I’ve spent the last few days with this question rolling around in my head; What will be the next gimmick? What is the next generation of horror? Who will be the next vanguard and what, exactly, will be their guard?

Call me skeptical, but no one can re-invent the slasher. No one can re-invent the creature feature. No one can re-invent the psychological thriller, as much as I hate that bullshit term. No one can re-invent the apocalypse. Man vs Man, Man vs Nature, Man vs Self, Man vs Society. No one can even re-invent Man vs Naturally-Self-Governing-Society-of-SimuMen at this point. I believe there are still fantastic and refreshing stories to be told within those frames, but until technology cracks open a terrifying new vista of reality, we’re stuck with the same breed of story. Everyone knows what the payload is these days, the only real variance is the method of delivery.

The obvious trend avenue of choice is POV Media Horror. That ‘ole found footage bag. The conflict there is that, while certainly nowhere near over in cinema history, its exposure has reached a point where that gimmick, minority it be, also offers little new to the viewer. When it is done with just the right gravity, it can work wonders and contort the viewer in ways a standard multi-camera production of the same story cannot (ala [REC]). On the opposite edge, POV also carries with it certain expectations, which are almost always met by film’s end. You can also just fall apart at every turn, like Romero did with DIARY OF THE DEAD.

So, yes, faux reality is in right now, having trounced Torture Porn, whose span on Earth was as gracefully brief as that of a Mayfly, but I don’t think it has reached its logical station in cinema. Yet.