Entering into the modern age of films a lot have changed from classic Hollywood. More topics have become more acceptable to talk about as well as independent film makers to get their art out there. I think a great genre to look at is horror to see the change ( it’s also close to . It started with “The House of the Devil” ( in the US known as The Haunted Castle) created in 1896. It was a three minute film about the devil toying with a victim. (It’s on YouTube incase anyone is interested)

There were a lot of good horror movies between The House of the Devil and Psycho, including all of the great creature features, but the next and seen as the all time best horror movie Psycho. To start tying in “This Film is Not Yet Rated” Psycho is rated ‘R’ now for us Psycho wouldn’t even be close to a rated R film and I was actually a little confused why it was so I looked into it. Turns out Psycho was originally given the R rating but when it was re released in 1968 it was given a ‘M’ rating which is about the same as a PG rating now.

The switch in tone from older horror movies and Psycho is huge, which is why it is considered the start of modern horror movies. The next movie they changed the genre was “Texas Chainsaw Massacre” from 1974. It was considered the first slasher and started the movement that we saw in the 80’s and is having a resurgence now. I personally love the Texas Chainsaw Massacre it’s my favorite horror film there so many levels to that movie I could write a whole blog post about it.

There’s tons of classic horror movies in the 80’s 90’s and 00’s but the last movie I want to talk about it “Get Out”. I assume most people have heard about it and probably know what it’s about but it say now started this movement of political horror. Followed by “Us” and “The Hunt” that touch on the politics and just how scary each side can be.

This shift over the years hasn’t just been in horror. Hollywood has become edger and touched on subjects that before were too taboo. I love this change, being able to see real life on the screen instead of just stories is powerful. People can connect more or even learn about other ways of life through movies. Being connected to movies through my brother wanted to direct has shown me a new way of looking at movies and excited about where they are going.

My question for the class: where do you think movies are going? What is going to change due to COVID?