Oh, the horror!

Teen slasher flicks slay whole new crowd

"If you were the only suspect in a senseless bloodbath, would you be standing in the horror section?" asked film geek Randy in the hit horror movie Scream.

After a generation of horror-seekers grew up on slasher films such as Friday the 13th and Halloween, a new style of horror -- including the highly successful Scream franchise and last year's I Know What You Did Last Summer -- is taking aim at the next generation.

The road for horror movies has been a long and scary one. In the '50s, horror films became a household topic with the releases of Creature from the Black Lagoon and House of Wax. The latter movie made horror-film staple Vincent Price a legend.

In the '70s, successful releases such as Carrie, The Exorcist and Rosemary's Baby, which are now considered classics, proved horror was more than a passing phase.

- Jim Braden, a representative for Dimension Films

Now, in the '90s, horror films are appealing to a new generation. The Scream films have grossed a combined $200 million in the United States alone, and a sequel to I Know What You Did Last Summer is already in production.

Whatever the decade, elements of any good horror film -- old or new -- include the right combination of blood and gore mixed with a desperate scream or two and eerie music. But in the '90s, filmmakers are also incorporating comedy and romance in order to attract a new audience.

"For a horror film to be successful today, it has to appeal to everyone," Jim Braden, a representative for Dimension Films, the studio behind the Scream films, said. "It must have a sense of humor, not totally gory, (so you can) make it a date movie."

Modern-day audiences are demanding more than the classic slasher film. Studios are finding that they must incorporate aspects moviegoers loved in the past, while striving not to fall into the slasher-sequel hell that plagued series such as Nightmare on Elm Street.

For movie insiders, the quest for the perfect scary movie is a never-ending trail of blood.

"Horror films got popular in the '80s with slashers," said Dan Rosenfelt (senior-integrative arts). "They kept rehashing them and horror died."

Movie industries have their claws in a new target audience -- teen-agers, who are the last untapped market, Braden said.

"Horror films (will) stay with (the idea of) 'Party of Five' on acid -- crazy, hack-them-up (films) with young attractive stars," Braden said. "That's the way the market works."

Many feel another aspect that made Scream and Scream 2 such successes was their ability to give the audience what they expected, yet at the same time managing to surprise them.

"Scream made you laugh at how funny slashers were, but at the same time scared you," Rosenfelt said.

Viewers were thirsty for new blood after box-office horror bombs such as the The Frighteners and From Dusk Till Dawn, which garnered cult followings but failed to appeal to mainstream audiences. The Scream movies and I Know What You Did Last Summer seemed to be exactly what was needed in order to preserve the dying genre for a new generation.

"People who are fans really wanted to be scared and they (hadn't) been in a while," said Rosenfelt.

But the industry is left wondering if expected 1998 releases will keep the recently revived scare in horror films. Hollywood insiders are hoping releases such as the I Know What You Did Last Summer sequel and a new Halloween film (written by Scream scribe Kevin Williamson) will keep horror films alive.

Movie insiders also believe horror movies based on CD-ROMs such as Resident Evil will be fear's new direction.

No matter what direction horror films go, or what new elements producers add, many believe horror films will endure.

"Horror films (will always be popular) because they have an age-old appeal," said Chris Jordan, professor of media studies. "(They) allow us to experience taboo kinds of behavior in a safe environment."