Horror has long been a cornerstone of Hollywood finances, from the Universal Monsters of the 1930s and 1940s to the slashers of the 1970s and 1980s to the found footage films of the 2000s to the neverending zombie apocalypse we’re currently living through. Horror sells. And cheap horror has always been the place you find your greatest return on investment.
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, Halloween, The Blair Witch Project, Paranormal Activity, Get Out: the best way to strike it rich in showbiz is to make a horror movie for very little money and watch it rack up audiences as terrified word of mouth spreads. In the post-pandemic era, this model has held true: the most interesting box office stories are those of Barbarian, M3gan, The Black Phone, Smile, and Terrifier 2, movies made...