The Horror of Aging: Old People

Have you seen Shyamalan’s Old (2022)? The Taking of Deborah Logan (2014)? The Relic (2020)? Hereditary (2018)? And The Visit (2015)?

Getting old is scary, and Old People is another example for that. The basic concept of the German horror is the same as any other zombie with zombies swapped for elderly people. Straight outta Saalheim, the retirement home.

Although the movie was awful, the idea of old people in horror movies is incredibly productive. And when I say productive, I also mean relevant, the elderly do not only represent the old-timer of the genre, the fear of death and dying, the movies listed above also points out two important features of today’s world: 1) changing family models, and 2) the demographic crisis of Western countries.

The idea of the nuclear family model (two parents and few children) took off in the previous century, and brought about severe changes of lifestyle with the older generations living separately from their children and grandchildren. Death is an obvious source of fear, and horror/thriller movies has been feeding on that since the beginning of times, but the world of the elderly entails more than that. It means an unfamiliar world with dreads that the viewer hasn’t ever thought there are: syringes, catheters, stoma bags, and an impenetrable atmosphere of odours. As part of the death taboo, this world is kept hidden from the public eye with aged people being sent to retirement homes, or left alone to die at their own, which makes it all the more frigthening for us to face them.

Other than that, the demographic crisis in aging societies may also develop an unconscious hate towards the elderly appearing as the embodiment of the expectations to, and burdens of, the younger generations. Social security can’t be based on an unwavering respect towards the wisdom of the senior members of society, as age doesn’t automatically equal with knowledge and reliance anymore. Add that to agism against the old and the cult of youth, and you’ll get the idea why Old People wanted a slice of that cake.

Anyway, it’s an awful movie, don’t watch it.