The horror genre is never going to go out of fashion, because audiences will never tire of the visceral reaction that comes from being scared out of their seats. There’s a reason why it’s the most profitable form of filmmaking in Hollywood, after all, with companies like Blumhouse churning out countless low risk and high reward titles that are almost always guaranteed to make money, regardless of how good or bad the reviews are.
Netflix may have set their sights on becoming a titan of the film industry on the same scale as the traditional major studios, but so far, the company haven’t focused as heavily on original horror movies as they have on other genres, which seems strange given the relatively low levels of investment required and the hefty viewing figures they would bring in.
Up until now, the focus has been on horror comedies like The Baysitter duology and Vampires vs. the Bronx, or Stephen King adaptations including Gerald’s Game, 1922 and In the Tall Grass. Sure, His House dominated the Top 10 most-watched list as one of the most acclaimed horrors of the year, but generally speaking, the content library is sorely lacking when it comes to in-house frights.
However, insider Daniel Richtman now claims that Netflix are looking to invest heavily in their upcoming slate of horror projects, which would presumably place the focus on quantity over quality, with the genre rarely having to break the bank in order to get the job done. After all, It and The Sixth Sense, the two highest-grossing horror movies ever made, raked in a total of almost $1.4 billion at the box office on combined production costs of $70 million, which is less than half of what Netflix spent on Michael Bay’s 6 Underground. Indeed, whether the budget is $1 million, $10 million or $100 million, subscribers are virtually guaranteed to check out these upcoming projects if they’re fans of the genre.
