Podcast Summary: "Why Horror Kills at the Box Office"

Podcast: Today, Explained (Vox)
Episode Date: September 14, 2025
Host: Jonathan Hill
Guests: Paul Dergarabedian (Comscore), Alison Willmore (Vulture/New York Magazine), Andrew Stasulis (DePaul University)

Overview of the Episode

This episode dives into the enduring and thriving appeal of the horror movie genre, especially its surprising box office success amid general industry slumps. Host Jonathan Hill and his guests explore what makes horror unique, why it consistently draws crowds, its ties to comedy, its evolution, and the cultural meaning of being scared together.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Horror's Unstoppable Box Office Strength

• The Horror Renaissance: Despite overall box office woes, horror has been a bright spot, credited with keeping theaters alive.

• Paul Dergarabedian, head of marketplace trends at Comscore, highlights horror's explosive financials:

  "Horror movies have already surpassed a billion dollars in domestic box office, according to our Comscore data." (06:22)

• Affordability and Profitability: Horror is often mid-budget or low-budget but delivers disproportionately high returns (e.g., Halloween, Barbarian).

  “To make a very effective horror movie, you don't have to spend a fortune so they can be bloody profitable.” (07:45)

2. The Eternal Appeal of Being Scared

• Horror is one of cinema’s oldest staples. Its effectiveness hasn’t changed—the foundations remain rooted in suspense, dread, communal experience, and primal reactions.

• Dergarabedian:

  “The horror movie genre has been a staple of cinema since the beginning, since the dawn of cinema. It’s baked into our DNA to be afraid of certain tropes, situations...” (04:13)

• Horror creates a communal experience in theaters, unifying audiences through shared fear, nervous laughter, and collective jumps.

  “In a theater...you can feel the electricity, the energy of people...That was really cool when you’re in a theater and everybody kind of collectively jumps.” (03:24)

3. The Evolution and Respect of the Genre

• Once seen as disreputable, horror is now critically acclaimed and financially respected.
• Key titles achieving box office milestones (The Conjuring, Get Out, Sinners, Final Destination: Bloodlines).
• Crossover into prestige cinema (Nosferatu as an Academy Award contender).

4. The Comedy–Horror Connection

• Many contemporary horror filmmakers (Jordan Peele, Zach Kreger, the Filippo Brothers) began in comedy, mastering timing and surprise.

• Film critic Alison Willmore:

  “Comedy is always paired really naturally with horror...Both genres thrive on the unexpected. There’s a sense of surprise with both comedy and with horror.” (14:22)

• Classic examples: Abbott and Costello meet Frankenstein, Shaun of the Dead, Scream.

• The shared DNA: Both genres use craft, timing, and surprise for emotional payoff—whether a laugh or a scare.

  "A lot of the same elements that go into making, like, a bit work or joke work also are what makes a Scare work." (14:41)

5. Psychological Safety and Catharsis

• Viewers enjoy the safe thrill: engaging with fear in a controlled environment allows a cathartic release.
• Horror helps audiences "sample the darkness" without real consequences.
• Willmore:

  “For me, engaging with horror gives me the chance to feel scared and feel anxious in a safe way. I'm in control. I can choose to turn off a movie and I can just walk away." (18:41)

6. A Brief History of Horror Cinema

• Andrew Stasulis, filmmaker and professor, traces horror’s roots to German Expressionism post-WWI (e.g., Nosferatu), which established mood, lighting, and visual language still used in horror.

• Universal’s Dracula and the influence of Hitchcock (especially Psycho) on the genre's evolution and breaking of taboos.

  "It's really, I think, 1960, with the release of Psycho, that Hitchcock...pushes film into an entirely new era." (23:01)

• The rise and trends of slasher movies in the 1980s, cultural conservatism, and the 'rules' of survival (only the 'good' survive).

  "If you look at a lot of those slasher films, like, it's always the promiscuous kids...who get their throat cut...you gotta be the virginal, saintly one to survive in the 1980s." (26:42)

7. The Modern Respectability and Legacy of Horror

• Today’s top directors reference the old masters, placing themselves in horror’s lineage.
• Horror now grapples with deeper questions—identity, grief, the human condition—reclaiming its legitimacy.
• Stasulis:

  "No, horror is a very important part of film history. Not just a...space for cheap thrills, but a space to grapple with deep fears and questions of...what it means to be a human..." (28:44)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Paul Dergarabedian on audience experience:

  “The only way I could hide from the scariness on screen as a kid was to cover my eyes, you know, and I was embarrassed to do so. But you're in that darkened room, so it really is in that communal environment. You can feel the electricity, the energy of people.” (03:15)

• Allison Wilmore, on horror-comedy crossover:

  “There’s a pair of Australian brothers, the Filippo brothers, who did that movie Talk to Me...They got started on YouTube making, like, these kind of goofy sketches and videos for YouTube.” (16:33)

• Andrew Stasulis, on early horror:

  "German Expressionism is often marked visually by this, you know, very dark, very foreboding kind of lighting scheme. Lots of like high contrast shadows." (22:00)

• Stasulis on current status of horror:

  “We're in this sort of cycle where a lot of people are taking horror seriously. We now have swung into a phase of, I think, people really respecting horror, respecting its traditions.” (27:43)

Timestamps for Important Segments

• 01:05 – Personal horror movie confessions; box office context
• 03:12 – Paul Dergarabedian on communal horror movie experience
• 04:11 – What defines horror across time
• 05:55 – Discussion of modern horror hits (Sinners, The Conjuring Last Rites)
• 07:55 – Leading horror films and franchises of 2025
• 12:16 – Introduction to comedy-horror crossover with Allison Willmore
• 14:22 – Shared qualities of horror and comedy
• 18:41 – Horror as safe catharsis
• 21:00 – Andrew Stasulis on early personal horror experiences
• 22:00 – Roots of cinematic horror: German Expressionism
• 23:01 – Hitchcock and the breaking of cinematic taboos
• 25:49 – The rise of 80s slasher craze and moral undertones
• 27:43 – Modern respect and significance of the horror genre

Conclusion

The episode paints horror as a uniquely resilient genre—low-cost, high-profit, ever-evolving yet fundamentally unchanged. Its parallel to comedy, capacity for catharsis, and deep cultural roots make it both timeless and timely. With contemporary filmmakers reviving and redefining horror, the genre continues to set the pace—and the chills—at the box office.

For horror devotees and scaredy-cats alike, this episode is both an appreciation and an explanation for why we can’t stop paying to be scared.