I'm making a list and checking it twice. It's that time when critics start looking back over the year and drawing up their Top 10 honor rolls (or, if they're in a mood, their Top 10 hall of shame). I've already got a first draft of about three dozen "possibles." I don't know what my final list is going to look like yet, although it usually includes a documentary, an international film, and sometimes a horror movie. This year, however, it wouldn't be impossible for it to include nothing but horror movies, which have dominated big screens in a way only comic-book pictures can rival.

Unraveling the Horror Renaissance in 2024

Horror's Return on Investment

Horror movies generally don't cost a lot to make. They often feature young and inexpensive talent like Demi Moore and Hugh Grant. These movies rely on shadowy suggestion rather than expensive effects. Take the first "Paranormal Activity" and "The Blair Witch Project" for example. The first was shot in a nondescript tract house and the second in the Maryland woods. Neither had big budgets. The original cost for "Paranormal Activity" before post-production polishing was just $15,000, yet both made hundreds of millions of dollars. Sci-fi epics, spy thrillers, and action comedies all require expensive technology and locations. All a great horror movie really needs is a great idea. The rest can be made with cheap video cameras, hungry actors, and your own bare-bones apartment or an indulgent relative's hunting cabin.

The Appeal of Horror as a Communal Experience

While horror movies aren't expensive to make, they still draw a lot of fans. And those fans want to see them in theaters. This is because shockers thrive as a communal experience. Jump scares don't have the same impact if you're watching the film in your well-lit living room instead of in a dark theater full of strangers. Another reason for the boom in horror movies is the talent they attract and nurture.

The Blurring of Genres in Horror

The genre got a bad name in the '70s when exploitation filmmakers switched to slasher movies. Their pictures were full of bad acting and ludicrous plots. But eventually, other filmmakers realized that horror movies' lack of seriousness allowed for creative freedom. Surreal images, dissonant soundtracks, and deliberately disorienting narratives found a home in horror films. New artists like David Cronenberg got their start in horror, and old masters like Pedro Almodóvar found new playgrounds to experiment in. Lines began to blur between different genres. Is Guillermo del Toro's "The Shape of Water" a monster movie or a meditation on prejudice? Is "Hereditary" about witchcraft or family trauma? The answer is often both.

Horror's Exploration of New Themes

Just this year, "I Saw the TV Glow" delved into loneliness, subcultures, and the world of the other. "Heretic" stared down fundamentalism, and "The Substance" confronted ageism. While some of these films left me wanting less in terms of gore, they all left me thinking. And they all drew audiences several times larger than the crowds that turn out for movies with oh-so-serious character studies and unsatisfying endings. I don't know if next year will see me actually compiling a Top 10 list of horror films, but there is no doubt that there are more good ones out there than ever. (Wikipedia lists more than 140 international releases from this year that qualify as examples of the genre, and some of them were very good indeed.) Try one tonight. It may not ensure happy dreams, but it may leave you feeling a little more optimistic about cinema's future.