The State of horror films & shows

Well, if you love a good scare, then this is your season. and horror is haunting the big screen and streaming, and sometimes what you don't see is just as terrifying as what you do. Max Hopper, SCAD professor of sound design and film, is here with us with more on what makes us jump and scream and maybe even decide, you know what, I'm just going to sleep with the lights on tonight. Good morning. Good morning. Thanks for having me. Yeah, it's so good to have you in studio with us here as we're leading up to Halloween. This is a very appropriate topic focusing on the horror genre, which i feel like is having a huge resurgence and not just because we're approaching halloween i mean what's going on in the industry it definitely has i think a big thing with horror right now it's how cheap it can be to make it and we've seen so much growth in horror in general like we we saw Sinners last year got so many nominations at the Oscars and it's just growing and growing now we have things like the Backrooms obsession and it's so many filmmakers especially young filmmakers are able to go in and make these horror films uh but it's been yeah you know the minute you brought up sinners what made me think about this is i think going back decades we tend to think of horror movies i mean first of all they can be low budget but they don't have to be and some things like sinners like finally getting the respect maybe they deserve in the world of cinema right yeah and and i think that's the the biggest thing it's we've moved on from all the crazy effects and and all the respect comes from building the story and it's all about having a fresh perspective with sinners it's a really fresh new story right obsession as well it's it's like a complicated love triangle but they make it horror i think that that is where it all comes from yeah yeah and i want to kind of back up to the idea of horror uh it doesn't have to have a massive budget to have a massive impact so you know to talk to me more about that and how that also plays into young filmmakers maybe getting started? Yeah. So I think the biggest thing with horror and how budgets work now is they rely on what you can't see, right? So a lot of the times we don't need the big props or the big effects to cause that excitement and that like being on the edge of your seat. And we can use things like sound design, right? And start building up the tension and adding sound effects that will bring and foreshadow what's going to happen without spending much money. Yeah. So I want to delve into that a little bit more because this is an area of expertise for you. I mean, what are some of the ways that sound can kind of create that tension or maybe surprise people in a moment that would otherwise be seen as kind of predictable? I think it's all about building tension, right? And I always say this in some of my classes, but when you have a horror film and you strip out all the sound, it gets a little silly, right? Think about, like, the Jaws movie. When you see the shark coming, if you were to remove all the music, it's the slowest shark in the world, right? What's scary about that? Exactly. And once you add that tension of music, it builds up the pacing of the scene. So that is what drives horror in general. Yeah, which actually, I've got a new idea for how I'm going to entertain myself on a Friday night. Maybe take a horror movie, turn off the sound, and turn on, like, cartoon music along with it and see how humorous it is. But that really does hit home and drive home the point of just how important the sound part of this equation really is. Yeah, and I think a lot of films nowadays are exploring that. A couple years back, you have things like The Zone of Interest, where it's a drama, but the soundtrack of it is all full horror, right? And now a lot of films are experiencing that. With Backrooms, you have the whole portion of creating the world. It's the music that creates this liminal space and the synth horror that creates that tension. Yeah, absolutely. Well, you know, of course, at SCAD, you're training the next generation of filmmakers here. What does that training really look like? A great thing that SCAD has is that we have all the state-of-the-art equipment, great faculty, but also we give the students so much approach and networking opportunities with things like the Film Fest, the TV Fest. We have professionals coming in every single time. For example, we just had a screening of the back rooms, and Kane Parsons was in Savannah this last week. So students get a chance to speak to these directors, actors, producers, et cetera. And that brings you closer to exactly what you want to do. Sure. Learn from the best. Get that real world experience. All right. So let's talk about what horror fans need to be putting on their list right now. What's out there? What's new? What do you recommend? There's a lot of great things right now. I just finished Carrie, Mike Flanagan's new show. Fantastic show. When we were talking about that during the break, there have been so many different iterations of Carrie. But you say this is one you've got to check out. Yeah, yeah. We've seen so many versions of it, but this is a new version that explores today's bullying. So I think it has a very strong message behind it. But overall, the horror, the gore is there. So I think it works that very, very well. But you also have things like The Back Rooms, if you haven't seen it, all those movies. Crystal Lake just came out, the new take on Friday the 13th and Jason and Pamela. That's a very good show right now as well. Okay, so between movies and streaming, there are a lot of options out there. All right. Just from a sound design perspective, again, since that's your area of expertise, is there one of those that stands out to you more than another? I would go with Carrie. OK. Right. And no spoilers. But when the supernatural things happen, there's great sound design behind it and a lot of foreshadowing of what's to come. So I would definitely listen to that show. OK. Good advice. We thank you for coming in and giving us a look at your expertise and a look at what we need to be checking out here. Thank you so much for having me. All right. I've got a long list. I got to catch up on this weekend, but now I've got my list ready to go. So thank you again. Thank you very much.