What is “Box-Office Befuddlement?”  Well, I'll tell you.  It's a made up term that means that people wander around the movie theater until they fall into a screening room, completely unaware of what they just paid money to see.  It's “Mavenese” for idiotic movie choices.  I can even use it in a sentence:  “Man, I just watched the Friday the 13th remake. I must have Box Office Befuddlement.”  See?  It's easy to use and now you no longer have to be ashamed of going to see the latest thing Bay puked up while ignoring gems like Drag Me to Hell.  This phrase is my way of explaining how Transformers 2 has made upwards of $379 million (and climbing) while Drag Me to Hell brought in just under $42 million.  WHAT?!  That cannot be correct.  Let me check my figures...*14 plus 37 divided by....carry the...* I'll be damned.  It IS right.  Well, this simply has to stop.

Here's a little story.  Long, long ago during the bell bottom's first heyday and continuing on into the days of prep-rolling jeans that hit under your armpits, it was not unusual to see good horror films right in your very own local cineplex.  No, I'm serious.  They were everywhere.  I was right there and I wouldn't lie to you.  Quality directors churned out good movies left and right.  The Howling, An American Werewolf in London, Poltergeist, Jaws, the list goes on and on.  Even the slashers were fun back then and it was an event.  We looked forward to seeing them and we expected them to be good.  We didn't have to utter phrases like, “I hope this

churned out good movies left and right.  The Howling, An American Werewolf in London, Poltergeist, Jaws, the list goes on and on.  Even the slashers were fun back then and it was an event.  We looked forward to seeing them and we expected them to be good.  We didn't have to utter phrases like, “I hope this

doesn't suck” or “I'm gonna be so pissed if they screwed this up.”  We saw the trailers, got excited, bought the tickets, got excited, grabbed our snackies...still excited...and watched our movie.  Maybe it would change our lives or maybe it wouldn't be so great, but we were so happy to be there that we really didn't care.  We had no fear of the Remake Boogeyman.  We were all so innocent back then.

Perhaps I romanticize it too much.  We tend to do that, don't we?  That's why the old folks go on and on about the Good Ol' Days.  But even if my memories are slightly clouded by the scent of movie theater popcorn or the crunch of gravel on the drive-in lot, I know I'm not imagining things when I say the experience was different then.  

Hollywood trusted horror to bring in the dough.  The bigwigs knew that fans would roll in to watch the latest offerings of from our favorite directors. We would clamor to see the latest in special effects (the rubber kind not the CGI variety).  Then something terrible happened. Suddenly horror was a bad word.    

Te spooky flicks of yesterday became the thrillers of the nineties, pedigreed and uppity.  And fans across the world lowered our heads in bereavement.  What would happen to our genre?  Why couldn't we see the depravity we craved on the big screen anymore?  We were reduced to renting.  We would scour the dusty video shelves for unknown titles to ease our suffering and wait not so patiently for the next release that would be allowed to grace the theater.  You could hear the whispers that horror was dead.  But they were wrong, weren't they?  It never died.  It was just shuffled to the basement like a mutant child.

at number 27 on the list.  How can that be? Raimi comes back to horror and gets trounced by a fake Jason?  Horror fans who know better should have been clawing people's eyes out to get in to see Drag Me to Hell. This was our chance to show we are still here. Reviewer after reviewer sang it's praises and it was still ignored, bringing in $20 million less than its inferior competition.  Are we so jaded that we can't bring ourselves to support something we claim to love?

This is a wake up call.  Fans of horror must unite if we are to beat this scourge.  We have to commit to see the ones that deserve it.  We can no longer fall victim to Befuddlement.  For if we continue doing as we are, there may just come a time when we no longer have a choice.  I know it sounds harsh but this is a tale of woe.

Then came the rebirth.  And there was much rejoicing.  But before we knew it, our excitement over Scream was misinterpreted as a need to see young stars in watered down slasher films.  That’s not what made us happy.  We were overjoyed to see the latest Craven film and we loved the fact that it was reverent to our old favorites. It breathed new life into the genre by bringing older titles

Boogeyman descended upon our choice of entertainment, slapped a PG-13 on anything that stood still long enough and waited for the decline.  And it came.  And it's still here.  Shhh don't say his name out loud.  He can hear you.  

Soon, fans became wary of spending their hard earned cash on let down after let down and the numbers couldn't hold up.  “People don't like horror anymore,” they say.  WRONG.  We are still here and we are begging to be recognized.  But some of us have lost faith.  Some of us can't bring ourselves to show love anymore.  And now we are victims of Box Office Befuddlement.  We wander around with blinders, trying to do the right thing.  But we don't know who to trust anymore.

This past year alone we have had approximately 12 horror releases in the top 150 according to Box Office Mojo and FOUR of those are remakes.  What is that about?  And it gets worse.  The top horror release?  The Friday the 13th Remake made upwards of $65 million putting it at number 27

the fact that it was reverent to our old favorites. It breathed new life into the genre by bringing older titles to the forefront for the next generation.  It was respectful of the good ones that blazed the trail.  That movie dropped names like a starlet at an industry party and we sat in the darkness of the theater nodding along in agreement every time Psycho or The Exorcist was mentioned.  

We were still reeling from the euphoria when the remakes started to hit.  Some say it's an attempt to bring back the classics and some talk of a creature that lives in the bowels of Hollywood laughing maniacally while counting the receipts of fans who keep hoping for the best.  That's right.  The