Because horror movies are cheap to make and easy to market.

The End.

For more on Horror, make sure to check out Fright-A-Thon, the 61-day Halloween content marathon!

Wait, that’s not all you want to hear? Well in the course of 2022, we’ve seen box office juggernauts, we’ve seen some brutal lows when it comes to movies actually being released in theaters, and we’ve seen horror movies take up the mantle to get asses in seats. With the release of Halloween Ends, we now have six horror movies that have debuted at #1 at the Domestic box office: Scream, Nope, Barbarian, The Invitation, Smile, and Halloween Ends. Outside of those, we had movies that had vaguely horror elements like Don’t Worry Darling, Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness, and Morbius which also debuted at #1 at the Domestic box office. The combined budget of the six films we had was $131 million, and they made a combined $164 million in just their first weekends at the box office.

These movies are showing staying power at the box office as well, with Smile challenging Halloween Ends for the number one spot and only declining 33% over its third weekend. That’s without mentioning Barbarian making money still orTerrifier 2 making $1 million+ in only 700 theaters. For reference, Thor: Love and Thunder cost $250 million to make.

It’s Not Just An October Fad Now And It Hasn’t Been All Year

2022 has been one of the best years in the history of horror and it hasn’t just been for the box office. Think back about the other movies released this year: X, Pearl, The Black Phone, Prey, Hellraiser, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Bodies Bodies Bodies, Fresh, Men, Studio 666, Old Man, Day Shift, Beast, The Munsters, My Best Friend’s Exorcism, V/H/S/99, and dozens more have either gone to theaters and made money or driven viewership for streaming services. Like it or not, but with so many horror icons getting their restart or new ones being born, this year rivals any other in the history of horror.

It’s not just that they’re pumping out craptastic horror sequels or milking old franchises into the ground, these are for the most part, original ideas. Even the sequels we got, like Scream, were wildly original and took aim at new generations and fandoms. The idea that horror is only sequels and remakes is complete hogwash horseshit and a lazy argument by people who don’t know what they’re talking about. For every reboot we get, there are twenty awesome original horror ideas. It’s just that the old franchise with a big name is going to get more press than something new.

Places like Shudder and ScreamBox are giving us top-tier content year-round. Horror is no longer stuck in the box office zone of late September and October. Just make sure to never release a Halloween movie in August as they did for Rob Zombie’s two films.

It’s high time that studios and audiences realize the absolutely insane potential that horror has as a genre. It doesn’t cost very much to give filmmakers and writers their shot because these movies market themselves and you can get ten of them made for the price of one blockbuster.

Original Ideas, Old Ideas, It Doesn’t Matter

Scream 2022 Horror Movie

Let’s hope this windfall of horror love follows from 2022 into the future. It’s been a nice balance between the old guard of horror and new ideas and people joining in on the fun. It all translates to box office money for studios, which in their eyes is the most important thing. So for those out there proclaiming that the ’80s were the high point for horror and it never gets better than that, we might be in the midst of a new horror golden age.

For more on Horror, make sure to check out Fright-A-Thon, the 61-day Halloween content marathon.

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