The month of October is by far one of the most eventful in the year. With fall in full swing comes beautiful scenery, haunted houses and festivals to experience with your friends. In a perfect world, you’d get to indulge in terrifying movies and experience true horror in theatres; however, that hasn’t been the case in recent years. Unfortunately, the current state of the horror film industry is scarier than the movies they put out. Every year I find myself repeating the same cycle of optimism, excitement, let down and then hope for next year, only to somehow be more disappointed than I was the year before. But what’s the problem? What are horror movies now failing at, and why? I believe it comes down to unimaginative ideas, horrific execution and laughably bad writing.

Starting off, it’s almost as if the horror industry can’t come up with a single new creative idea. As opposed to creating a new franchise and exploring a new idea, studios insist on rehashing old tropes and pumping out sequels like their lives (and finances) depend on it. A horror series often becomes tired out after the second installment, so please, we do not need a seventh “Final Destination”, fourth “Quiet Place”, fifth “Conjuring”, 13th “Friday the 13th” and eighth “Nightmare on Elm Street”. Simply reading up on how many existed was exhausting in itself. I beg of studios to let these franchises rest and die out more than they already are, and to not drag out the corpse of Michael Myers for a 14th “Halloween” movie. Hollywood is equipped with plenty of talented writers and creatives; they are more than capable of creating new concepts in horror to explore. Stop disrespecting the legacy of these once iconic franchises.

I wish I could say all it takes to create success is as simple as producing something new, but that’s not the case. Believe it or not, a good movie requires good writing; we all know that, except for Monkeypaw Productions, it seems. Somehow, the same studio that produced innovative and interesting works such as “Get Out” and “Us” managed to produce the movie “HIM”. To be completely honest, I watched this movie and still don’t know what it was supposed to be about.

College football star Cameron Cade is the ideal prospect for any team; however, after sustaining a traumatic brain injury, he finds himself performing in spiritual rituals, being dragged into a cult and killing a random woman. That is the whole plot. It’s disconnected, contains plotlines that don’t lead anywhere and the entire movie is pointless. It’s laughably bad; it could truly be considered a comedy. Bless Marlon Wayans because he did everything he could to make some sense of the movie and make it watchable. Bad writing has unfortunately been a common trope in horror movies recently, and it can completely undermine the actors and actresses and crew’s work entirely.

But let’s say a studio gets its act together and utilizes its millions of dollars and deep staff to produce an ounce of creativity. That can pay off, and we saw it this year. “The Long Walk”, directed by Francis Lawrence, was a fantastic psychological horror that had my friends and me appalled afterward. While it may not be in-your-face horror, its psychological work and tense nature made it a fantastic experience. Although it is based on a Stephen King novel, the creation of the movie is still something new, and more studios should use this as an example to venture out.

So if you want a good horror movie to watch and experience with your friends, you may be out of luck in going to the theatres unless you’re fine with watching a borderline comedy. But I have some recommendations for some great horror experiences. “Sinister” is a personal favorite of mine and a truly terrifying experience with a unique story and concept. “28 Days Later,” along with the newly released “28 Years Later,” are fun, tense watches and an example of a well-done sequel. Original slasher films are also great classics. While I’m deeply frustrated with the current state of the horror industry, I recognize the efforts that go into a lot of these films and the few standouts we receive each year. I hope in the future we can see a return in quality and true horror experiences in the theatres, but in the meantime, we’ll have to enjoy and make something of what we get.