Is STD Horror the Latest Genre Trend?
The horror genre hasn’t had a bona fide trend in some time, save the pragmatic hunger for reboots and sequels.
A trio of recent films suggests that could change, thanks to themes that turn the sex-crazed horror tropes on their head.
The 2013 horror film “Contracted” showcased a woman suffering an STD worse than any real-life trauma. The low-budget entry already earned a sequel, “Contracted: Phase II,” in production now.
The most buzzed about horror entry not featuring the word “Babadook” is “It Follows.” The film festival fave, to be released in early 2015, follows a group haunted by something sinister spawned from their sexual encounters.
The young, pretty people who died the most gruesome deaths in slasher movies were often in the middle of a sex or about to get it on. Those scenes gave a moral jolt to a genre that otherwise existed to shock and offend.
The new wave of STD horror comes at a time when AIDS is less of a national concern than during its early, awful years. But sexuality still arouses our interest in cultural mores, shame and other turbo-charged emotions.
That’s rich material for horror to explore, meaning the new STD horror genre may have legs.
DID YOU KNOW: The alternate ending for “Friday the 13th Part III” featured Jason showing off his “trophy room” of dead bodies.