An increased interest in all things spooky means Halloween is right around the corner. Horror films are a perfect way to get into the mood, but there is room for the genre all times of the year.
According to Alex Rafi, assistant professor of media production at St. Louis University, audiences have driven a resurgence of horror due partly to crossover success of television series like “Squid Game” and “The Walking Dead.”
“Horror becomes more mainstream in different ways. One of the things about television is you get to grow with characters,” Rafi said on St. Louis on the Air. “Seeing characters in these horrific environments over time gives us a bit of empathy and more intuition.”
The horror genre encompasses classic movies like Steven Spielberg’s “Jaws,” Alfred Hitchcock’s “The Birds” and William Friedkin’s “The Exorcist.” Despite these films being household names across generations, horror has often been looked down upon because they elicit such visceral response.
“One of the downsides of the body genres — [which] includes melodrama and comedy — is that … critics can easily write them off as being mass culture in ways that are kind of pejorative,” Rafi explained. “They miss out on the technical mastery required to [produce horror films]. When you get amazing actors, you can create really, really amazing films … [and] you do need amazing direction to pull these off in ways that are satisfying, or exciting and thrilling.”
Rafi defines horror as media “that are meant to unnerve, scare and disturb.” While this may not be everyone’s first choice in entertainment, there’s an important place for horror in storytelling. “[Horror] as a medium allows us to interrogate aspects of our society. Whether it's the outsider horror, the body horror, or social horror, all of it's there for us to look at and experience.”
For more on horror films with Alex Rafi, including his movie recommendations for newcomers to the genre, listen to St. Louis on the Air on Apple Podcast, Spotify or Google Podcast, or by clicking the play button below.
“St. Louis on the Air” brings you the stories of St. Louis and the people who live, work and create in our region. The show is produced by Miya Norfleet, Emily Woodbury, Danny Wicentowski, Elaine Cha and Alex Heuer. Ulaa Kuziez is our production intern. The audio engineer is Aaron Doerr. Send questions and comments about this story to talk@stlpr.org.
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