Behold, the Horror Movie Mullet: Slow-Burn Horror!

You read that right, The Scariest Things is branding slow-burn as the mullet of horror movies. It’s business (plot building) in the front, and a party (big third-act finish). You can thank Liz Williams for that analogy! The concept of the slow-burn horror movie is not new, but it is a prominent description for many contemporary horror movies. We often refer to the new golden age of horror; by that, it’s the investment in the story arcs and character development. They are less dependent on gory shocks and jump scares, but look to develop their dread to the boiling point, rather than a continual stream of killing and bloodshed.

Slow burn isn’t just about the pace (though they often do exhibit a more deliberate and quieter condition). It’s about how much is revealed about the story.  At its best, a slow-burn movie will slowly turn up that burner gradually and make the anxiety and pressure reach a boiling point that will need a release. Think… Audition. Think… Babadook. Think… Hereditary. Think… The Shining. The endings are nearly cathartic and necessary after all the preparation for the finale.

Premium Beat: “A slow burn is a filmmaking style usually in narrative productions wherein plot, action, and scenes develop slowly, methodically toward a (usually) explosive ending.”

Slow-burn movies are builders. It isn’t just horror movies either.  Most Romance films are slow burners.  Don’t kiss until the final scene.  In comedy, it’s the joke’s construction and the punch line’s delayed gratification. Mystery films are dependent upon the slow burn.  There can be peaks and spikes to the plot, but you need to hold on until the very end, otherwise, it’s a film that peaks too soon. Action movies are almost never slow burners.  Batman doesn’t exactly burn slowly.

For horror movies, it’s the building of dread, without necessarily an immediate jump scare or killing a character off every ten minutes.  Slow Burn films layer new plot elements and add in new characters to deploy wrinkles and complications (challenges) into the plot.  As a sub-genre, ghost movies typically are the most common slow-burn for horror movies. Psychological horror films are also almost always slow burns. Hillbilly horror? Not so much.

Set up the pins, one by one, and then knock them down.  Hit it too early and too many of the pins remain standing. Or ratchet up the pressure, slowly, and gradually ramp it up.

This is also the home to what has been called “Elevated Horror”, the trend of plot-heavy and character-arc-heavy horror films of the last twenty years. We recognize that the more deliberate pacing of these films can be a bit frustrating and off-putting to some, but for those with the patience, the rewards pay off in powerful, more emotionally forceful, and intellectually stimulating fare. That said, you may want to get some coffee first.

So get some rest. Grab that coffee. And listen to the Scariest Things ponder the power of the horror movie mullet.

As always, we have provided a broad roster of slow-burn films for your consideration, in addition to our official podcast discussion topics. Forty films in all, worth watching and absorbing… slowly. Like the Blob. Which is not a slow burner.

Resurrection (2022) You Won’t Be Alone (2022) The Lodge (2019) It Comes at Night (2017) Begotten (1991) Speak No Evil (2022) Repulsion (1965) A Dark Song (2016) The Serpent and the Rainbow (1988) Straw Dogs (1971) The Innocents (1961) The 7th Victim (1943) Cat People (1982) Picnic at Hanging Rock (1979) Let’s Scare Jessica to Death (1972) The Babadook (2014) The Hunger (1983) The Witch (2015) The Shining (1980) The Transfiguration (2017) Toni Collette in Hereditary The Lighthouse (2019) The Pit and the Pendulum (1961) Spring (2015) Midsommar (2019) 86. Under the Skin (2013) Antlers (2021) The Endless (2018) #55 Audition (2000) (Japan) The Night House (2021) The Haunting (1964) The Vast of Night (2019) Goodnight Mommy (2014) After Midnight (2019) Raw (2016) Wait Until Dark (1968) Night of the Hunter (1955) Pontypool (2008) The Night Eats the World (2018) A Tale of Two Sisters (2003)