Universal Horror

As Halloween nears, and the flood of horror movies in the theater and on television begins, I find myself ready for it to be over with. Not because I don't like scary movies. I do. But in the last thirty years, there is, for every good horror movie, about fifty bad ones. Aside from the bad acting and empty plots, there is far too much over the top gore, twisted imagery, and obligitory nudity, often mixed together. It's one thing for me to watch it, but now, as a parent, I find myself wondering if there is anything out there that my son will be able to watch someday that is both scary, but safe; that won't scar him for life.

Then I remembered how much I enjoyed watching the classic horror movies from Univeral Studios. For decades they produced loads of great horror movies featuring some of literature's and cinema's favorite characters. In the 1920s, they made The Hunchback of Notre Dame and The Phantom of the Opera. In the 1930s they created a slew of classics including Dracula, Frankenstein, and The Mummy. Later in the 40s and 50s, Universal released The Wolfman and The Creature From the Black Lagoon. These movies, featuring the talents of Lon Chaney, Boris Karloff, and Bela Lugosi were made during the Golden Age of cinema and showcased cutting edge (for the time) special effects. These films may appear cheesy by today's standards, but many (The Mummy, The Raven) were fine movies, as well as downright creepy.

Films such as Dracula and Frankenstein, based on 19th century novels reflected many of the themes of fantastic literature of the day. They questioned much of enlightenment era thinking that placed trust in science and progress. Much like the works of H.P. Lovecraft, these stories put characters that represented modernist, rational thought face to face with ancient, primitive and supernatural evils. Unlike the brainless slasher movies that would follow, they touched on basic primordial fears we all have and that is why these movies remain classics.

Since then, there have been a few gems like The Omen and Signs, but most horror movies today are gorey (or gorier) remakes of earlier movies. Director Stephen Sommmers, who claims to be a huge fan of the Universal monster movies, missed an opportunity by turning his idiotic, CGI-laden The Mummy, and its sequel The Mummy Returns into pathetic Indiana Jones homages. Then he made matter worse by directing Van Helsing, a cartoonish of vision of the classic Bram Stoker character.

But there is hope! On April 3, 2009, Universal Studios will release a remake of The Wolfman, featuring Benicio Del Toro, Anthony Hopkins and Hugo Weaving. The film will be directed by Joe Johnston (Jumanji, October Sky) and is set in 1880s England. Let's hope it will be a quality alternative to the Saw movies.