Unwanted sequels take another stab at horror

As Halloween approaches, a certain movie franchise has decided to take yet another stab at it. Pardon my pun, but I don’t understand why certain movies feel the need to keep going, even if no one really wants them to.

Coming this October, “Saw V” will be released, which means four others have already been set free into the world. Four previous movies, why do we need another?

I don’t mean to single out just one particular movie group, but I just happened to be at the movies the other day, and this was one of the previews I saw. Now, I do admit that I have seen three out of the four other movies, and I really don’t plan on seeing the fourth.

I love horror movies. I can’t get enough of them. I’m sorry, let me rephrase that, I love good horror movies, classic horror movies, movies like “Night of the Living Dead” and “Texas Chainsaw Massacre.” I love the originals, not the remakes, please god, not the remakes. The remakes make me wish that Leather face came bursting through my door and showed me the business end of his beloved chainsaw, if you catch my drift.

But I digress. Sure, the “Saw” franchise does give throwbacks to old school horror movies, which have always impressed me. However, after the first movie, we know who the killer is. Sure, we never know who the apprentice is, but we know about that thing that goes bump in the night. We’ve already seen it and now that we have, it’s not so scary anymore.

It seems these days horror movies try to scare by throwing in as much blood, death and gore as they can. Have they just not realized that we tend to more afraid of what we can’t see than what we can? Did they totally skip horror movie 101, or were they just absent the day their instructor told them that not knowing what the monster behind the door looks like is so much scarier than seeing a 20-foot tall giant bug from outer-space? It’s the anticipation of being scared that scares us, not watching something scary do something even scarier.

I just feel like I can’t go see a good horror movie anymore without being disappointed. I want a movie that will give me the chills for days, even weeks, not crappy CG animation that leaves me wanting more. Where are the movies that I refuse to see by myself because I know I’ll need someone to hold on to just to make it through? The movies that make those big, biker guys quiver with fear? Those are the movies I’m waiting for.

Halloween is coming up, and as my favorite holiday, I plan on having a horror movie marathon, and I need good movies to play. So please Hollywood, I’m begging you on my knees: send me a good classic, old-school horror flick before my DVD’s are so worn out from use that they look like the unlucky teenage victims in them.

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