Photocopied Horror

It’s hardly a revelation the horror genre notoriously feeds on itself with scores of movie studios lining up at the office copy machine pumping out generic plots merely needing a change of title. One only needs to look as far as the SyFy™ Channel for weekly examples of this profit-motivated plagiarism.

And mimicking movie ad materials is also a common practice. It’s almost as if the industry holds weekly keggars to compare notes to make sure everyone is ripping off each other correctly.

Is this a deal breaker for horror movie fans? Nah. But it is smug fun to rub their faces in piles of steaming hypocrisy. That said,  several examples of advertising “monkey see, monkey doo doo.” (Feel free to suggest more)…

Devil’s Due (2014) / Devil’s Sky (2014)

The Possession (2012) / Dark Skies (2013)

The Last Exorcism 2 (2013) / The Bell Witch Haunting (2013) – with poster turned upside down to illustrate grave robbing.

Dead Silence (2007) / Annabelle (2014)

The Haunting of Helena (2012) / Dark Touch (2013)

State of Emergency (2011) / Juan of the Dead (2011)

Legendary Ghost-Busting

So word comes down the chute that a remake of The Legend of Hell House (1973), one of the scariest haunted house movies you’ll ever see, is in the works. No doubt looking to cash in on the generic ghost movie craze to clog the theatres. (I’m looking in your direction The Conjuring, Insidious 1 & 2, Sinister, The Quiet Ones, Occulus, Dark Skies, The Appearing, The Possession, blah, blah, blah.)

While I’d rather not see another re-boot butcher job done to a horror classic, let’s see if Hollywood can top this: a scientist with really cool ghost-busting gadgetry teams up with a couple of mediums (i.e., unemployed clairvoyants) to solve the mystery of Hell House. Referred to as the “Mt. Everest of haunted houses,” the ghost, or “ghosts” that actually spook the infamous Belasco House is in constant question.

Whoever invisible is scaring the complete crap out of everyone’s chute, manages to have sex with one of the occult chicks and gets another one – the wife of the scientist – to take off her clothes in a very unscientific manner in front of Roddy McDowall, the only clairvoyant survivor of the first investigation 20 years ago.

The brilliantly chilling Legend of Hell House still holds up over four decades after its release and still scares the complete crap out of whomsoever’s chute dares to watch it – mine included.