Sci-Fi Bulletin: Exploring the Universes of SF, Fantasy, Horror and Spy-fi!

Horror is having quite a year and we’re going to have a quick chat about it, writes Alasdair Stuart.

Iron Lung, Obsession and now Backrooms have all been released to critical and financial acclaim in the last few weeks and Obsession is currently doing the near impossible and taking more money on its third week out than its first. Word of mouth is a hell of a thing.

This is both fantastic, and not a surprise. Horror’s always done well financially as a genre, and creatively the field is in incredible shape. But the worry in all this is studios, perennially cash and answer starved as billionaire sociopaths use thousands of peoples’ lives as chess pieces, will learn the worst possible lesson. Namely, The Answer Is Dudes.

It’s easy to see why. In addition to the institutionalised sexism that’s essentially oxygen in creative industries, all three young creators have not only turned in great films but done so with a professionalism an order of magnitude over what’s expected. Markiplier led from the front, being welded into the Iron Lung set for hours on end and paying his entire crew a hefty bonus to celebrate the movie’s success. Kane Parsons earned praise from indie movie legend Mark Duplass, a cast member on Backrooms who shut down the rumours of an ‘adult’ directing for Parsons with typical quiet authority. Curry Barker has impressed too, especially with the news that his Obsession follow up, Anything But Ghosts, is set in the same world.

Speaking to Deadline, Barker revealed that there’s a direct link: ‘Barker explained that “there’s like a news article thing on the next movie where you hear a news anchor talking about a triple homicide [by] a woman.”

This is both a really smart idea and a play we’ve seen before. Sam Rockwell cameos as (a) Sam Bell in Duncan Jones’ Mute. Madi, the graphic novel by Jones, Alex DeCampi and Paolo Rivera, is set in the same world but from a very different angle. It’s a lovely, subtle way to world build and also stay in the ‘window of fascination’ of writing specific kinds of story.

This is an incredible time for horror and as it’s my day job, I’m delighted to see the field get deserved recognition. But it’s also an opportunity, and an obligation, for horror fans to broaden their horizons even more. So if you’re looking for something new, check out movies by Julia Ducournau, Katie Siegel (whose directorial debut on V/H/S Beyond is incredible), Jennifer Kent and Nia DaCosta. DaCosta’s Candyman and The Bone Temple are genuinely two of the horror movies of the decade. But honestly, watch movies by all of them they’re great.