3D terror: The horror genre and the third dimension!

With “Texas Chainsaw 3D” hitting theatres later this week, we thought now might be a good time to take a look back at the horror genre’s long and storied history with stereoscopic 3D presentation.

While stereoscopic 3D films are almost as old as the motion picture industry itself (the technology behind the process existed as early as the 1890s), it wasn’t until 1922’s “The Power of Love” that 3D movies really came to the attention of the movie-going public. However, 3D format remained largely a novelty for several decades before being truly embraced by the big studios in the early 1950s. It was then that Hollywood found a perfect match for 3D: the fledgling horror genre.

“House of Wax (1953)” – In an attempt to rival the convenience of newly affordable televisions in the 1950s, the movie studios pulled out all the stops. Hollywood debuted exciting new widescreen formats like Cinerama and CinemaScope that offered audiences an experience like no other when they went to the movie theatre. Shortly after the release of the surprise independently produced 3D hit “Bwana Devil” two studios, Columbia and Warner Bros., produced the first big budget 3D movies: “Man in the Dark” and “House of Wax.” The latter film, a spooky horror movie starring Vincent Price, was also the first colour 3D movie, giving it an enormous advantage over the black and white “Man in the Dark.” The ridiculous screen-popping props and effects have been the subject of many parodies in the years since, most notably on the Canadian comedy series “SCTV.”

“The Creature from the Black Lagoon” (1954) – After the huge box office success of “House of Wax” in 1952, a 3D craze began to sweep Hollywood. Dozens of the stereoscopic films were produced over the next several years, including Universal’s “The Creature from the Black Lagoon” – which introduced the now famous Gill-man monster.

“Flesh for Frankenstein” – After the so-called “Golden Era” for 3D movies in the 1950s, the popularity of the screen-popping format began to wane. For much of the 1960s and '70s, 3D movies – regardless of genre - were relegated to mainly low budget B-movies and exploitation fare full of sex and violence. Instead of using the superior polarized glasses format, most of these films used the infamous red and blue Anaglyph glasses. Although it was intended to be more of a self-aware satire of the 3D films of the time, the Andy Warhol produced “Flesh for Frankenstein” is still a great example of the kind of trashy schlock that 3D movies became during this period.

“Friday the 13th Part III” (1982), “Jaws 3-D” (1983) – With the emergence of the slasher genre as a box office powerhouse in the late 1970s and early '80s, came 3D's chance at a legitimate comeback. Just as the television had forced Hollywood to innovate in the 1950s, so to did the arrival of home video formats like Beta and VHS. What better way to offer modern moviegoers something they hadn't seen before than by pairing stereoscopic 3D with flying axes and severed limbs? Both the machete-wielding killer Jason Vorhees and the man-eating great white shark Jaws quite conveniently made the leap to 3D in their respective third cinematic outings. However, the 3D was employed in a laughably gimmicky manner and audiences soon tired of it. The format's brief resurgence came to a quick end.

“My Bloody Valentine 3D” (2008) - A remake of the 1981 Canadian slasher flick of the same name, 2008's "My Bloody Valentine" led the horror charge shortly before 3D's big movie comeback with "Avatar." The film employed and marketed its 3D in the now charmingly nostalgic manner that early '80s slasher films did. It wasn't really anything more than a novelty, but it didn't make the movie any less entertaining.

“Texas Chainsaw 3D” - Iconic horror baddie Leatherface returns in this direct sequel to Tobe Hooper's 1974 film "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" - this time in 3D! While it likely doesn't offer anything terribly new or impressive in terms of its stereoscopic 3D effects, the film is sure to be a nice (and bloody) throwback to the many classic 3D horror movies of yore.

Whether stereoscopic 3D continues to be a force in movies and at the box office still remains to be seen - we could very well be in the middle of one of the format's once-per- decade surges in popularity. Still, as long as horror movies are a genre and 3D is a viable format, the two will likely always be paired in fun and splattery ways.