There is a general consensus when it comes to horror movies: “They just don’t make them like they used to.” Bring up “Dawn of the Dead” and everyone sits back, crosses their arms and shakes their heads, as if reminiscing about the old days (even if many of those same people weren’t even around during the old days).

Granted, horror movies made after the ’80s haven’t given the viewing public much to be afraid of, but one still has to forgive the filmmakers, and continue to hope that they will eventually live up to expectations.

Depending on whom you talk to, “Malevolence,” which opened in Wilmington on Sept. 24, is how horror films should be made. There is no excessive amount of digital- or computer-generated images and no monsters that look so fake they make the movie a comedy. “Malevolence” is just straight slash and gore, right to the point.

“Aside from being a little predictable in some parts, it achieved everything a horror movie should be,” sophomore Larry Pakowski says. Others would say the movie parallels the “Blair Witch Project” (or even worse “Open Water”) too much with its “it could happen to you” vibe and unknown actors, therefore creating another horror movie with a good premise and horrible execution.

“It was hard to get into because it had no plot and no excitement. I thought horror movies were supposed to be scary,” freshman Mandi Ansbach says.

The story behind the movie is based upon true events taking place in the small town of Whitehall Township. It is there that a string of disappearances occurred in 1984 and 1988, subsiding afterwards with none of the missing persons turning up. The movie centers on a bank robbery in which four robbers plan to hideout in an (surprise?) abandoned house on the outskirts of town, with an (surprise again?) abandoned farmhouse neighboring it.

If “Malevolence” were not based on actual events, this scenario would be all too predictable. The true horror of this film is not knowing when the actual “horror” is going to start; the plot drags on until you find yourself forgetting that this is supposed to scare you.

Stevan Mena’s writing, directorial, and production debut draws from some of the horror movies that may have inspired him (most noticeable “Texas Chainsaw Massacre” and “Halloween”) and gives this film a nostalgic feel that some horror buffs look for in newer slasher flicks. The plot may not be the best, but everything (with a few changes or creative liberties) in the movie actually happened, which makes it even scarier than one would think.

Aside from being another horror movie, “Malevolence” has ties to UNCW. Southern Distribution Coordinator for the film Heath Franklin is a 2000 graduate of UNCW and a film studies minor. Franklin remembers that “Malevolence” has been an underdog since it’s premiere at the Long Island Film Festival. “The film itself was shipped for the juried exhibition during the festival in two packages. Fed Ex lost one of the packages, so Steve showed the first half of the movie on film and had to show the second half projected from VHS. ‘Malevolence’ went on to become the first horror film to ever win this prestigious international festival,” Franklin said.

Still, not every horror movie can compare to those that make up the “canon of true horror films” and set the standard for which others are judged on. The general population has closed its mind to new, novel ideas and has taken the mindset that nothing new will ever scare them because it’s all been done before. “Malevolence” is a new take on a thrice-told tale and should be given the chance to be called a (gasp!) good horror film.

The press release or trailer never said it would make the audience hate living for fear that they are going to be abducted and tortured. It achieves that which it set out to do, creating scares from subtle nuances, thus making it a classically scary horror film worth seeing.