Horror’s Hidden Gems: A Subgenre Exploration

Life allows us to sample almost everything in various flavors or types, that is no different when it comes to horror movies. Having been a horror fan most of my life, it still amazes me at what it takes to make a great horror movie and then what genre it should belong to. If you were like me, you are probably thinking, “WTF, it’s horror. How can there be more genres?” You’d be wrong. There are approximately 21 sub-genres of horror movies. Granted, that can get a little blurry as some of them are variations of a sub-genre, but there are enough titles out there to warrant their own place. 

Join me as we discuss what it takes to make a great horror movie in a little article that I like to call, Horror’s Hidden Gems: A Subgenre Exploration.

1. Cutting to the heart of it
2. The thrill of the chill
3. From the dark recesses
4. So many scares
5. Scream.. for you favorite movie
   1. 1. Halloween
   2. 2. Pumpkin Head
   3. 3. Evil Dead
   4. 4. Silver Bullet
   5. 4. Us
6. The call is coming from inside the house

Cutting to the heart of it

Horror is the one genre of movie that capitalizes on scary people for entertainment. It is not shockIng that this genre would prey on your biggest fears and worst nightmares by building tension, splattering in some gore, and keeping your heart racing with jumpscares. 

Horror is also one of the most liberated genres, what I mean by that is that each movie can be completely different from the next. Things like RomComs  or drama have formulas they tend to follow to keep the audience engaged. Horror can play on tropes or use uncommon techniques not seen in other places to create the dread needed to keep you squirming in your seat. 

Due to it being so freeing, it can bounce between other genres to create intense smash ups. Movies like Alien allow for sci-fi elements to take on new thrills, to Scary Movie using comedy to create the needed scares. The limits are endless.

The thrill of the chill

This may sound strange for some, but I started falling in love with things that were spooky and scary around five years old. The year was 1978 I was five years old and The Incredible Hulk debuted on television. The first episode you get to see Bruce Banner becomes the Hulk. I saw a man strapped into a chair of a machine that looked similar to ones I had been in for eye exams. 

Suddenly, the TV showed his eye, on a monitor, darting back and forth in a frantic motion. The man started yelling in agony and trying to get out of his restraints. Slowly you watch as he starts to change. I remember being scared seeing this but I could not take my eyes off what was happening. I was obsessed. 

From there, I was introduced to scary folk stories from family members, librarians, and school. Stories like The Legend of Sleepy Hollow thrilled and scared me. Watching old Appalachian scary stores on PBS became an obsession, again thanks to school. I wanted more. That was then my cousin, who was the librarian at our elementary school, turned me on to horror books. Albeit, at a kid level. From there it was an easy jump to Stephen King and the multitude of other horror authors out there. Movies would come later. 

From the dark recesses

There is some debate as to when the horror genre started. For the sake of argument, we are going with when the genre was codified. That would lead us to 1931’s release of Dracula. However, the 1920s had some very notable horror type films. There was Nosferatu and The Cabinet of Dr. Calagari, to name a couple. What made Dracula stand out and allowed to be given the title of the first, was its box office success. After all, we have Dracula to thank for the creation of the Universal Monsters that skyrocketed Universal into the spotlight. 

The 1950s and 1960s saw the horror genre shift away from classic literature as source material. This was the decade that saw such amazing horror movies as Psycho, Black Sunday, and Night of the Living Dead. With movie industries taking cues from contemporary works, we also saw an increase of gore, violence, and erotic scenes. This was the era of the atom and that played heavily in the creation of many horror movies. 

As the 1970s came and led to the 1980s, we saw horror take a turn again. The introduction of erotic horror and the slasher genre. Front here, the sky was the limit or should I say the darkness was the limit. By the time the 21st century started, we saw the rise of torture porn with the success of Saw and Hostel. From there, found footage became the big draw and on to independent films being the largest success of the movie genre. 

So many scares

As you can see, horror has so many places it can draw inspiration from. So many, in fact, that you may not even be aware of all of the kinds of horror that exists. Let’s look at a few of them.

