By Drew Dietsch
| Updated
After watching Wes Anderson’s newest feature film offering, The Phoenician Scheme (my review), I was energized by seeing him try to inject some specific genre energy into his usual film formula. Though plenty of drooling dopes will decry Anderson due to his distinct aesthetic choices, it’s always invigorated me watching him ply his trade with a variety of different stories. The Phoenician Scheme isn’t a typical heist movie, but it does channel that genre in a unique way thanks to Anderson’s artistic voice.
So, it’s time to beat a drum I’ve been pounding on for what seems like decades now: Wes Anderson needs to make a horror movie.
“Wes Anderson can’t make a horror movie!”
Many will likely say that Anderson is not an apt choice for the horror genre because his particular approach to moviemaking is antithetical to the expectations of the genre. “How are you going to make a movie scary with all this silly fakeness?”
I’d point them in the direction of Anderson’s collection of short films he made as adaptations of Roald Dahl stories. Specifically, the film versions of “The Rat Catcher” and “Poison” show that Anderson can redirect his dollhouse inclinations into legitimate suspense and even terror. His worlds might be bright and cozy, but Anderson is not brimming with naive fluff or coddling cutesiness. It’s just that he prefers the realm of comedy when it comes to his stories.
So, why shouldn’t Wes Anderson make a horror comedy?
The Realm of Raimi
Sam Raimi is one of my favorite filmmakers and one reason why is because of his approach to genre intensity. Namely, if Sam Raimi makes a western, it’s gonna be the most westerny western that has ever westerned with The Quick and the Dead. If he makes a tense thriller, it’s going to have you chewing your nails down to nubs with A Simple Plan. And if he wants to make a horror comedy, he’s going to unleash an Evil Dead flick that’s kookier than the last one.
All this is to say that Wes Anderson should embrace his inner Sam Raimi and let loose with a bonkers horror comedy unlike anything made before. I’m not saying he should emulate Raimi’s style. Instead, Anderson should enhance the parts of his filmmaking that would benefit from being deployed in a horror story. Who doesn’t want to see a diorama of an enormous ancient castle in a Wes Anderson vampire movie?
Go For Broke
If the bits of emerging horror in The Rat Catcher and Poison are any indication, Wes Anderson could easily craft a horror movie with his specific comedic vein pumping blood into its heart. As Anderson becomes an even more niche filmmaker, it would be exciting to see him go for broke with a horror movie. It might even be a way for him to attract another generation of devotees since the horror genre is filled with curious and devout followers.
I’m always interested in what Wes Anderson is doing as a filmmaker, and a horror movie from his mind would be something I can’t quite imagine, as much as idiotic, lazy, unimaginative AI dreck would try. Here’s hoping Anderson gets the itch and gives us a horror flick unlike any other out there.
