\n\t2026 was filled with visionary horror films that rocked the box office, like \u201cObsession\u201d and \u201cBackrooms.\u201d But what does the future of the genre look like?<\/p>\n
\n\tAt this year\u2019s Fantastic Fest<\/a> in Austin, I moderated a panel about fear, fandom and the future of the horror genre, which touched on several topics about the business of getting scared. Joining me on the panel were Emily Gotto, Shudder<\/a>\u2018s SVP of acquisitions and production; Nick Lazo, Shudder\u2019s SVP of development and production; Angel Melanson, Shudder\u2019s director of programming; Jordan Downey, the director of \u201cThe Cycle,\u201d which debuted at Fantastic Fest, and a segment from the streamer\u2019s \u201cV\/H\/S\/Beyond\u201d; and Toby Poser, a member of the Adams Family filmmakers, whose \u201cThe Glorious Dead\u201d played at Fantastic Fest and was recently announced to be acquired by Shudder.<\/p>\n \n\tThe conversation opened with thoughts about how horror has always been a space where filmmakers can take creative swings, experiment with form and push boundaries to do all kinds of fantastic work.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cI think you can inherently take risks with scary material because you can have really deep conversations about dramatic things that happen in your life, and wrap them in this genre cloth that is accessible and fun and cool, but you\u2019re also taking big swings with some material that may be too heavy-handed or otherwise a little difficult to swallow,\u201d Lazo said. \u201cI think the horror genre lends itself to emerging filmmakers and new voices and people who have something really compelling to say that don\u2019t necessarily have access to the biggest budgets in the world. When you can say something very scary in a very dark room that doesn\u2019t require a lot of lighting or set design or the most expensive cast that you can possibly bring to the table, you can take big swings and you\u2019re mitigating your risk automatically just having your budget be a little bit lower.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tThe conversation then pivoted to other reasons for horror\u2019s big boom this year.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cI think horror is the best sandbox that you could possibly play in because, to Nick\u2019s point, you can fold anything else into that,\u201d Melanson said. \u201cThe rules are there are no rules. Horror dictates that you can do anything. You wrap fantasy in there, you can throw drama in there, you can have comedy. So you\u2019re already opening yourself up to all these different things that you can layer within it. And I feel like everyone\u2019s hungry for something that\u2019s original, that\u2019s new. And you look at the stuff that\u2019s popping off right now and everyone is just very, very hungry and excited for these new and original concepts and ideas. Also, it\u2019s very accessible. Equipment is becoming more accessible, but just horror inherently has always been a more accessible genre than something like going off to make a period drama that\u2019s expensive. You can do more and I feel like it\u2019s maybe a little bit more forgiving. You have strong performances, you have a strong story and we\u2019re all going to show up for that.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tAt one point during the panel, Gotto was asked to predict what emerging themes or subgenres she thought could arrive in the next wave in horror.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cEverybody loves a monster movie,\u201d she said. \u201cI think when we talk about originality, we\u2019re talking about authorship. It\u2019s the voice of the filmmaker that is coming forward to talk about something or someone within the genre sandpit. I love that term. Sometimes there can be very well-trodden themes and zeitgeists, but really what\u2019s making something fresh is the point of view or the style of direction or the modes of talking about what is being brought to the fore, be it from a sociological, anthropological or individual subject matter, all of which I think are treated exceptionally well in genre. So in terms of new wave or next wave, I personally feel that that\u2019s dictated by the filmmaker\u2019s voices and the audience who\u2019s willing to consume and celebrate those filmmakers\u2019 voices. I don\u2019t think it\u2019s dictated by us as executives \u2014 or at least I would hope it\u2019s not.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tWhen it comes to how filmmakers\u2019 voices can be influenced by the opinions of fans or reception at film festivals, Poser broke down how those opinions might impact the creative process.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cWe\u2019re absolutely listening to what everyone has to say, and we almost take it as a personal challenge to then try something different,\u201d she says. \u201cFor instance, sometimes people will say, \u2018Oh, they do a lot of folk horror. They have slow burn.\u2019 It was almost like homework with our newest one, \u2018The Glorious Dead.\u2019 We said, \u2018No, let\u2019s set out to really see what we do with a film that takes place over the course of one day with just escalating dread and a drive and momentum that we don\u2019t usually focus upon.\u2019 We love hearing what people think, and it almost grants us a responsibility to challenge ourselves as filmmakers and our audiences because we want to work. So we want to do a film pretty much every year or so. We have responsibility to them too to take what we learn and try new things.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tDowney spoke specifically to how he processes instant feedback \u2014\u00a0like social media and Letterboxd reviews \u2014 when his art goes into the world.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cIt\u2019s somewhat similar to feedback you get on a script or on a cut where you want to listen to it all, but then you try to build a bigger picture and not get too stuck on any one note or one comment, but you want to learn from it,\u201d he said. \u201cI feel like to be ignorant to it doesn\u2019t really help you that much. And now live talking to people in person is a great way to do it, because people get online and just get into troll mode for unnecessary reasons sometimes. So I love talking to people right after the screening to hear what they thought. And I would also love if someone said, \u2018Hey, I didn\u2019t really like this scene or this moment.\u2019 But it\u2019s just like notes on anything where you just take it all with a grain of salt and ultimately have to filter it through your own filmmaking style and just move on to the next one and try to do better.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"2026 was filled with visionary horror films that rocked the box office, like \u201cObsession\u201d and \u201cBackrooms.\u201d But what…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":909114,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[64,63,134,54161,344,17745,477476],"class_list":["post-909113","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-entertainment","tag-fantastic-fest","tag-movies","tag-shudder","tag-shudder-horror-panel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/909113","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=909113"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/909113\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/909114"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=909113"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=909113"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=909113"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}