INCE RUE MORGUE BEGAN THIRTEEN YEARS AND 100 ISSUES AGO, THE GENRE HAS UNDERGONE A PERIOD OF CHANGE LIKE NO OTHER IN ITS HISTORY. As the internet started to boom, so did fan culture, allowing horror lovers from around the world to form communities, discover new (and rediscover old) content easier and faster. Affordable, user-friendly technology such as
consumer-level digital video, desktop-publishing software and Photoshop, plus new platforms including blogs, YouTube and Facebook have redrawn and de- stroyed boundaries between those who make dark art, sell it, write about it and consume it. During this period, world-shaking events have whetted our appetite for vio-
lence, while environmental and apocalyptic anxieties have made us both wal- low in visions of our own self-destruction and become nostalgic for simpler times. Whole new sets of fears and fresh monsters have fuelled a genre boom that seems to self-perpetuate – we create technology that further removes us from our primal, savage nature, and then use that technology to find new ways to indulge and celebrate our deepest fears. If the past thirteen years have taught us anything, it’s that we need to terrify ourselves more than ever. To better understand this evolution, our writers contacted genre experts and
icons to help them explore specific developments of the past thirteen years that are near to their hearts. In addition, we’ve asked our interview subjects to help us speculate on the future of the horror genre. Now read on for thirteen years of fear, and beyond...
MARCH 1997 After testing in Japan, DVD comes to North America.
RM30
MARCH 10, 1997 TV’s Buffy the Vampire Slayer premieres.
In 1997, the biggest horror movie at the box office was
Scream 2. Ten years later, a woman could be seen chopping off her victim’s penis and feeding it to a dog in Hostel: Part II. While Eli Roth’s film wasn’t the financial success that Wes Craven’s 90210 horror-lite effort was, it still enjoyed a wide release – an example of just how brutally violent the genre had become. The question is, why? Let’s recall that the ’90s were perhaps the weakest decade ever for
horror. Not only were fewer horror films making it to theatres, but the gore and gritty violence that was once so integral to the genre had faded out. Yet just a few years after the decade ended, horror cinema would chart a new course entirely. By all accounts, 2003 was the first big year for brutality at the box office,
with House of 1000 Corpses, Wrong Turn and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake ushering in a new wave of splatter, to be followed by the Sawand Hos- tel franchises, and a gory new version of The Hills Have Eyes, among others.
MAY 24, 1997 Black Sabbath reunites with Ozzy Osbourne to headline the main stage at Ozzfest.
SEPTEMBER 23, 1998 White Zombie calls it quits.
DECEMBER 4, 1998 Gus Van Sant makes shot- for-shot recreation of Psy- cho. No one predicts the slew of remakes to come.
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100