Rebekah McKendry, James Sabata, Jared Rivet, and Vincent V. Cava have a round table discussion about the near future of horror. The current state of horror is first established. Horror tv is where the money is even though it tends to be less extreme with few outliers like Hannibal and Channel Zero. They see more different formatted shows in the future like The Terror. Horror has been known since its inception as a financial sure thing. There are a huge amount of films made on tiny budgets that are released on VOD even though much less money is made per film than with DVDs or BluRay.
For the future, keep an eye out for shows like don't fit into conventional formats like The Terror. So-called "elevated" horror is on the rise, specifically $5 to $10 million films that deal with higher brow issues and become critically acclaimed. Reboots aren't going to die because even though we complain, we all go see them anyway. Hopefully existing IPs are changed in tone like Hannibal or The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina. The zombie trend is on the way out. Zombieland acted as its bookend with the first at the beginning and the second at the end. People have been claiming fatigue for years, but Santa Clarita Diet is going strong along with Kingdom, Black Summer, The Walking Dead, its spin-off, and the star studded The Dead Don't Die. I think it might still have some life in it. They predict that filmmakers are moving away from anthologies and towards serials.
This panel was more of a casual conversation with some audience participation. I enjoyed it, but I'm not sold on some of their predictions.
* Child's Play (2019)
I am not super enthused about this reboot. Most are unnecessary, but this one is just insulting. The last Chucky movie was literally made two years ago with a TV show in development and Don Mancini, the creator, has been involved in every installment of the franchise as writer and/or producer. He was not asked about the remake or consulted at all and it leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
The panel consisted of director Lars Klevberg, producer Seth Grahame-Smith, producer David Katzenberg, writer Tyler Burton Smith, and actors Aubrey Plaza and Gabriel Bateman. The most exciting announcement that made me consider watching the film is that Mark Hamill is the new voice of Chucky. The film focuses more on technology such as Google Home or Siri, which is always connected and watching you, linked with a doll going haywire and deciding to kill you. The concept is interesting, but pretty far removed from Child's Play and seemed unnecessary to use the title. I appreciate that the filmmakers decided to use as much practical effects and animatronics as possible. Andy is a teenager here with Chucky, more of an AI than just a doll, being his first friend. I find this concept creepy. A doll like this would make sense with a much younger child than a teenager.
I like Aubrey Plaza as an actress, but she said some weird things during the panel such as coming to set with a real knife and hiding outside of Gabriel's house for hours as pranks. Honestly, I think it was an awkward way to try to fill up the time since this was literally the only panel to not take any audience questions. Other than that, it seemed like a fun set. Klevberg had a stoic nature that everyone had fun with. The only other thing troubling me was the short amount of time the film was made. From conception to the first day of filming was only 6 months and it's a concern that it may have been rushed. I will probably see the film. It seems like an interesting concept, but I still have reservations about its quality.
