The return of the repressed

The return of the repressed is the term in the media and films in which something has happened in the past and then it returns/happens again at a later date ether in the same place or to the same person/family. In horror terms this could mean that in 1990 a family were murdered by their own child and then for the return of the repressed to have taken place, in 2000 or any time in the future, this child killer could return to kill other people in the same area that the original crime took place. In many cases this could become very repetitive for the audience because it would mean that a story/plot of a film would become predictable and there would be no genuine shock factor or turns in the story. To be fair, there are not actually that many films with returning of the repressed involved, well modern ones anyway. The narrative is something which old films feature a lot more than new ones because film directors are constantly trying to create new plots and stories instead of sticking with the same old stereotypical ways.