Based on a true story. Those five words comprise the best pickup line Hollywood has for getting moviegoers into theatres. Time after time, I’ve been lured into some new horror flick only to be let down by a lackluster plot that tells a slightly different version of the same story. The originality level is at a low in Hollywood, and has been for some years now.

I took advantage of Keneflix’s free viewing of “The Conjuring.” Besides the free popcorn, I was sorely unimpressed. Thankfully, I didn’t have to spend any of my money to see the movie. But according to Forbes, many others did, contributing to a record breaking $41 million debut at the box office for this “Amityville Horror” copycat.

“The Conjuring” is just the latest in a long line of copycat horror films that take a mesh of classic titles such as “Amityville Horror,” “The Shining” and “The Exorcist” and throw them onto the big screen for a new generation of moviegoers. Hollywood knows that many of the classic American horror films are before its time so it gets away with its lack of originality time after time. All it takes is “based on a true story” to validate the scare factor and reel in millions.

I am a part of this generation, but I have my grandmother to thank for my high expectations with horror films. I spent countless weekends curled up in her lap, peaking through my fingers at Jack Nicholson wielding his butcher knife in “The Shining” or Michael Myers and his strange ability to capture his victims without breaking a sweat. I was way too young to be watching these films, but I’m glad to know quality, and these latest horror films are certainly not it.

When will we have our fill of exorcisms? How many more rehashings of haunted/demonic houses that possess the new inhabitants to kill, a la “Sinister” or “The Conjuring?” Let’s not forget the gender twists in “House at the End of the Street” and “Insidious 2” that are inspired by “Silence of the Lambs.” And how many times is that girl from 2002’s “The Ring” going to jump out of somebody’s closet with her stringy hair and rotten teeth?  

I have no issue with the recent crop of horror flicks being inspired by previous greats, but I do have an issue with their lack of depth and innovation. Frankly, if I spend my seven to nine dollars to see a “scary” movie, I want to be scared. I want to go home and sleep with every light on in the house. Not only do I want to be scared, I want a storyline that took the writers more than 10 minutes to write. Instead of telling us the movie is based on a “true story,” Hollywood should just be honest and say, “Based on the last horror movie you saw and the one before that, we just tweaked it a bit.”