9 Film Genre Crazes Over the Past 20 Years

For this list, we have searched out movie genres that for better or worse have gone through big crazes over the past 20 years, and have put out many movies that we loved, and also ones we didn't love so much. Whatever the genre, it seems that the first of their kind to come out were always the most successful.


#1 War Movies. Remember when these movies were coming out left and right? This includes Saving Private Ryan, We were Soldiers, Black Hawk Down, Windtalkers, The Thin Red Line, Band of Brothers, Braveheart, The Patriot, Pearl Harbor, U-571, and many others. Writers thought of every angle of war. From submarines to airplanes, from Scottish Wars to the Vietnam War, there is a movie about it.











#2 Disaster Movies. This one includes Twister, Dante's Peak, Volcano, Deep Impact, Armageddon, The Day After Tomorrow, Independence Day, and more recently, 2012, etc. If you can think of a natural disaster, there was a movie about it (sidenote: some of them may have been pretty low budget). But man, we loved these movies didn't we? Remember when Bill Paxton and Helen Hunt tied themselves to a pole, and survived a tornado that ripped a fuel tanker in half? So cool!

#3 Creature Movies. This one spans beyond one time period, but got pretty big in the 90's. With Jaws being a far earlier one, others from this time period include Anaconda, Lake Placid, Deep Blue Sea, Arachnaphobia, The Beast, and more recently, Dinoshark, Sharktopus, Megalodon, The Two Headed Shark, and Sharknado, among others. This one probably even in includes Jurassic Park. If there is an animal that has gone on a killing rampage, fake or real, it falls into this genre that has been popular for years, even though it has turned funny and slapstick.









#4 Sports Movies. Many sports movies were pumped out around the same time. Remember the Titans, Glory Road, The Miracle, The Greatest Game Ever Played, Wimbledon, The Rookie, We Are Marshall, Friday Night Lights, etc. People loved these movies, and while they have slowed down over the past few years, we still see them here and there, like Blind Side and 42. Lots of these are pretty good and inspirational.

#5 Super Ridiculous Comedies. I don't know what else to call these, but this genre seemed to really have a kickstart with Napoleon Dynamite. Then Nacho Libre, Benchwarmers, Blades of Glory, Hot Rod, and many others. These are the types of movies where the plot really either doesn't matter, or doesn't make a whole lot of sense, but it is the really quotable ridiculous lines that make them funny and watchable.













#6 Post-Apocalyptic Dystopian Based On Book Movies. For some reason, these are huge right now. I guess we all enjoy watching a bunch of kids have to fight for their lives because, you know, that is what the world will come to in the end, I guess. This is Hunger Games, Divergent, The Maze Runner, The Giver, and more! This is all happening right now, and will probably continue to be made as long as we enjoy them, which admittedly, I do...

#7 Dancing Movies. I include this one, because I think it is kind of funny. Step Up, Step Up 2, Step Up Revolution, Step Up 3D, You Got Served, Stomp The Yard, Save The Last Dance, a remake of the old Footloose, and even a TV show, Dancing With the Stars. We all wish we could just dance out our problems sometimes I guess, and if we can settle disputes on the streets through dance, well, all the better I guess.












#8 Zombie Movies. World War Z, I Am Legend, 28 Days Later, Land of the Dead, Warm Bodies, Zombieland, Dawn of the Dead Remake, Shaun of the Dead, and many more. And yes, it is TV, but who could exclude The Walking Dead!? People love zombies...there are even people online who have plans made if there actually were a zombie apocalypse. I guess it isn't impossible... But whether you call them Walkers, Bonies, Night Creatures, Night Walkers, Corpses, Brain Biters, Flesh Dolls, Soulless Husks, the Undead, or Shuffling Horrors...they are all zombies to me.

#9 Superhero Movies. There really haven't been too many of these I guess...just Spiderman 1-3, Amazing Spiderman 1-2, all the old Batmans, The Dark Knight 1-3, the old Supermans, Superman Returns, Man of Steel, Iron Man 1-3, Captain America 1-2, Thor 1-2, Hulk, and the other Hulk, the Avengers, X-men 1-7, Fantastic Four 1-2, an upcoming Fantastic Four reboot, Superman Vs. Batman, and Avengers 2. This list also includes weird ones like Ghost Rider and Watchmen. Superhero movies have dominated the box office over the past few years, and it's hard to see an end in site. Though, I love them...and most everyone I know loves them...so what's the big deal?






What genre crazes did we miss? Let us know at www.facebook.com/simplefilmcritics. And don't forget to like us!