“Superhero fatigue” is starting to become a word in the vein of “woke,” in that it’s been used so often and so improperly that it’s getting to a point where it doesn’t really mean anything anymore.
Jason Blum, despite not being one to be led into the trappings of such a term, has nevertheless identified the congested comic book market as a big plus for the recent roaring success of the horror genre, suggesting in a recent interview with MovieWeb that simply being an alternative to superhero cinema is an attractive quality for horror movies to have.
“I think another reason is there are so many superhero movies, and the audience needs some alternative to that, at least for a couple weekends, and horror movies provide an alternative.”
James Gunn put it best when he addressed the nuances of “superhero fatigue,” and I can’t help but think a similar intricacy is the real linchpin for “horror non-fatigue,” as it were. Simply put, if quite a few recent superhero movies also happen to be not particularly good (see Black Adam, Shazam! Fury of the Gods, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, Morbius, etc.), then yes, of course those movies are going to be exhausting. Conversely, if an overwhelming shake of recent horrors happen to be top-notch (see Nope, M3GAN, Infinity Pool, The Menu, Bodies Bodies Bodies, etc.), well, surprise; there’s a good-to-fair chance that those movies will get many a stamp of approval.
As derivative a statement as it is, the fact of the matter is that good movies are good and bad movies are bad, and that’s precisely why no one’s complaining about horror fatigue. Genre (and subgenre, as superhero films fall under) is a trivial defining factor for a film’s quality, especially if there’s a good story involved, and James Wan, in the same interview no less, couldn’t have put it better.
“A lot of us have crossed over to make superhero films. I think the storytelling aspect is what we gravitate to, and we tell stories that are heightened in the horror genre. We then get to do it again in the superhero genre, and I do think they complement each other very well in some respect.”
Insidious: The Red Door and Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse are both currently playing in theaters. Give them both a watch and tell me which one is more fatigue-worthy.