The horror genre is the greatest movie genre of all time. It pretty much all started in 1931 with Dracula (Universal Studios Classic Monster Collection) and Frankenstein (Universal Studios Classic Monster Collection). Other Universal Classic Monster Movies were highly influential to the genre as well. They include The Mummy, The Invisible Man, The Bride of Frankenstein, The Wolf Man, and Creature From the Black Lagoon. These movies didn't have blood and guts, but they had character depth, great story telling, great music, and sympathetic monsters.
As the times went on, such movies as Psycho (Collector's Edition) and Night of the Living Dead (Millennium Edition) were becoming the new horror classics. Directors like Alfred Hitchcock and George A. Romero replaced the classic James Whales and Tod Brownings.
When the 1970's came along, the genre was revitalized again. The one stand out movie of the 70's was The Exorcist (The Version You've Never Seen). This is considered by many as the single scariest movie ever made. Other gems were released in the 70's such as The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Jaws (Widescreen Anniversary Collector's Edition), Dawn of the Dead (Divimax Edition), Halloween (Divimax 25th Anniversary Edition), and Alien: 20th Anniversary Edition [Award Series]. These movies were the true beginning of the gore in film. However, it wasn't until the 80's when the splatter film truely became the direction the genre would take, and it still known as to this day.
A little known film called Friday the 13th and it's sequals, which are all available in the box set Friday the 13th - From Crystal Lake to Manhattan (8 Movies), became the longest running slasher movie series to date. The movies all come together to tell a nice story and have all the eye candy that made the 80's slasher and splatter movie fun.
Another popular movie came out in the 1980's and spawned multiple sequals hold an equally strong grip on genre fans today. These movies are part of the The Nightmare on Elm Street Collection box set. Freddy is equally as popular as Jason and it was only fair to the fans that the movie Freddy vs. Jason (New Line Platinum Series) was finally made in 2003.
Some great sequals to 70's classics were released in the 80's such as The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2, Aliens (Special Edition), Halloween II, Halloween 4 - The Return of Michael Myers, and Day of the Dead (Divimax Special Edition).
In addidion to the slashers and sequals, we got some nice new originals in the 80's such as An American Werewolf in London, The Evil Dead, Evil Dead II (Special Edition), Children of the Corn (Divimax Edition), Child's Play, Hellraiser, Predator (Widescreen Collector's Edition), and a great remake of The Fly /The Fly 2.
Then, in the 90's the genre sadly seemed to dwindle into oblivian, but not before a couple great movies were made, such as Misery, Candyman, Wes Craven's New Nightmare, Halloween - The Curse of Michael Myers, and Tom Savini's remake of George A. Romero's classic Night of the Living Dead.
While it is sad to admit that horror movies aren't made like they used to be, there are still some great new horror movies out there. Saw and The Grudge (Unrated Director's Cut) are modern shots at the genre that prove that it still can be done. I just wish more movies this good were still made.
Long live horror!
Rich
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