Bloody brilliant

Horror movies are picking fights with the patriarchy. Spooky shows are leaving tired tropes back in the haveli. Dim the lights, we've got new scare tactics

- Kritika Kapoor

Try not to scream. Horror is going through its own full-moon transformation.

The shocks go beyond jump scares, the jokes are meta, there are very real concerns woven into the gory mix. Big studios are backing horror content, A-listers are signing up to slash or be slashed, the Oscars are paying attention. In Bollywood, horror-comedies are out-grossing boilerplate blockbusters and streaming shows are giving the genre room to slow down and get under your skin.

Even as it howls its way into the mainstream, horror is turning out to have a code of its own. Dim the lights. We're shining the torch on the new rules of scare fare.

The first casualties

The old rule: Black characters, promiscuous women, that one guy cracking bad jokes - they'd all be the first to die. In Bollywood, it was usually a side character: A corrupt priest, an adulterous man, a nosy cop.

The new rule: All kills have purpose. In Sinners (2025), a white KKK couple is the first victim. In Jordan Peele's Get Out (2017) and Nope (2022), Black characters make it to the end. But films now rip your heart out early. A Quiet Place (2018) kills the Abbott family's youngest child in the first scene; Midsommar (2019) begins with a murder-suicide. In Weapons (2025), a loving gay couple is Aunt Gladys's first casualty. Meanwhile, in Stree (2018) turns the monster into the main character. All this time, women couldn't step out after dark. Now, men quake because of a feminine force

Bollywood's female-led ghost scene, no man is safe (unless it's a family-friendly horror-comedy like Stree).

The calling card

The old rule: Horror used to be cinema's neglected stepchild. Creature features would be made on the cheap, with the same haunted havelis, creaky mansions, tacky effects, and implausible plots. The blood, torture, and semi-porn didn't help its cred. After all, how many Raaz movies are too many Raaz movies?