'50s Horror Movie I Just Saw for the First Time

The Incredible Shrinking Man (two and a half stars total). Last Friday my wife scored some free tickets to Disney's California Adventure theme park for "Mickey's Trick-or-Treat Party." My two year-old son was given a Jack O'Lantern pail with Mickey Mouse ears and we tried to teach him to say "trick or treat" as he approached the many candy carts set up around the park. There was Halloween-themed music blaring over the loudspeakers. It reminded me of Eddie Murphy's Haunted Mansion (2003), which could have been somewhat scary if the soundtrack hadn't been so loud and incessant. The music in horror movies is for release of tension. Less music, more tension. What does this have to do with The Incredible Shrinking Man? Well, I hear that Eddie Murphy's doing a remake, and I'm sure it will be full of special effects... and music like a circus parade. Not that circus parades and Disney can't be scary - just listen to the "Pink Elephants on Parade" song from Dumbo (1941). Having grown up on Willow (1988), with the pint-sized Brownie guys, and Honey, I Shrunk the Kids (1989), I wasn't be too impressed with the "groundbreaking" special effects on the original Incredible Shrinking Man (1957). The special effects weren't the worst part though. That had to be the loud and incessant music. The ending was lame but the story was good when the main character went into survival mode down in the basement. I'm surprised he was able to keep shaving up to that point and that his clothes fit as well as they did till he was doll-size. The giant set pieces were great (the match box, the mouse trap and the drain). I wish I had a giant couch. The movie's got me wondering what everything looks like under a microscope now. I'm also wondering at what point the concept of shrinking into oblivion went from atomic age horror to all-ages adventure. Was it with The Incredible Shrinking Woman (1981), or when horror movies moved from the science lab to your next door neighbor's house?