The Odyssey is already shaping as much as be one in all Christopher Nolan’s largest movies, nevertheless it might have been his first horror film. The Odyssey has been shrouded in thriller, with few images and a teaser accessible on the time of writing. Most of The Odyssey casting hasn’t been confirmed, leaving the precise tone of the movie a thriller.
Given the subject material, the expectation is that Christopher Nolan is lastly venturing into an overtly fantastical path. Nonetheless, the plot of The Odyssey is completely fitted to a scarier fashion of filmmaking, one which Nolan has talked about his curiosity in. It is a disgrace that the movie may not appear to take that method to grow to be Nolan’s first horror film.
The Odyssey Is Quietly A Very Scary Story (And Would Make For A Nice Horror Film)
The Odyssey would really make for a fairly nice horror film, particularly within the palms of a filmmaker like Christopher Nolan. Whereas The Odyssey is usually remembered most for its epic parts and total themes relating to Odysseus’ lengthy journey residence after the Trojan Struggle, his adventures might simply be offered extra as horror than journey.
The encounters with the man-eating Cyclops. Circe forces a number of of them by means of the physique horror of being remodeled into pigs. Odysseus’ quest takes him by means of the underworld, stuffed with specters of the lifeless. The huge threats of Scylla and Charybdis, the attract of the Sirens, and even the comparatively innocent Lotus-Eaters are all scary concepts.
Leaning into the monstrous qualities of these encounters can be a simple approach to bristle in opposition to the “triumphant warriors” attempting to make their means residence. It is an efficient approach to showcase how their abilities in fight imply nothing when pitted in opposition to existential dreads and overwhelming forces of nature.
Greater than something, the whims and furies of the Greek Pantheon would simply enable for some nice scares, particularly if the Gods function from the sidelines or solely seem in short flashes of large energy and horrible majesty. The Gods have been typically terrifying of their appearances in myths, one thing a film adaptation of The Odyssey might replicate to nice impact.
All of those scenes might simply be fantastical, however leaning into the unsettling parts might make them unforgettably scary. That is an enormous a part of the stress in The Odyssey, and it might make for an excellent film. It could be an effective way for The Odyssey to tell apart itself tonally from different fantasy epics. It’d even be good for Nolan.
Why Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey Would Work Actually Nicely As A Horror Film
Christopher Nolan hasn’t directed a horror movie but, however not for lack of attempting. Nolan has mentioned an curiosity in directing a horror film, noting that he hasn’t achieved it but as a result of he hasn’t discovered the suitable story. That curiosity in scary imagery and existential dread might be seen in his different movies, even when they are not overt horror films.
Nolan makes use of horror nicely in his movies. The Darkish Knight Trilogy makes use of Scarecrow and Joker as brokers of chaos who terrify their victims. The innovations of Telsa in The Status, the tense confrontations of Insomnia, the confusion of Memento, even the majesty of the mindscape in Inception or the cosmos in Interstellar are offered with a contact of horror.
One in every of Nolan’s most grounded movies, Oppenheimer, is an ideal instance of how Nolan can infuse a contact of terror into his total filmmaking method. There’s the theoretical horror that Oppenheimer experiences about his actions, the visible signifiers of displaying folks disintegrated by an atom bomb, and even the banal cruelty of people is quietly scary within the biopic.
Nolan might not have directed a horror film but, however he clearly has a watch for it. The Odyssey can also be the director’s tackle the fantasy style, with the teaser depicting historical Greece as the first setting. Fusing the 2 genres collectively can be a pleasant little twist on the epic, highlighting his adaptability as a filmmaker.
It’d even be an effective way to make Nolan’s model of The Odyssey stand out from different diversifications and different iconic cinematic fantasy epics just like the Lord of the Rings trilogy or the Harry Potter collection. Fantasy and horror have all the time paired nicely. Leaning into the scarier parts of Odysseus’ journey could possibly be a compelling approach to method the style.
Nolan described horror films as “movies which have lots of bleakness, lots of abstraction” when discussing his curiosity within the horror style. Nonetheless, these feedback recommend he nonetheless hasn’t discovered the horror film he needs to make. The Odyssey does occur to have these parts, although, contemplating the fates of Odysseus’ crew and the presence of the Gods.
Nolan’s model of The Odyssey will doubtless characteristic at the least some scares, given the subject material and obvious gritty method. Nonetheless, absolutely committing to a horror method might let Nolan knock out two genres directly in a compelling fusion. Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey would make for a terrific horror story; he would simply have to decide to it.
The Odyssey
- Launch Date
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July 17, 2026
- Producers
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Emma Thomas