VH’s vfx are a mixed bag, but for the most part seamless. After the clumsy Mr. Hyde, the Frankenstein Monster -- looking like a scarier version of Peter Boyle’s monster from Young Frankenstein — is a triumph of visualization of the character. Dracula looks great, both in mortal form and as the full-on vampire monster. The werewolves of the story have a bit of a King Kong stop motion feel to them that gets smoother as the film goes on. Dracula’s brides are consistently sexy and terrifying in the monstrous forms they assume. And the non-character effects — the lightning-infused storms, the howling snow squalls — are all sensational.

As far as the film’s relation to terror, it returns it to its more comfortable definition as a state brought on by really scary vfx. It’s a throwback — but maybe that’s not such a bad thing.

The Incredibles
They saved the best for last. The Incredibles, as just about every critic and viewer can attest, is a fantastic achievement. Pixar ably got around the problems of making humans convincingly real in their CGI-animated film by choosing to avoid the photoreal. While placing Mr. Incredible and his super-duper family in a world that looks hyper-real, Brad Bird and his team of animators made the human characters in the movie caricatures so no one could accuse them of trying and failing to capture reality. In so doing, they created a world that immediately pulls you into it and makes you believe it’s real. And because the story is so strong, you don’t find yourself thinking “what a cool effect” as you do in, say, Sky Captain. Of course, the fact that the film is all animated, not trying to combine live action with CGI, enables it to be the seamless experience it is.

Much of the action takes place in a city that, while not identified as New York, is sure reminiscent of it, as the movie’s villain executes his agenda. The fact that this agenda is pursued with such a cavalier disregard for people and property, and pursued on such a large scale, actually echoes the effects of real world terrorism, as parts of the city are destroyed in battles. In addition, one of the premises of the movie — and I don’t think I’m giving anything away here — is that superheroes are responsible for as much damage as they prevent (at least in the eyes of some). The idea is that even people trying to protect you can do you harm, as good as their intentions may be. If not terrifying, that thought is certainly disquieting.(Special mention should be given to Kill Bill: Vol. 1 and 2. A story of revenge served with an Asian flavor, Uma Thurman’s Bride character — as well as the adversaries she faces — certainly display powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men and women. As if to underline the point, writer-director Quentin Tarantino gives her adversary — the Bill of the titles — a speech in which he discusses Superman’s secret identity and how it relates to the Bride. Perhaps the most unsettling moment of the films is the scene showing the mass murder of the wedding party in what, to the perpetrators, was an act of vengeance, but to most of the victims was random and senseless, a true act of terrorism.)

Tobey Maguire was born to play Peter Parker/Spider-Man and his performances contributed heavily to the franchise’s success. Photo by Melissa Moseley.

While Spider-Man 2 and The Incredibles are now the new gold standard for superhero movies, the other films in the current crop all have something to recommend them. The task of heroic fiction in a post-9/11 world is at once more complex and more simple than it was before. Real world terror has made it so that it’s hard to know what in our fiction will reassure us, what will scare us the way we want to be scared when we go to the movies, and what will leave us feeling that we have big targets painted on our backs. When it comes to superheroes on screen, we want our characters and the perils they face bigger than life yet able to help us deal with the real dangers and conflicts we face. That’s a lot to ask of entertainment, but it’s really what we’ve always demanded of it. It’s just become a little harder to pull off. Does the CG animation make this task harder or easier? As always, the answer lies in the execution. Superhero fans will be eagerly awaiting the upcoming Blade III, Batman Begins, Fantastic Four and, way down the road, the new Superman movie to see how the challenge is answered in the future.

Danny Fingeroth was the group editor of Marvel’s Spider-Man comics line and was a consultant on the 1990s Fox Kids’ Spider-Man animated series. He is the author of Superman on the Couch: What Superheroes Really Tell Us About Ourselves and Our Society (Continuum 2004) and is the editor in chief of Write Now Magazine, the premier publication about writing for comics and animation, published by TwoMorrows. He teaches comics writing and leads seminars with comics creators at New York University. He can be reached at Danfinger@aol.com.