Horror movies 1950's and 2000's

The LA Times today observes that:

We've seen 13 horror films released so far and next Tuesday we'll be seeing one more when "The Omen" hits theaters on the ominous date of 6/6/06. Most of these films — shot on small budgets with unknowns — grossed more than $40 million.

The Times poses that question "why now" to some film directors and gets mostly lame responses from them. But it's still a great question. It has seemed to me that post-9/11 American culture has had a feel of the 1950's,
when we were feeling terrified of communism. The 50's was also a big time for horror movies.

It's also interesting to compare what horror movies were like in the 50's compared to today. The 50's horror movies has lots of monsters, aliens, and invasions.

The one contemporary horror movie I've seen, "Hostel," has a lot of torture as well as a kind of xenophobia -- fear of vulnerability in a foreign land.

The first picture is from the horror movie "Hostel." The second picture is the Bush Administration's treatment of prisoners in Iraq.