New Weird

The new weird seems to be more so the revival and reinvention of the old weird than it is an entirely new genre of weird.  The book Annihilation draws upon the old weird by following the age old idea that what can't be seen is far scarier then what can.  The members of the expedition all fall to a mysterious force that we don't even really get to understand until the end. This leads to a distrust of the environment and all of the characters, keeping you on the edge of your seat in suspense. Annihilation also follows the modern trend of blending genres, bringing sci-fi and horror together in a way that seems to mimic the fears of real life better than any specific genre. The way that the border of Area X seems to be expanding without there seeming to be a way to stop it mimics the modern fear of the havoc climate change will bring upon our individual lives. It slowly creeps, threatening harm while individuals are pretty much powerless to stop it by themselves. New horror seems to deal more so with systematic or environmental threats than any individual monster. Despite not having any supernatural elements, Midsommar is similar in it's set up. A group of students go to Sweden to experience the Midsommar festival in a small isolated town, entering a world completely foreign to them. One by one they get picked off in mysterious ways until only one is left, getting consumed by the environment they're in.  Like Annihilation, Midsommar uses a the horror set up to commentate on a problem in the modern world at large. We see how the parting of traditions and religion can leave some people in the modern world without a community or comfort to turn to in a time of need. This leaves Dani vulnerable to fall for the comfort that the Harga provide her despite their more violent ways becoming apparent. Parasite is also a film about a systematic horror versus an individual one.   We see how unchecked capitalism make monsters out of everyone in the system as the poorer families are forced to violently face off against each other in order to gain access to the excess of the Parks whom have more money than they know what to do with. Good horror has always been a reflection of societal fears. In the past it was Invasion of the Body Snatchers dealing with the terror of the red scare, and now it's the growing inequality that pervades society. The new weird is not that much different from the old weird. If anything its a return to form after a few years of movies more dependent of jump scares than substance.

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