Scary movies used to be a lot scarier

It's fascinating the way we remember things.

If you were to ask me if I was a fan of the horror genre -- both books and movies -- I'm not sure how I would answer.

Classic horror, sure. I've watched nearly all the great old films from the '30s and '40s, from "Dracula" and "Frankenstein" to the gloriously goofy "Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein." Two of the very earliest -- in the 1920s -- were "Nosferatu" and "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari," both of which I was fortunate enough to see in theaters.

Editor's note: Not, of course, in their original release.


Just because the 1920s seems like ancient times to me as I approach age 70, to my children's generation the '50s is when dinosaurs roamed the earth.

It isn't as if there haven't been great horror films since then, some of them great movies -- Hitchcock's "Psycho," Polanski's "Rosemary's Baby," Friedkin's "Exorcist." All three won Academy Awards and were nominated for others.

Some films that are thought of as great horror movies are actually genre-crossers. Is "Alien" a horror movie or does it fit better into the science-fiction pantheon?


One huge difference between older movies and newer ones is that far less is left to the imagination. Both sex and violence in movies became far more specific, which almost eliminated what we used to call movie magic.

Another very serious problem is the disappearance of originality. How many times has "Halloween" been remade, and how many sequels have there been involving Freddy Krueger or Jason Voorhees?

There have been some good ones. Both "Carrie" and "The Stepford Wives" were excellent in the '70s, but both have been remade as inferior films in recent years.

There have been interesting efforts, including two from Joss Whedon. "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" (1992) wasn't a great movie, but it was interesting enough to turn into a very good TV series that lasted seven seasons. "The Cabin in the Woods" (2011) had more horror to it, but was an extremely effective spoof of the entire genre,

Supposedly a sequel is in the works, although anyone who saw the first film knows that a sequel to that story wouldn't be possible.

There has been another film in the last few years that has won great acclaim. I have yet to see "Get Out" (2017), but I have heard very good things about it.

I hope it's true.

We can always use good movies.