Research: Modern broadband would cut classic horror films short

Ahead of Halloween, half (50 per ent) of Gen Z say a classic horror film would be over within 30 minutes if the main character had a modern smartphone and a good internet connection, reveals research by Uswitch.

Uswitch’s Running Time Index, reviewed by film critic Ali Plumb, puts the theory to the test. With a decent Wi-Fi connection or a smartphone, the characters in 10 horror classics would get through 16 and a half hours of plot in just over two. Scream would be over in under a minute, as soon as an unknown number came up and got blocked, and Friday the 13th would last two minutes, until a doorbell camera picked up the killer. The only one to make it past half an hour is A Nightmare on Elm Street, at 31 minutes, because a phone alarm can only keep you awake for so long.

Three in five (60 per cent) Gen Z still find old horror films frightening, almost double the share of over-55s (33 per cent). Older viewers are less convinced technology would change things: a third (33 per cent) of over-55s think a smartphone and good internet would change a classic horror film, and nearly half (45 per cent) don’t know.

Two in five (42 per cent) Gen Z have never lived in a home without the internet. And more than a third (37 per cent) of Brits now say a character alone with no internet is scarier than one alone at night.

One in eight (12 per cent) Gen Z have a landline they never answer, and one in 17 (6 per cent) aren’t sure their home has one at all. The landline that rings in every classic horror film is on its way out too, with the UK’s old phone network due to be retired by January 2027 as calls move onto broadband.

The findings land as teen horror classic Scream turns 30, and suggest the rules it taught a generation of horror fans have not aged well. Four in five (80 per cent) Gen Z can point to at least one classic horror moment they struggle to take seriously, compared with fewer than half (48 per cent) of over-55s. Top of the list are the group splitting up to search the house (37 per cent), the house being cut off from the outside world (31 per cent) and picking up the phone to an unknown caller (30 per cent).

The phone call is where the generations split furthest. Gen Z are nearly four times as likely as over-55s to find a character picking up to an unknown caller hard to take seriously (30 per cent vs 8 per cent), and it’s the scene that opens Scream.

Plumb said: “It’s undeniable that connected technology is making horror films harder to write, and harder to land with an increasingly tech-savvy younger audience, and the Running Time Index shows just how much. Scream taught a generation the rules of horror, so it’s no surprise a generation raised on smartphones is the quickest to question them. Classic horror is powered by isolation: a phone fixed to the wall, a house nobody can reach, a friend nobody can find. The good news is you can pick the plot apart, ideally once the film’s over, and still jump in your seat and send your popcorn flying.”

Max Beckett, Uswitch broadband expert, added: “The way we’re connected has changed, and it’s killed off a lot of what made old horror films work. Many people now won’t answer a number they don’t recognise, and we’d rather text than call. Often we know where our friends are without asking, because they’ve shared their location and for a lot of younger people, the landline is something their parents had, not them. So when a character picks up a ringing phone with no idea who’s on the other end, or heads off alone to find a payphone, Gen Z aren’t trying to pick holes – it’s just not something anyone they know would do. The films are as scary as they ever were, it’s just the world around them that’s moved on.”

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