Review: The Horror Crowd (2020)

What kind of person makes horror movies? Where do they come from and what drives them to produce, act in or direct the projects that keep us up at night and fuel our nightmares? These are the kinds of questions that this excellent documentary from Ruben Pla (Insidious, Malignant) tries to answer.

As someone who has been a fan of horror movies, novels, short stories and comics for most of my life – I was intensely curious to see what on offer in this documentary. It has been my experience that purveyors of the horror genre are as varied as the various entries in the genre itself. Is there something that these folks in the “Horror Crowd” have in common? Is there something in their DNA that pre-disposes them to be a part of this community. Watching the documentary I found myself drawn into the individual stories of people who come from just about every background imaginable. Looking at them from a purely demographic standpoint there is nothing that ties them together. They are of different ethnicities, come from different geographic locations and come from different socio-economic backgrounds. However, all of them have a love for the macabre. All of them have a desire to push boundaries and use the shocking, scary and sometimes revolting to tell stories that get the heart pounding the brain racing.

Interestingly, there are some seminal works that do tie many of the creators and artists together.

The Rocky Horror Picture Show stands out as one such work. The Exorcist and the works of Edgar Allen Poe were also works that were most cited as influences. Comic books were also largely influential as well as cosplay culture and it’s obvious ties to Halloween. Watching the film you start to get a picture of the type of people we’re talking about – they are the same kind of people who attend comic conventions, buy comic books, play video games and immerse themselves in pop culture. In short, they are us.

The Horror Crowd lists itself as a documentary but it’s a really a character study. It is a ninety minute journey into the center of a group of creators, VIP access into the lives of those who seek to scare us and the inspirations that scared them on their journey. The Horror Crowd is a documentary centered around a group of friends in Hollywood (who also happen to be a hyper talented group of creators) but it could just as easily be a story about any group of friends and family around the world who love to sit down and shiver their way through their favorite horror genre classic or new release. In getting to know this one group better we get to know ourselves better and that is the real beauty of this film. So, the next time you sit down to enjoy a horror movie, comic or novel realize that the person on the other end of the work you are enjoying is much like yourself. Ultimately what that means is that the “Horror Crowd’ is a Horror Family.

Directed by Ruben Pla

Author Profile

Nemesis

Nemesis is a poet, writer and author of the upcoming novel The Long Game. He is a writer of science fiction and supernatural thrillers. Besides novels and short stories he writes for UK based ASAP Comics developing new stories for Level 8 and OPSEC. Nem is a graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point and tries to bring those experiences into his writing.

He lives and works out of his home in Riverside, California with his wife and three children. When not writing he enjoys reviewing comic books and graphic novels for ComicCrusaders.com and living the Southern California life with his family.