I'm reminded as well of the overwhelmingly positive response NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS got from the wee ones. (Preview cards were commonly marked with notes like "This is the BEST thing I've EVER seen.")

I think you might be overestimating the "sophistication" angle. Tell a good story, and "they will come." MIGHTY PEKING MAN didn't get a huge reissue -- I think it only played midnight shows even in New York -- but everyone I know who saw it, loved it. Ditto GAMERA: GUARDIAN OF THE UNIVERSE from a few years ago. Even those used to the ruthless fun made of the original Gamera series on MST3K had to admit that the 1995 movie was VERY well written. (Same fellow who wrote the well-respected PATLABOR, among many others. He seems to have dropped out of the series now, though, out of a disagreement with the director out of where it should be going. After the final frames of GAMERA 3, however, I can't wait for the fourth one, with or without Kazunori Ito. eh, right, like any of you care about the politics behind giant-turtle-moviemaking ... ) Anyway, only a nitwit could deny that the recent Gamera cycle is superbly directed. And there is a big underground fan market Stateside even for the relatively dreary Godzilla movies. Not to mention the cult for the ORIGINAL POWER RANGERS (not that washed-out nonsense they put on TV here -- the *REAL* Japanese version of POWER RANGERS, which is infinitely crazier and more fun.)

However obviously dated the original KONG is -- and I NEVER found it frightening, any more than I did the Universal horror pictures of the same and successive decades -- the expressiveness of Willis O'Brien's work WILL endear it to more than fewer. I guarantee it. If there are still kids who are endeared to VERY RECENT slop like GODZILLA VS. SPACE GODZILLA (and there is no bigger Godzilla booster on this Board than myself, but come on, that thing's a hideosity), then they could certainly get into the impeccable KING KONG, SON OF KONG and original MIGHTY JOE YOUNG (I'm one of the few people who loves the KONG and JOE remakes just as much as the originals, by the way, but maybe that's just me being weird.)

I was never scared by Kong OR Godzilla, except for bits of Kong in KING KONG ESCAPES (the first Japanese movie I ever saw -- it never dawned on me how fake the suit looks; it was those psychotic staring eyes -- same thing with WAR OF THE GARGANTUAS which I keep mentioning, with another apelike monster). And Godzilla DID frighten Japanese audiences for the same reason that Kong frightened those of the Depression: the right beast, the most awful image, at precisely the right time. But both monsters have grown into beloved figures, just as most of our American horror icons eventually do, from Frankenstein's monster to Freddy Krueger.

This is probably a whole other subject and essay or thread, but one can't love something one's afraid of, all the time.

Here we are in the year 2000.

The WORLD for today's kids is INCREDIBLY SCARY!