The Horror Movie Report with Stephen Follows: How Horror Films Tap into Primal Cultural Fears and Anxieties

In this episode, I have the great pleasure of speaking with film industry data researcher and movie producer Stephen Follows about “The Horror Movie Report,” which covers and uncovers cultural fears, how anxieties have shifted over time, and how all of this is portrayed and reflected in the horror movie genre.

As these films tend to operate on a much lower budget with less oversight and restrictions, they end up not only increasing artistic freedom of speech and expression, but they can also dive in more freely into topics, subjects, and themes that are often off-limits and taboo in mainstream cinema.

At the same time, these movies also give us insight into and feedback upon the make-up and psychology of the audience and what that can tell us about the interests and anxieties of any given period. For instance, this is also reflected in changing victim demographics as well as how and why serial killer movies peaked in a particular decade.

Culturally, there is also a shift from fear of communism and nuclear war as evidenced in Godzilla and zombie movies and The Invasion of the Body Snatchers to slasher and found footage films and horror films on epidemics and pandemics. In many ways, this data and the correlations give us important and relevant glimpses and insights into the psyche, the mindset, and the culture of any given time period.