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From the sympathetic monsters of the 1930s and ’40s, giant monsters of the ’50s, chilling suspense films of the 1960s, aliens of the ’70s and ’80s and slashers of the ‘80s and ’90s, cinema goers have watched decades labeled by what scares us.
Recent years have seen a wider trend of subgenres. In fact, most of these films are remakes. “The Wolf Man,” “The Mummy,” “Godzilla,” “King Kong,” “Thirteen Ghosts,” “Dawn of the Dead,” “The Crazies,” “The Thing,” “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” and “A Nightmare on Elm Street” are only a few of the recent releases adapted from older movies.
Why is this necessary? Is Hollywood running out of ideas? Not necessarily – after all, beginning in 1922’s “Nosferatu” or even in 1925’s “The Lost World,” horror movie victims continued to be stalked and/or eaten. The elements haven’t changed, despite many clever twists used to convey the same horror themes.
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The “A Nightmare on Elm Street” and “Friday the 13th” series brought forth countless knockoffs and influential slasher films from the mid-1980s through the mid-2000s.
“Nightmare” was remade in 2010 and “Friday” in 2009.
There could be an argument for repetition, but bringing some of these classics to audiences of today, particularly those of the early 20th century, allows today’s filmmakers to include cinematic extravagance and technology along with the blood and guts filmgoers continue to appreciate. It is evident people just don’t want to see our monsters go away, because not only are filmmakers willing to remake these movies, but they also make prequels years later which seems to be a continuing trend. “Alien versus Predator” takes place centuries before the final “Alien” movie, and the 2011 “The Thing” takes place hours before the 1982 “The Thing.”
Whatever new twists are found to keep horror film lovers attending the movies, it is clear monster films will continue to remain a part of cinemas undead.
