January 15, 2010

Why I associate so much with Horror Movies...

Anyone who knows me best...and can see my DVD self...you'll notice that a GREAT Deal (but not all) of it consists of simply horror movies. Whether it being from the 80's, 90's or certain recent flicks, I can't get enough of the genre. Especially the cheap-o cheesy ones. Horror films have been a staple of my life dating back to my childhood, so it kind of sticks with me to this day. Hell...even when I'm posting links to movie news on the main Facebook feed, or to movie trailers...they mainly consist of Horror.

It happened one night when I was about 6 or 7 years old. After years of living my life with a handful of kids movies and things kids are usually doing at that age, my Mom decided to allow me to actually choose a film when we went to the corner video store. Of course, I inevitably chose "Hallowen" based on the cover alone (I now have a Tattoo of the Knife-Pumpkin art on my left arm). Of course she wasn't happy with my movie choice, but at that age I bitched and moaned until I got what I wanted. So... I sat down to watch it.

I'm not sure what it was about that night. Maybe it was the perfect, late night setting, but the film chilled me to my bones. In fact, that's one of the last times I can ever remember being completely scared by a horror movie, and it invigorated my love for the franchise. It seemed like week after week I was watching the next sequel all the way up to part 5. The sixth film in the franchise was released in 1995...and I went to the theater with my Mom and Brother to see it. And my god...the moment Michael Myers showed up on screen, it was surreal. I was finally seeing the character that scared the ever loving shit out of me...on the big screen.

These days, I regard it as the most complete and perfect slasher film ever created. It's the one that I appreciate the most as a masterwork of the genre, as it led me to SO many other films.

With me personally, I strive to express my opinion on a movie truthfully, and it's not incredibly hard since I'm into pretty much anything. While horror fans generally aren't too hard to please, and I think it's a nature of the art form and not a slander on the quality we require, I always would hate it when a friend would watch a movie like "Prom Night" and say it wasn't as good as "Halloween." To top a "Halloween" or "Dawn of the Dead" in the horror world would be like a new drama overthrowing something great like "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" or a hot-shot star becoming the next "Dirty Harry." These movies are classics for a reason, and I sure don't go into a film with the notion that it could ever top something like that.

So, when I expressing my opinion on something pretty out there, I am not worried about it topping "The Beyond," I'm more concerned about covering whether or not it even deserves to have the name Lucio Fulci attached to it. With others, I'm not really expecting it to take the place of "Psycho," I'm more interested in how it works in the mid-tier slasher realm. Basically, I express my honest horror opinion for the obsessed guys who are wanting to know if the couple bucks is worth it or if it's just a total disaster and not even worthy of your time. Having been (and still being) in that position of checking out people's reviews; it's my way of giving back to the horror community what I took so much from as a beginner.

Every movie has a place and deserve to be treated as so. At the same time, I don't want anyone to confuse my positive opinion for "Pieces" to be anything like a positive opinion for the original "Black Christmas." As a kid, I remember just absorbing and vegging out on all the Halloween's, Freddy's and Jason movies I could get my hands on, not because I was bored, but because there was nothing I'd rather do besides maybe play some Nintendo or see if CineMax was airing Porky's. Like all other horror fans, I have romantic memories of these days.

To be perfectly honest with you, I'm pretty content with whatever trend makes the round at any particular time, because Hollywood working in a different direction, although always well tread, is pretty much all you can hope for. I'm genuinely scared one day they will stop trying to even bother with shifting trends and just give us PG-13 slashers until we all expire. I really dug the zombie craze that went on for a few years that brought us a new Re-Animator, Dawn of the Dead remake and a few others. That fad wore out and the slasher took over and now gimmicks seem to be making their rounds. Actually, the revival of older franchises that is still going on today I'm not too keen on it.

I would just like for a Horror film to finally come along again, and at my age now...genuinely scare the shit out of me.

Maybe I should do it?

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