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If I sat here and tried to list all of the vampire and zombie movies, TV shows, books and video games making the rounds today...I would be here...way too long. Grass would beging to grow around me. Buzzards would circle.
I know in times of economic down turn horror tends to take a swing up in popularity. I think Stephen King once wrote that horror during times like these allowed some dark, angry, whatzit, deep in our collective subcomcious to work out the frustrations we feel from the pressure of...well.. having no money. As someone who currently makes her living playing violin in the streets and uses black jack to fill in the gaps, I understand. (I follow the keep it friendly rule and never win too much at one time...Tip 2: if you're not a musician, avoid playing black jack with one.)
Hey, when there are no jobs, what are you going to do? (Well, I guess there's always the sex trade...but...bleh...)
As I was saying...I can understand that logic. Everytime my bills come due, I know I certainly feel a bit monstrous lately since our government seems like they are trying to ruin people. I mean, good Lord, what was all the rush to pass that trillion dollar stimulus spending package? All we've done is make ourselves poorer.But actual stimulus? You'd get more stimulation laying on a magic fingers bed in a cheap hotel room.
So, as you can imagine, my hidden monster is relieved via finding new and colorful ways to describe Obama and his merry men, who are always willing to grab the ankles. Talk about dead men walking. Unfortunately, they all found their way to congress.
There is the sexual side of monsters that each new generation discovers. To the Victorian era audience, in which Dracula was born, he was the epitome of sexual desire, without the actual sex. Those penetrating eyes, the silken, tantalizing words, the sense of him drawing closer and closer, the shiver as his lips touch your neck,,,and then he enters you...with his teeth.
Well, that's still kind of hot. But, Dracula was someone the young missies could dream about and not feel guilty. And I suspect that remains part of his charm.
And of course with the whole werewolf phenom, there's the letting loose of inhibitions, of giving into ones animal nature, which harkens back to a decidely sexual scenario.
But I wonder, too, if part of bringing back monsters is due to all the years church clergy ignored a very real facet of God. We've been brought up with a feminine Jesus, a sweet hippie who looks like he stepped out of the sixties. That Jesus's message is, "Yup, we CAN all just get along." And that Jesus is also good at singing kum-bay-ya, enjoys long walks on the beach, and crocheting lace doilies.
But God's creation tells us something important about Him. Did you know it's almost impossible to walk off a 400 foot cliff and live? Really. Becasue God invented gravity. If you go to outer space without a suit your death will be swift and horrible, becasue God created it without atmosphere. Same goes for breathing underwater without an aqua lung.
God created a universe that limits what we easily can and cannot do...There are certain and obvioulsy lines which, if crossed without extraoridinary measures, will result in swift and agonizing punishment. The creation has teeth to it, and so does the Creator.
So maybe that's also a reason for the upswing. Like Aslan in the Chronicles of Narnia, it has slipped our attention that God is not a tame lion. Maybe the 'collective subconcious' just misses hearing about a God who doesn't screw around.
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BLOGOSPHERE 
Excellent article here, and one in which I believe you have illustrated an oft overlooked point. I would love to write a longer comment, but unfortunately time does not permit me to at this moment.
Well Done!
Philao~
Andrew
Merry/Michele