• Body Horror – first emerged in the 1970s. This sub-genre focuse son the process of bodily transformation. A couple examples would be James Cameron’s The Thing or The Fly (1986).
• Christmas Horror – sounds exactly like what it is. This sub-genre also got its start in the 1970s. Silent Night, Deadly Night(1972) and Black Christmas(1974) are two excellent examples. This sub-genre also gave rise to holiday horror for the likes of My Bloody Valentine (1981) and April Fool’s Day (1986).
• Erotic Horror – this sub-genre blends sensual and sexual imagery with horror theme for the sake of sexual arousal. This sub-genre includes movies like Candyman and Hellraiser.
• Found footage – okay, admittedly, this genre seems to have had its day in the darkness. When it first came out, it was an ambush of feelings. You witnessed the whole movie from a first person point of view, allowing you a different kind of immersion into the film. The two best representations of this sub-genre are Blair Witch and  Paranormal Activity.
• Gothic Horror – This lumping sub-genre is often used to describe some of the great Universal Monster flicks. What makes it gothic is the imagery used, castles, vast mansions in various states of disrepair, and the filming style. It is no wonder that movies like Dracula and Frankenstein fall into this sub-genre.
• Natural Horror – This one also branches categories and times. It can be argued that its first inception started in the 1950s with movies like Tarantula. Where it gets murky is that this also falls into the category of Sci-fi Horror. The 1970s is where this genre took off. It is a sub-genre that features nature running wild (bad pun) and mutated beasts. The Birds, Night of the Lepus, and Jaws are some great representations of this genre.
• Slasher Flicks – This is the genre that really allowed horror to takes its rightful place in Hollywood. The sub-genre uses old tropes of how sex can lead to disaster, baby sitters being plagued by killers in the house and doing all of it with some kind of bladed tool. Whether you like this villain or not, it cannot be denied that Halloween was the movie that popularized the slasher genre. Since would argue Silent Night, Deadly Night or Black Christmas would be the beginning of this sub-genre. So you see how so many of them cross lines. 
• Supernatural Horror – this is the sub-genre that has the largest amounts of movies as it includes anything that involves supernatural elements like the afterlife, spirit possession, and supernatural creatures. This allows for vampires, werewolves, demonic possession, and a multitude of other horror possibilities.

Scream.. for you favorite movie

Horror is one of the largest genres of movies out there and one of the most profitable. The bonus here is that a great many of the most popular horror movies are shot on a lower budget, in comparison to the Sci-Fi genre. This allows box office takes to skew in their favor and allow them to be one of the most lucrative. 

In 2023, there were a total of 46 films released that netted a whopping $798 million dollars from movie goers. It appears that horror is alive and thriving. WIth all of these movies coming out each year, it is hard to have favorites. Below you will find five of my all time favorite horror movies.

1. Halloween

This movie franchise owes its popularity to, and also helped drive the popularity of, Slasher flicks. This movie started out to tell the urban legend of baby sitters being stalked by killers but quickly evolved into what it has become today. There is something to say about a silent stalking killer who seems lacking in the basic human emotions. Gunshots, stabbing, fire, and more never seems to phase this focused killer. It has also been called the ”choose your own adventure” horror by many, due to its changing timelines and continuities. It is still a titular representation of slasher horror from the 80s.

2. Pumpkin Head

Having grown up in the mountains of Virginia, this movies holds a special place for me. I grew up hearing about local scary legends and ghost stories, Pumpkin Head has that in spades. It is the quintessential movie that takes what appears to be more of a local legend to scare kids and brings it to reality. A force of nature that is “hell-bent” on righting a wrong. What makes this movie even better is Lance Hendrickson being in it. Many of you may remember him from the first Alien or in his X-files spin off called Millennium. Either way, get out there and give it a watch, if you haven’t already.

3. Evil Dead

The original came from Sam Raimi and had Bruce Campbell as the main character. It tells the story of two couples that are going out to a cabin in the woods for some quiet time. What happens later is anything but a romantic weekend. Oddly enough, this movie was made twice — Evil Dead and Evil Dead 2 most think they are separate movies when in fact there is a much deeper story to them. The original was released in 1981 and Raimi did have rights to the movie and was unable to film any sequels. His work around was to create what they called a re-quel. Essentially, they reshot the original movie with 99% new actors. The first five minutes of the movie was a recap of the previous, with the new actors, to create the new timeline. Sound confusing? You ain’t seen the half of it.

4. Silver Bullet

Who doesn’t love a good Stephen King book made to a movie. Okay, the truth is many of his adaptations seem to leave a lot to be desired. Yes, I am looking at you Dark Tower. Silver Bullet was a short story turned horror movie and keeps the vein of Wolfman in mind in how it is shot. It also shows, at least in my opionion, that all people have dark secrets they try to keep from the light, even local ministers. 

4. Us

Jordan Peele’s movies dont always mesh up with me, but this one was the first that I actually liked. It was also the reason that I went on to watch Nope. He creates a unique way of telling a story that does capture you and keeps you holding on both tooth and nail. With Us, this is taken to another level. We often feel like there are things missing from our lives, that maybe we aren’t living the life we were ment to. Us takes that premise to a whole new level. Once you reach the end, you are still trying to puzzle out what it means and how it will affect things. Truly a scary good time.

The call is coming from inside the house

The horror genre comes in almost as many flavors as Baskin Robbins used to sell, quite literally, there is something for everyone. Whether you are a slasher flick fan, torture porn, sci-fi horror, or whatever ever spooks your inner dark child it’s there. Horror has been around as long as movies have been made and only seems to be evolving faster than fans can keep up. With all of these varied choices, you can constantly ask yourself, “What’s your favorite scary movie?”

What about you guys, are there types of horror that you prefer over others? Maybe you are more of a horror franchise follower, what’s your favorite franchise? Who do you think would win in a battle between Michael Myers and Jason Vorhees? Let me know in the comments below and make sure you get out there and enjoy some good horror movies this spooky season. Thanks to each and everyone of you who makes GayintheCLE is what it is, without each and everyone of you, this blog would not exist in the way it does. It is greatly appreciated.