February 18, 2009 Some quick thoughts on the awesome box office success of the "Friday the 13th" remake this weekend. Some horror sites are celebrating the record $42 million haul this film has taken as a triumph for the horror genre.

I beg to differ. The big box office of films like this one and Rob Zombie's remake of "Halloween", may spell the end of the horror genre we all know and love. It's a lot like the death of rock 'n roll.

How?

Because here's what's happening -- culturally -- in this new era of corporate horror where only big name brands are given the chance to generate huge profits at the box office. The new titles are getting drowned out and heading straight to video. Really bad "brand" titles are getting huge releases and raking it in big at the box office.

The brand titles are huge only because everyone knows the brand -- not apparently because the movies are any good. What's strange is the amount of fan interest these remakes generate before release. It's big news when Rob Zombie announces another minor cast addition to "H2" because everyone and their uncle knows "Halloween."

It's normal for fans to have greater interest in something they know than what they don't know -- but the attention being given to remakes these days is mind boggling. Even more mind boggling is the support these remakes are getting from some fan sites. How could anyone actually support New Line's decision to remake "A Nightmare on Elm Street."

Meanwhile, the truly excellent horror movies being produced today get buried. I'm talking about the kind of films that Rob Zombie used to make. The stuff that doesn't get sold at 7-11. Stuff like "Eden Lake." "Baby Blues." "The Signal."

Marcus Nispel's "Friday the 13th" did not make huge dollars because it's a good movie. Neither did Rob Zombie's "Halloween." They made money because of corporate branding -- both titles have become so iconic they are simply brands like Coke or Pepsi. Great horror films, even good horror films, are art. The first "Friday the 13th" was art. So were many of the sequels -- bad as many of them were.

But remakes like these are far, far from art. A "Halloween" remake with some of John Carpenter's score thrown in or a "Friday the 13th" remake with shallow nods to the original three films are Pepsi -- not art. "House of 1,000 Corpses." Art. It will be remembered. "Halloween," the remake. It will be forgotten.

Just watching the "Friday the 13th" remake, then watching "Midnight Movie" -- a decent direct-to-DVD horror movie that most people will never see -- demonstrates just how far things have sunk for our genre culturally. "Midnight Movie," by no means a great film, is a fun, original, crowd-pleasing horror film. Yet for all practical purposes it will never be seen by anyone but a handful of diehard fans or people who stumble across it, because it isn't a global brand.

Bottom line is, the best horror movies being produced today are winding up direct to DVD. The worst ones are remakes receiving massive releases and boffo box office.

None of us should support this.

It's a lot like the state of rock 'n roll. Excellent new bands get no radio airplay. I mean, nothing. Meanwhile, aging music from the eighties gets tons of airplay because everyone knows what it is already. Nothing original reaches the public. You've got teenagers going to see aging artists that get played constantly on radio stations owned by one or two corporations. Aging rockers get prime placement in Wal-Mart. Few others know the new bands that are struggling to get heard. Listeners left totally unaware of the great new music being produced by their peers everyday.

This corporatization is what's killing rock 'n roll -- and now it may kill horror too. So the record box office of "Friday the 13th" this weekend does not bode well for our genre, folks. In the end, it may be what will kill our genre.

About seven years ago, I was lucky enough to visit Paris for a week and was stunned at the passion residents had for film there. There were revival houses everywhere, and many of them showed American horror movies on a regular basis. Films like John Carpenter's "The Fog" and, yes, Sean Cunningham's "Friday the 13th" received revival screenings and hundreds of Parisians would head out to see them.

I can promise you, the remakes of "The Fog" and "Friday the 13th" will never be "revived" and receive such screenings in Paris -- or anywhere else for that matter. Because they're not "culturally relevant." And that's why some fans can't stand the "Friday the 13th" remake.


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