Wardrobes and sets that look like 1980s magazines and catalogues but not like 1980s real life, palette with deep blacks and super saturated accents, post processing as if shot on film with optical lens effects and distributed on magnetic video tape though obviously shot and edited one hundred percent digital, modern synthwave heavy soundtrack, titles in red text on black background… You know the entire package. It’s starting to feel lazy. For some reason it seems to be the aspiring young directors first feature length flick for the last few years or so. Damn I’d be more impressed by retro theming be the 90s or 00s that should be these directors genuine era of nostalgia.
These are valid points. But still, I think there is little point in repeating templates just because making something worthwhile is challenging. Especially in art of any kind. I mean, it’s been a mantra since mid last century at least that everything is done and yet artists of every discipline keep pushing the envelope to achieve something original.
There are 2 approaches to consider here:
This is my first movie so I can get real weird with it and use “I’m still learning” as an excuse
This is my first movie so I better follow the formula so I can learn what rules I can break.
Making a movie is expensive, even a cheap horror movie. When you’re not comfortable in the space yet, it’s very easy to do something rote so that you can be a little grounded.