Horror-comedy changed the mood of the audience, then they used to watch secretly, now they enjoy with family.

Horror films have always been considered cheap in the world of cinema, but in the last few years, this genre known as cheap cinema has started gaining prestige. After the box office figures of ‘Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3’ after ‘Stree’, ‘Munjya’ and ‘Stree 2’, now the horror genre is also getting a place as a family entertainer. An investigation on the journey of horror films from C grade films to becoming family entertainers. ‘A girl wearing undergarments is taking bath in an erotic manner in the bathroom. Then a man enters her house and hypnotizes her with his/her gaze, kisses her body and suddenly sinks his/her teeth into her neck. That man is actually Dracula, who disguises himself and has sex with bathing girls and ultimately drinks their blood. This strange scene is from the 1992 horror film ‘Khooli Dracula’.

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Earlier horror movies were watched secretly
There was a long period of such horror films, when horror films like ‘Veerana’, ‘Purana Mandir’, ‘Band Darwaza’ used to have their own audience, which used to come to enjoy sex based scenes in such horror films. Used to go to night shows secretly. These used to be those films which used to play well in single theatres, but no one liked to watch these C grade films with their family. But in the last few years, the new genre that has emerged in the form of horror-comedy has given these films the status of family entertainers.

The invention of horror-comedy changed the mood of the audience.
Horror cinema and comic films have always been liked in Bollywood and when the audience got a combination of horror and comedy, the audience accepted it wholeheartedly. It started with filmmaker Amar Kaushik’s ‘Stree’. The film had done a business of more than 180 crores five years ago and after that the horror-comedy series started.

‘Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3’ crossed 200 crores
‘Bhoot’, ‘Roohi’, ‘Bhediya’, ‘Bhool Bhulaiyaa 1’, ‘Munjya’, ‘Stree 2’ and the recent ‘Bhool Bhool Bhulaiyaa’, which are still attracting audiences in theatres. This film of Kartik Aryan has crossed the figure of 200 crores worldwide.

Amar Kaushik said- There was no well thought out strategy!
Amar Kaushik, who broke box office records with ‘Stree’, ‘Bhediya’ and recently ‘Stree 2’, says, ‘Coming up with a horror-comedy was not a well-thought-out strategy. I had to make my first feature film as a director. But there has always been a touch of comedy in me. See, what actually is horror? Not only this, first you are afraid and then you laugh at your same fear. Horror has also climbed many notches with the changing times. Earlier in horror films the fear of the unknown was shown with flying curtains. Then they started showing faces, masks, vampires and Dracula came. Later, sexuality was also added to these films and then they came in the form of psychological horror, but somewhere the audience liked the horror-comedy style.

Ramsay’s Haunted World Beyond Package Deal
The story of horror films cannot be complete with the haunted world of Ramsay Brothers. Today you may make fun of tomato ketchup used in place of blood, terrible masks, cheap special effects, seducing half-naked heroines and vulgar comedy, but on one hand in the 70s, Amitabh Bachchan was emerging as an angry young man. And on the other hand, small budget horror films of Ramsay Brothers were earning double-three times their cost.

‘Ramsay Brothers’ films were sold instantly’
he/she won the hearts of the audience with many films like ‘Veerana’, ‘Puraani Haveli’, ‘Band Darwaza’, ‘Shaitaani Ilaaka’, ‘Do Gaj Zameen Ke Neeche’, ‘Darwaza’. Noted trade analyst Taran Adarsh ​​says, ‘My father used to be a BK Adarsh ​​distributor and he/she had distributed films like ‘Purana Mandir’, ‘Samri’, ‘Darwaza’, ‘Veerana’ in the south and I can say I know that Ramsay Brothers’ films used to sell out instantly. To attract the audience, he/she added sex scenes in his/her films and it proved to be a profitable deal for him/her. But if horror-comedy combination is trending today, then one important reason for this is its packaging. Like these films have A-listers like Shraddha Kapoor, Kartik Aryan, Madhuri Dixit, Vidya Balan. There is a story as well as an item song by Tamannaah Bhatia, so overall it is a package deal for the audience.

I can say that Ramsay Brothers’ films used to sell out instantly.

swimming model

Psychological thriller was a game changer
Writer-director Anees Bazmee, who brought back the glory of the box office with ‘Bhool Bhulaiyaa’ and its part two, says, ‘Ramsay’s films were not bad. The audience used to enjoy them a lot, but I believe that the credit for bringing horror films into the mainstream goes to Priyadarshan’s ‘Bhool Bhulaiyaa’, which came 17 years ago. This psychological thriller was truly a game changer. Psychology and supernatural powers were presented in an entertaining manner. When I came up with ‘Bhool Bhulaiyaa’, I also presented it as a clean horror-comedy without the double mating dialogues, sex scenes and vulgarity, which appealed to the people. I wanted to scare people, but not so much that children couldn’t watch it. But today, compared to Ramsay’s films, the VFX and AI used in horror films to show the ghostly effect are also the center of attraction for the audience.

In today’s horror-comedy, along with scares and laughs, excellent VFX and AI generated characters also become the center of attraction for the audience.

-Anees Bazmee, director

Horror in every era of cinema
Today, horror-comedies may dominate the box office, but horror films have scared the audience in every era. ‘Kala Naag’, released in 1924 during the era of silent films, was a popular horror movie of that time. After that, Madhubala singing ‘Aayega Aayega’ with a candle in 1949’s ‘Mahal’, Vyjayanti Mala playing a double role in 1958’s ‘Madhumati’, Sadhna wooing ‘Lag Ja Gale’ in 1964’s ‘Woh Kaun Thi’, this year. Waheeda Rehman flashing anklets in the darkness of the night in ‘Kohra’, which was released in 1965, the serial murders of ‘Gumnaam’, released in 1965, filled the audience with terror in every way.

A-listers stayed away from the haunted world of Ramsay BrothersThis was the era when main stream heroes and heroines did not shy away from being a part of horror films, but then A-listers stayed away from the haunted world of Ramsay Brothers. Despite this, the series of horror films did not stop. Filmmakers like Ram Gopal Varma and Vikram Bhatt created a new definition of horror. ‘Raat’ (1992), ‘Bhoot’ (2003), ‘Phoonk’ (2008), ‘Darna Mana Hai’ (2003), ‘Vastushastra’ (2004), ‘Darna Zaroori Hai’ (2006), ‘Unknown’ ( Ram Gopal Varma built an empire of horror films through many films like ‘Raaz’ (2002), ‘Ankahi’ (2005), ‘1920’ (2008), ‘Raaz the Mystery Continues’, ‘Shapit ‘ (2010), ‘Haunted 3D’ (2011), ‘Raaz 3’ (2012), ‘Creature 3D’ (2014), ‘1921’ (2018), ‘Ghost’ (2019), ‘1920: Horrors of the Heart’ (2023) and ‘Bloody Ishq’ (2024) have maintained the world of fear.