The chill seeker

Director Vikram Bhatt on why horror films will always have an audience.

Let me firstly say that I am very happy with the response generated by my new release Haunted 3D. I have heard that last weeks paranormal film Ragini MMS is also doing well. It reinforces my belief that horror films will always be in demand and will always draw an audience.

The film industry,however,has a problem with making such movies. There are not many takers for scary films in the industry. It is perceived as a niche film where returns are always unpredictable. These are not invalid concerns. A horror film is watched only by a select audience but there is a vast majority of people who do not want to get scared and give horror movies a complete miss,however good they may be. The entire childrens audience,a major driving force,gets cut off leading to a decline in families viewing such films. All this adversely affects the films chances.

I,however,believe that if a good film is made,audiences have the judgment to discern the merit of the film and turn it into a success. It is not about big stars and lavish sets anymore. Audiences simply want to be entertained. The demand for stars to drive a horror film has also reduced drastically. Today,you find the biggest of stars right in your living room. There is no fascination or curiosity surrounding them anymore. That is one of the reason why films with big stars have failed at the box-office in the past year.

For horror films made in India,a major differentiator is the difference in audiences in metros and other areas. I always try to make films for the masses because these are people who genuinely enjoy horror films,having grown up on ghost stories since their childhood. Urban audiences,on the other hand,expect very highbrow content in the horror genre. They expect a movie like Ringu based in Indian settings but will scoff at lanterns and Mali kaka. Because my stories are Indian in nature,I am more comfortable with Mali kaka than highbrow horror.