LOS ANGELES (AP) 鈥� With the 鈥淭he Black Phone" and his 鈥淏arbarian" this year, writer-director Zach Cregger says it's clear that 鈥渙riginal horror is working right now.鈥�
Though the genre has long relied on franchises like 鈥淗alloween,鈥� 鈥淪aw鈥� and 鈥淭he Conjuring," Cregger says younger filmmakers are finding scary features 鈥渃reatively fertile territory鈥� for exploring unexpectedly complex themes.
as a , making more than $42 million worldwide on a modest production budget of $4.5 million.
, it tells the story of a young woman (Georgina Campbell) who finds her Airbnb-rented house in a half-ruined section of Detroit weirdly occupied by a stranger (Bill Skarsg氓rd). It goes on to subvert a number of horror conventions, and found audiences outside the traditional genre fans.
鈥淎dults that are craving new and groundbreaking stuff, there鈥檚 not a lot of places to go,鈥� Cregger said. 鈥淪tudios are only putting money into big IP superhero stuff, which for me as a 40-year-old man, I鈥檓 not really like drawn to that."
He struggled to find a studio to back his film. Cregger said he looked up the production companies associated with every horror movie that has been made in the past 15 years, then sent his script to all of them. None agreed to fund the project.
As he was considering selling his house and going into debt to pay for the film himself, Cregger found BoulderLight Pictures, a small production company based in Los Angeles. 鈥淭hey were the first people that read it that were not daunted by the shift in tone,鈥� he said.
Another horror directorial debut, 鈥淪mile,鈥� topped the box office for two weeks after its release in September and has made more than $169 million worldwide. It examines the ripple effects of trauma.
Cregger is optimistic about audiences' growing appetite for horror films that aspire to deliver more than jump scares and gore, a trend he thinks is indebted to films like Jordan Peele鈥檚 鈥淕et Out鈥� and Ari Aster鈥檚 鈥淗ereditary.鈥�
鈥淵ou feed somebody Doritos, but then you slip some broccoli in there,鈥� Cregger said. 鈥溾�楤arbarian鈥� does not have a social agenda. It really doesn鈥檛. But there is stuff in there that I think can start conversations.鈥�
鈥淏arbarian鈥� star Justin Long praised horror鈥檚 often surprising ability to probe deeper questions, citing . And even as an actor, he said the director's themes were woven cleanly into the story.
鈥淭here were moments where I felt like, 鈥極h, yeah, wait a minute, I think I just ate some broccoli,'鈥� Long said.
Krysta Fauria, The Associated Press
