So, what place did horror have in the newly big-budget, squeaky clean world of 3-D? Not much of one, it turns out. When the 1991 Nightmare on Elm Street sequel Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare dusted off the 3-D format for its final 10 minutes (to enhance viewers' entry into the "dream world"), it felt to fans more like a desperate gimmick by a fading franchise than a revitalization of the technology. The film wasn't received well by either fans or critics.
With IMAX growing in both popularity and technical proficiency during the '90s (during which it began expanding into fiction), 3-D became more and more mainstream, and 3-D horror decreased in viability. However, small, independent direct-to-video productions like The Creeps (from Charles Band, who previously directed the 1982 3-D film Parasite) and Camp Bood maintained the cheesy 3-D horror tradition into the start of the 21st century, when the format would expand beyond anyone's expectations.
Notable 3-D Horror Movies:
- Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare (1991)
- The Creeps (1997)
- Camp Blood (1999)
