There are things that tie them to a place, very much like they do us. Some remain tethered to a patch of land. A time and date. The spilling of blood. A terrible crime. But there are others. Others that hold onto an emotion. A drive. Loss. Revenge. Or love. Those, they never go away.
I feel like people don’t have the same genre expectations for horror as they do other genres. “Oh I didn’t like that horror movie because it was too horrific” imagine saying this about any other genre. Like, “I didn’t like that romance movie because there was too much romance” its the GENRE. You’re allowed to not like the genre as a whole, but that doesn’t mean you’re allowed to say a movie is bad because it contains the elements of the genre that you don’t like.
Gothic horror by nature contains a lot of themes of abuse, incest, and toxic relationships in general, and its ok to not like those elements. But you can’t demand that gothic horror doesn’t contain any of the elements that define it as a genre. Its like saying you want a cocktail but don’t want to taste any alcohol.
American Psycho
Crimson Peak
Evil Dead II
Ready or Not
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre
Near Dark
Halloween
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning
Saw 0.5
Candyman
unknown / jennifer’s body (2009) dir. karyn kusama / twin peaks: fire walk with me (1992) dir. david lynch / crimson peak (2015) dir. guillermo del toro / yellowjackets (2021-) dir. karyn kusama