2022 has stood out because there have been many high-level horror and fantasy films. Not only has the public been able to see a wide variety of genres and original proposals, but many popular franchises have had successful new installments, which is why fans have begun to debate on social networks that the year could go down in history as potentially the greatest year for horrorAt least in this century.
2022 could be the most exhilarating year for horror movies experienced in a long time, not only because of the number of brilliant set pieces that will keep people talking for a long time, but because of the number of commercially successful titles amassed. 2017 was the biggest box office year in horror history. The scary movies grossed almost $800 million in ticket sales in the US, according to the Box Office Mojo website. The overwhelming success of ‘It’ and ‘Déjame Salir’ (Get Out), with 175 million opened the way. But there were fewer titles, in total, of success.
The horror film has reached a record number one at the box office in 2022. Movies like ‘Nope!’, ‘Barbarian’, ‘Scream’, ‘The Invitation’ did it, and even the recent ‘Halloween: the end’ and ‘Smile’ have not only had the chance to get on the podium, but also have shared simultaneously in the same weekend. Something unusual. It is true that none has achieved more than 200 million, but in a post-pandemic scenario, things change.
blood on the big screen $
Nor do we count superhero variations of the genre that could be perfectly within the story, such as ‘Morbius’ and ‘Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness’, which despite being an adventure has zombies, demons, possessions, Lovecraftian monsters… and is directed by Sam Rami. The limit could even be extended, counting the first place of ‘Don’t worry, honey’, which drinks from the series ‘The Twilight Zone’ and the classic of the genre ‘The Stepford Women’. Either way, there is a widespread interest that has rarely been seen in historyand at the same time the bubble of streaming content is adding.
The year started aiming high with ‘scream‘ (2022), the fifth film in the Wes Craven franchise, the return of Ghostface and favorite characters such as Dewey Riley, Gale Weathers and, of course, Sidney Prescott, the realization of the return of the slasher as a money machine, which has been confirmed with the end of Michael Myers, who has pocketed 60 million worldwide in one sitting. And we didn’t leave masked killers and Blumhouse, since ‘Black Phone’ reached number 2 on its premiere.
2022 has been THE golden year for horror. pic.twitter.com/o4ABIs9rv9
— ً (@letsmegetme) September 24, 2022
The return of Scott Derrickson al terror was released the same weekend as ‘Elvis’, with an impossible task of taking number one from the king but achieving 160 with a paltry 16 budget, that is, managing to multiply by ten what it cost. And therein lies the key, since tight budgets do turn gender into the club of the best profitable investmentsas is also the case with ‘The Invitation’ and ‘Barbarian’, perhaps the latter far from the hype with which it comes from festivals, but achieving gold with pride.
Scares for all tastes
The return of Jordan Peele with his look at the science fiction of “UFOs” offers record data in the midst of a world obsessed with properties and brands: It was the original film, not belonging to any franchise, sequel, remake or adaptation with the best opening in a weekend since ‘Us’ itself. And with half in one weekend, ‘Smile’ entered, which may be far from that record for an original film, but it did reach the ‘Let me out’ record in terms of the minimum reduction from one weekend to another , which will see him reach the same world final numbers, if not higher, than ‘Nope’.
Parker Finn’s movie is the big title of the season, one that can easily be erected as a horror movie that wants to be nothing more than that. In Spain, ‘La granny’, an extraordinary film by Paco Plaza with Carlos Vermut in the script, also broke pandemic records, also close to being the best title of the year. Other movies haven’t achieved those amounts, but they have generated heated debate and will end up being cult follow-up movies, like what the independent A24 has offered.
With ‘Men’ Alex Garland, he has divided the audience, but its mix of body horror with folk roots left the audience speechless, making a less accessible proposal that adds to the list of horror comedies, slashers, psychological thrillers and disturbing films of all kinds that have given an unprecedented variety. Few people will agree on their favorite. Even inside A24 it is fresh and different Ti West’s double proposal. First it was ‘X’, which was released in theaters in March 2022, starring Jenna Ortega, Brittany Snow and Mia Goth in two great roles.
The streaming paradox
Goth plays the young Maxine, who is making an adult movie along with the other characters, as well as the old Pearl, who in the prequel of the same name has the face of the actress again. It’s already unusual for a horror movie and its prequel to be released in the same year., but what is striking is that they are very different. Other films like ‘The Innocents’ have regained European prestige and the little-seen ‘The Cursed’ has brought back the werewolf genre with violence and supernatural touches, far removed from Marvel’s ‘Werewolf by Night’, which have also revived its lycanthrope comic with vintage look.
The sensation of an avalanche of titles is only aggravated if we take into account the number of streaming premieres. The platforms have played a fundamental role with proposals that have been TT on twitter and other social networks on the weekend of its premiere. ‘The Texas Chainsaw Massacre’ was the second most watched movie on Netflix during the period from February 14 to 20In those three days alone, subscribers watched the film for 29.18 million hours.
In the great streaming giant, ‘Wendell and Wild’ is about to arrive, where Jordan Peele joins Henry Selick to create a new access point to horror for kids in a stop motion expression of the genre that celebrates the spirit of Halloween. Not to forget also the animated nightmare of ‘The house’ (2022) in which terror reaches surreal levels. Not so remarkable on a creative level, but which has become a small phenomenon, was the Taiwanese ‘Hex’, which even led to TikTok challenges.
The return of franchises
Leatherface’s is not the only known franchise that has seen its reboot direct to the small screen. During its premiere weekend on August 5, ‘Predator: la presa’ (Prey) became the strongest debut of any movie or series on the Hulu platform and it has remained one of the most watched after its launch, surpassing one billion minutes watched. David Bruckner’s ‘Hellraiser’ may not have reached that figure but with a 71% rating on Rotten Tomatoes it was positioned as the highest rated film in the franchise, beating the original ‘Hellraiser’s 70%.
Others like ‘Fresh’, a horrifying satire on modern Tinder dating, got very good reactions and ‘Nanny’, coming to Amazon on Halloween, is proof that horror can win at Sundance. Titles that will cost more to see like ‘dead stream‘ Y ‘V/H/S99‘ are small phenomena on Shudder, the specialized platform which brought the prodigy of Phil Tippet’s ‘Mad God’ and premiered such powerful pieces as ‘Watcher’ or ‘Shepherd’, which have passed through the 2022 Sitges festival.
The Halloween season remains and a quarter ahead, but whether due to variety, economic success and heterogeneity of proposals, distribution windows and debates, the horror genre has had a post-pandemic explosion that has not been remembered for a long time. We hope that the accumulation of titles does not lead to their depreciation by fans who believe they have seen everything and can forget the wealth of production of an incomparable vintage.