Working on a horror comic project, I am thinking out the story beats and the influences of Videodrome and Denpa visual novels when I noticed something off in the overall horror community.

Modern horror tends to be more, focused on being “nice”, as in polite rule following affairs with boundaries set up like the fiction is following Marquess of Queensberry of boxing.

I am trying of the best way to put people saying what's the rules of what's scary as a means of setting up a safety net.

Well anyway one thing I noticed is there's a strong urge to have horror very clean, no bad endings, no physical traumatic incidences. Shit I remember people talking about the Martyrs Hollywood remake is during the burning scene character was “violently burned at the stake” and the outcome was slightly redden skin and crispy hair.

Just wanted to share that because I am looking to make a comic inspired by In the Mouth of Madness, the forementioned Videodrome, Demon and 7 Doors of Death, which should be a spoiler of the ending.

I did not notice this. Although I'm not familiar with the games you mention or what constitutes modern horror in your opinion and what you contrast it with (Videodrome for example is not?). I guess most horror films that are popular have a set of guidelines to follow and work with, while the ones that experiment either become popular exceptions or just forgotten or cult films? There are plenty of horror films that end badly for the protagonists. A lot that barely have any graphic violence in them… There are horrors that are basically just gore because people love the shock value of them… I'm not exactly sure what you're referring to, but I think Cronenberg is one of the directors who experimented a lot with body horrors and to this day his works are heavily influential.

I'm not exactly a horror buff, however, I have been hearing people talk about the current state of the genre - both those who work in the industry in some capacity, and those who are consumers of such, and the general consensus does seem to be that the approach to horror is a lot more conservative than it was years ago. A couple of my co-workers who are really into horror movies say that newer movies are nowhere near as scary as they used to be in the days of HALLOWEEN, FRIDAY THE 13th, NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET, THE SHINING, and others. I listened to an interview with John R. Dilworth in which he talked about a deal he initially had with Disney Channel for an animated horror-comedy series that would've been in the same vein as COURAGE THE COWARDLY DOG, but that deal fell through because Disney felt it was, “too weird” for them - he even doubts that Courage would even see the light of day if he tried to make the show today as opposed to the late 90s/early 2000s.

What's wrong with modern horror as opposed to vintage 1970s stuff? Just compare the remake of Wicker man with the original classic from the 1970s. The remake is plain old awful.
Dan Curtis and others made great creepy movies for TV in the 1970s with little gore, where the protagonists lost and made the hair stand up on the back of your neck. Kolchak: the Night Stalker still has a large following and is liked more than any number of more recent series.

I sometimes catch myself thinking that even the old classics aren't as scary as they used to be, just because you know them too well at some point, or because of getting older and more seasoned. Perhaps modern horror movies use familiar tropes too much, which were popularised by the older stuff? I'm no expert, though, more like the opposite, as I like watching old badly made horror flicks for their involuntary amusement value, so I might have ruined my ability to immerse myself in horror plots without realising. But then, I've done that all my life.

All I know is the scare factor worked best for me when watching the old classics with friends while in my teens and twenties, so either horror has become tamer since or I've become less impressionable.

I think what's going on here is that there are essentially two kinds of horror films: one that plays on your fears well enough to use your imagination against you and so long after it's over you'll feel the effect (you'll hesitate to watch anything alike alone at home, at night, etc), and another kind of horror film that manages to give you a scare or entertainment for its runtime, but other than that nothing much really. The reason the 2nd type seems to be more around these days is because the more horror you watch, the more tolerance you have for some of its effects, you grow out of your fears, etc. It's pretty obvious that it comes down to the person watching it and little kids would find things scary or “epic” that barely have any effect on you, so yes, horror films do change over time as the demand for them also changes, but when you crave something that used to work for you years or decades ago, it's more about nostalgia and you changing than the genre losing its effect.

Furwerk studio wrote:

Just wanted to share that because I am looking to make a comic inspired by In the Mouth of Madness, the forementioned Videodrome, Demon and 7 Doors of Death, which should be a spoiler of the ending.

Modern horror is what you make of it. Some is watered down.

Videodrome has been one of my favorites since first seeing it in the 80s.

Eagerly waiting to see your comic.

I watched a movie, “Radio Silence”. It was about a “Dr. Laura” type character who talked a caller into killing herself. It was not on purpose, and she was a likable character for the most part. As the story unfolded, the victim gained more and more agency, and near the end, we begin to see flashes of her face.

It was as if the ghost of this woman climbed out of the underworld and pointed a finger at the true villain. I found that more disturbing than an actual monster.

plymayer wrote:

Furwerk studio wrote:

Just wanted to share that because I am looking to make a comic inspired by In the Mouth of Madness, the forementioned Videodrome, Demon and 7 Doors of Death, which should be a spoiler of the ending.

Modern horror is what you make of it. Some is watered down.

Videodrome has been one of my favorites since first seeing it in the 80s.

Eagerly waiting to see your comic.

Neat, and thanks.

I got it planned for a Halloween debut next year, making sure I got a good buffer prepared for it, though I got the cover for issue one done and things set up.

Be warn it will make use of the adult rating.

EDIT: I figured out the best way to describe it in terms of Italian horror movie pitches.

It's Videodrome meets Demons for furries.