. But he uses his footage to reference themes (fatherhood, trauma, Maybe on September 11th?) rather than exploring them, and several disparate plot elements (Satan, a bunch of handmade dolls, a main character with ESP) never intersect in a way that makes sense.
There are things I like about CuckooOpening this weekend, the film is set in a remote cabin resort in the German Alps. It relies on familiar tropes: a girl in a new town (Hunter Schafer), locals who act strangely, a seemingly friendly scientist type (Dan Stevens). Schafer and Stevens seem to be having a blast running around an overstuffed set, and there’s at least one clever scare involving a bike chase. But even as the film reveals the mystery behind its namesake — a twist that, without giving anything away, is somehow predictable and still vague — it’s clear that even two strong performances can’t make up for characters who have little motivation and stand for nothing. Instead, Cuckooas MaXXXina and Long legsThey are best enjoyed as exercises in cinematography.
Recently, I came across a miniseries by Kiyoshi Kurosawa, best known for two horror masterpieces, Legumes and Cure. The show, PenanceIt was released in Japan in 2012 and is now available to watch on Mubi. Although I didn't know much about it other than its director's pedigree, I was struck by its look. Legumes and Cure They are meticulously shot; an emphasis on deep, dark shadows, especially for interior scenes, creates a claustrophobic environment for its characters and viewers. PenanceInstead, the film is shot like a cheap soap opera, brightly lit and dull, with that unpleasant veneer of a high frame rate. It's pretty ugly to look at, but it's unsettling nonetheless. Through careful framing and precise editing, Kurosawa is able to oppress the viewer with a great deal of fear even without the ghostly lens of his films.
But more than that, Penance The story is largely based on his original idea: a young girl is murdered in a small town and the four friends who knew the killer can't remember her face. The mother tells the friends that she will never forgive them and each episode jumps 15 years into the future to see what has become of each of their lives. Kurosawa's miniseries always aims at one idea: can a person ever escape their guilt?
Despite being uneven in some places, Penance It always seems to be structurally and thematically consistent, while this summer's horror movie lineup… MaXXXina, Long legs, Cuckoo — I have nothing to say because they never started with a real question. You may have fun at the movies, but very few of those movies will last.
