[Audio] What is Gen Z Afraid Of?

[supersquirrel@lemmy.ca]

In May, two low-budget movies from début filmmakers opened in theatres and quickly made box-office history. “Obsession” and “Backrooms,” which together have grossed nearly a billion dollars, defied conventional industry wisdom and inaugurated the burgeoning genre of “Gen Z horror.” On this episode of Critics at Large, Vinson Cunningham, Naomi Fry, and Alexandra Schwartz are joined by New Yorker culture editor and horror enthusiast Alex Barasch to discuss this new canon, beginning with the most recent entry, Alex Ullom’s “It Ends.” Like Curry Barker and Kane Parsons—the directors of “Obsession” and “Backrooms,” respectively—Ullom is a twentysomething who honed his craft on YouTube. This content pipeline has already become a model for Hollywood executives who are scrambling to cash in on the phenomenon. But these films’ sensitivity to the predicaments of young viewers, who grew up online and came of age during the pandemic, may be the real key to their commercial success. “It’s people responding to another member of their generation speaking directly to them,” Barasch says. “I hope that that is what is sought and funded and rewarded in this new era.”

Read, watch, and listen with the critics:

“Why Horror Still Haunts Us” (The New Yorker)

“Obsession” (2026)

“Backrooms” (2026)

“It Ends” (2026)

“The Twenty-Six-Year-Old Behind ‘Obsession,’ a >> Terrifying Tale of a Crush Gone Awry,” by Alex >> Barasch (The New Yorker)

“No Exit,” by Jean-Paul Sartre

“Weapons” (2025)

“Portal” (2007)

“Iron Lung” (2026)

This is a great discussion of common themes in these movies that I think is interesting to listen to whether or not you have watched the movies, though basic spoilers abound of course. Transcript available on podcast website.