The revival of horror on the mainstream circuit in the last couple of years is something I am certainly grateful for. The recent upsurgence has all but restored the waning audience faith in a genre long thought to have run its course among everyone except the most stalwart of fans. All of a sudden, we are reminded of what a horror experience at the cinema can be and it paves the way for new and old directors alike to explore this dark horse genre.

However, even amongst the positivity I harbour for this new movement in horror, I struggle to escape the feeling that the candidates responsible for this particular resurgence are still held back from being truly extraordinary by convention and a certain pop culture pandering. If one was charged with putting together a compilation of our current horror zeitgeist and call that collection ‘NOW that’s what I call Horror!’ one could easily place Get Out, A Quiet Place and IT on that pantheon and people would generally agree that they deserve their place. However (continuing on this metaphorical trend), if these films are our current pop-star darlings then Hereditary comes along like a fresh genre-bending band that tears through the popular imagination and shows us what a scam the pop industry has been all this time.

Morné Venter

Emerging artist and lecturer working in South Africa. Interested in messes, horror, existentialism and the creative process. Ink is my spirit medium.

http://putdownness.com/