Vampires are all the rage lately, with seemingly endless variations of the vampire myth being retold in unique ("American Vampire") and downright terrifying (I will sparkle you with love) ways.

One cannot walk into a bookstore, movie theatre, or rent/buy a movie or video game without coming into contact with the familiar tropes, like an image with fangs protruding from an almost-smirking mouth with a small drop of blood, dripping. Then there are zombies: love them, hate them, or love to hate them, these flesh-devouring nasties have become a staple of the horror genre par excellence. Also like vampires, zombies have proliferated exponentially and are found everywhere, in every medium, from video games ("Left 4 Dead") and TV (the upcoming "The Walking Dead").

Interestingly, the two groups share an uncanny resemblance in appetite if not in methodology and so the fact remains: right now the undead are a very popular commodity, taking the world by storm. For fans of horror this popularity is great. We are able to partake in our ghastly indulgences, to relish in the grotesqueness of it all with similar company: the hordes of like-minded people who actually enjoy seeing walking corpses and flesh devoured off the bones of screaming victims.

However, what happens when these two subsets of horror start to dwarf the rest of the genre? What happens when zombies and vampires are all that are eventually associated with horror? One possibility is death. There is a real danger out there, lurking, ready to pounce at only a moments notice, and that danger is called Boredom brought to you by everyones favorite corporate sponsor, Market Oversaturation.

Ironically the undead may die out due to their extreme popularity. But there is another, more positive and proactive option -- one much more attractive to writers, readers (or media consumers) and fans alike: it is called evolution. Evolution is an intelligent way to think about the survival of the genre and would definitely facilitate a myriad of untapped creative options to be further explored well into the future. Have a look at Stephen Kings recent experiment in comics, "American Vampire," for a solid example of how evolution can be employed both literally and figuratively.

One of the best ways maintain a modicum of originality and promulgate future excellent works in horror is to revisit what has already been done to ensure that nothing gets done to death. Recycling ideas is a great way to pay homage to past works, but the trick is to do so in new and exciting ways so that the art is truly unique. What I like about horror is that it can offer a lot of fun, exciting and intelligent ideas -- new twists on age-old themes and tropes. Thoughtful, intelligent and creative re-flections will go a long way to appease the fans and continue a fine tradition; "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies" is a perfect example of a reexamination of society and its conventions -- creatively.

Importantly, with creativity comes comfort. There is something rewarding and sometimes reassuring with being able to become intimately attached/detached with the action. It is such a boost of confidence to know that however bad life may seem, it is not as bad as
• being eviscerated by a demon-corpse
• being beheaded by an angry spirit
• being defiled by an alien probe
• being skinned with a rusty can lid
• et cetera (this is a particularly scary one)

The seat of your favorite chair is much more comfortable than any of the options above. Also noteworthy is that horror can also be boring and uninteresting and this is most likely the result of certain tropes being done to death. Come on, weve all felt bored watching a movie or reading a book and just waiting for something fun, something interesting, something downright scary to happen. When we soon discover that nothing of the sort will be delivered, we then find it a convenient time to make a bowl of popcorn, fetch a beer or even steal a kiss from your significant other. Nonetheless, therein also lies comfort. Regardless of which end of the horror spectrum one is situated (Super Scared or Beyond Bored) there is comfort in the sinister pleasantries provided by the genre.
 
If you ever find yourself uncomfortably bored with your current selection of horror, maybe its time to visit your local used bookstore, the VHS section of your local library or your local hock shop to unearth some of yesterdays favorite spooks. The hock shop is even a good place to find some of those last-generation console horror games that were less focused on cutting-edge graphics and more interested in simply the cutting edge. "Silent Hill" and "Silent Hill II" come to mind as groundbreaking horror titles that were heavy on atmosphere and cerebral, imaginative horror. The multitude of out-of-print titles to be found in used bookstores is truly staggering, and VHS horror will continue to haunt the tables of yard sales for many years to come. Revisiting these titles will keep the spirit of horror alive and vibrant.

Equally important is to pass along these great resources to budding horror aficionados. After all, "Twilight" does not have to be where the journey ends for these impressionable minds, but rather where the journey begins. And it is a journey after all -- through the past darkly.

Editor: "Through the Past Darkly" is a biweekly column published Tuesdays.