Horror movies are a niche genre and with this comes a diehard fanbase of that genre. By this i don't mean that horrormovies cannot have mass appeal, but they usually do not aim for that base, as the general public is a lot harder to satisfy than their own niche. Since the makers try to get away with as little effort as possible and people have differing expectations for a horror movie than for normal ones this has lead to a continuous decline in their quality.
After all "it's a horror movie if you expect it to be like a normal movie you're watching it wrong!".
Plot? Characters? Worldbuilding? Actual fear? Things to make you think? Coherence? Believability? Watchability?
It doesn't matter if there are only sad excuses for these with no depth, or if they don't even exist at all. No, viewers will gladly excuse all of these faults and mistake anything that is disturbing or disgusting for a sense of fear and thus horror movies that would have been total flops by normal movie standards are taking over the genre.
Not so 'Dead End'.
-While it is slightly psychedelic the characters are nonetheless believable, real feeling, and thus manage a connection to the viewer.
-The plot is simple but interesting and functional.
-The building of the universe of the movie, including the characters this movie is mostly an exploration of, continues throughout until the end.
-The tribulations of the characters are viscerally gripping, and tension and some fear is kept up throughout.
-The entire thing is coherent with no moments that really pull you out of it, even though you are left wondering what exactly is going on.
-The entire thing is less on the cliché monster / ghost side and is thus not just dismissable out of the box.
-But finally and perhaps most importantly one walks away from the movie thinking and feeling and slightly dazed. Not because of some continuous assault on the viewers stomach, nerves, and sense of morality. No, one has a hard time immediately letting go of the movie because one actually is given things to think about that are at least slightly deeper than platitudes and less obtrusive than simply unexplained stuff about the movie.
No matter how good, i've not seen any other horror movie pull this off this well.
Sure it has some gore, jumpscares, horror cliches, dumb actions, but the entire movie is remarkably restrained and thus delivering an all the more poignant and enjoyable experience.
After all "it's a horror movie if you expect it to be like a normal movie you're watching it wrong!".
Plot? Characters? Worldbuilding? Actual fear? Things to make you think? Coherence? Believability? Watchability?
It doesn't matter if there are only sad excuses for these with no depth, or if they don't even exist at all. No, viewers will gladly excuse all of these faults and mistake anything that is disturbing or disgusting for a sense of fear and thus horror movies that would have been total flops by normal movie standards are taking over the genre.
Not so 'Dead End'.
-While it is slightly psychedelic the characters are nonetheless believable, real feeling, and thus manage a connection to the viewer.
-The plot is simple but interesting and functional.
-The building of the universe of the movie, including the characters this movie is mostly an exploration of, continues throughout until the end.
-The tribulations of the characters are viscerally gripping, and tension and some fear is kept up throughout.
-The entire thing is coherent with no moments that really pull you out of it, even though you are left wondering what exactly is going on.
-The entire thing is less on the cliché monster / ghost side and is thus not just dismissable out of the box.
-But finally and perhaps most importantly one walks away from the movie thinking and feeling and slightly dazed. Not because of some continuous assault on the viewers stomach, nerves, and sense of morality. No, one has a hard time immediately letting go of the movie because one actually is given things to think about that are at least slightly deeper than platitudes and less obtrusive than simply unexplained stuff about the movie.
No matter how good, i've not seen any other horror movie pull this off this well.
Sure it has some gore, jumpscares, horror cliches, dumb actions, but the entire movie is remarkably restrained and thus delivering an all the more poignant and enjoyable experience.