Opinion From ‘Sinners' to ‘Stree' — why horror is the new social commentary

Indian Express

26-04-2025

Ryan Coogler's film Sinners is about a lot of things. Blues music, cultural appropriation, the African-American experience, the lives of immigrants, one's battle with faith, and the carnal attraction felt between lovers. But all these heavy-handed topics are interspersed with a tale of bloodthirsty vampires who want to attack a group of partygoers at the opening of a throbbing new nightclub in Mississippi in the 1930s.
Sinners joins a growing list of horror films in the last decade or so that have tried to address complex political and social topics. Hollywood films that come to mind are Get Out, The Purge series, Midsommar and The Hunt among others.
What is it about the horror genre that makes it palatable for audiences to deal with social, political, racial and religious issues than say a straight-up drama or comedy?
Years of awards-bait movies and a slight disdain towards the sweeping 'issues'-based films from casual moviegoers have put the drama genre on a bit of a back foot. Comedies tend to polarise audiences a lot more today than in decades past and news comedy shows and talk show panels tend to provide a regular stream of satire right into homes.
Enter horror, a genre where the externalisation of the issue in the form of a ghost/monster/spirit tends to make it a tad more convenient to address. The viewer need not necessarily come in with the burden of having prior knowledge about the subject matter. They can simply walk in with the expectation of the thrill of being scared and walk out with some food for thought.
One might make the argument that horror was always a genre of the outsider. That films like Rosemary's Baby, or The Exorcist induced shock and questioned the status quo even back in the day.
What sets the recent crop of horror films apart is that the characters who have agency are often those who find themselves marginalised in real life. This, in turn, leads to the exploration of subjects and cultures that are rarely dealt with. There's race (Us, Candyman), Gen-Z paranoia (Talk to Me, Bodies Bodies Bodies), feminism (The VVitch, The Substance), and LGBTQ+ issues (I Saw the TV Glow, Titane).
Back home, we are witnessing a surge of films in the horror-comedy genre kicked off by the stupendous success of Stree (2018) and Stree 2 (2024). The Stree films cleverly addressed themes like gender norms, consent, the male gaze and patriarchy. As compared to the West, horror has not been as consistent a force at the box office for Bollywood. After gothic classics like Mahal and Madhumati from the 1940s and '50s, the genre was mostly synonymous with the campy Ramsay Brothers films of the '80s and '90s, transitioning into a phase in the 2000s when Ram Gopal Varma brought an urban flavour to films like Bhoot and Darna Mana Hai. Following this, there was a lull until horror's recent resurgence. Having bigger production and VFX budgets has helped tell stories in a richer, grander fashion, and adding the comedic element has also attracted family audiences to the theatres.
There's also a renewed interest in tales of the supernatural inspired by Indian folklore, fairy tales and mythology. The re-release of Tumbbad in 2024 was a massive success. Set in British-ruled India, it critiqued our obsession with wealth while taking a cue from the stories of local deities. The Kannada film Kantara, while not an out-and-out horror film, also incorporated supernatural elements from folklore to delve into class politics, depicting the conflict between the tribal community and the ruling class.
There have also been some bright spots in the streaming space with the likes of Bulbul, which dealt with domestic violence, Ghoul, which had a premise around authoritarianism, and the recent series Khauff, which explores women manoeuvring a city like Delhi.
We seem to be going through a time when horror filmmakers and writers seem to have figured out how to marry pulp with prestige. A generation that grew up with Stephen King novels and arthouse cinema seems to be blending the two while throwing their own, unique lived-in experiences into the mix. The horror tropes might still be present, but they come with just enough of a tweak to make them fresh and exciting.
Sinners has been a rare success. An original hit film in a sea of sequels and IP franchises. As we continue to live in a world ravaged by war, terror attacks and constant political turmoil, the thirst for stories that address our anxieties and fears from people with diverse backgrounds will only increase. The monsters aren't going back under the bed anytime soon.