Ah, the Good 'Ol Days...

[thedudeabides]

I'm just sitting here, in a bummer of a mood, so please indulge me this walk down memory lane.

I remember what it was like discovering things for the very first time.I started watching monster movies and horror movies at a very (and I do mean VERY) young age. That was the plus of having a sister 6 years older than me...when I was watching Hammer movies and Godzilla, her and her friends were watching slasher movies. So I got to see a lot of extreme movies at a young age.

Remember reading Fangoria and seeing pictures of unknown horror movies for the first time? Remember seeing TV commercials for horror movies when you were a kid? Some of those trailers were better than the actual movies.

Remember the feeling, the feeling that there was so much more out there than you experienced up to that point?

It seemed so innocent, like every new horror movie you saw opened yourself up just a little bit more.

I'll never forget seeing Suspiria for the first time, on a bootleg VHS tape that cost me almost $35.00 out of my allowance...I remember seeing Dawn of the Dead, and my life changing forever ...What about watching Evil Dead for the first time, and hoping Bruce Campbell would survive...

I'll never forget watching Gates of Hell, Revenge of the Dead and other foreign horror movies, being scared of the video tape box art even before I got the movie home from the video store.

I'll never forget watching these movies for the first time, or watching "missing" Doctor Who episodes that I always read about but never saw.

Those were the days before Tom Savini became a household name. before we knew who Bruce Campbell and Sam Raimi were, and before we knew that the killer wasn't dead at the end but would pop up in four more sequels.

They were good times...innocent times...when you got such a good feeling after watching these movies. These movies scared you, but thrilled you all the same.

I'm still trying to recapture the fascination that I felt way back then.


So I envy the kids, and the adults that are experiencing these classics, and the "new" classics for the first time.

To feel the excitement we've felt before we all became "experts" in horror movies is a wonderful thing. Our hobbies have become obsession, and once we could distinguish between domestic and foreign... Asian and Italian... Fulci and Argento...remake and sequel...

Well, we lost a bit of that magic.


Here's to feeling that excitement again, everyone.

May the magic find us all again.

[Hanzan]

What can I say... Cheers to that.

While I am still in many ways a novice in the horror genre (but I'm catching up), I've been a major movie buff for six, seven years.

I remember when I was 11, sitting in the theatre seeing Jurrasic Park for the first (and second, and third, and fourth) time. Was I scared shitless? Yes. Did I have my jaw on the floor during the entire movie? Yes. Did I come out an even bigger dinosaur fanatic? Not really, but I was quite extreme going in there so... I think that was my magic moment. There the seed for my interest in movies were planted. People often say that ET brought them into the magic of movies... well, for me it was big hungry ancient beasts.

With a start like that I guess it was unavoidable that I would eventually end up in the horror genre. I also sat a high entry level for myself... my first real horror experience must have been The Shining when I was 15 or so.... I was once again scared shitless.

But now... I watch 4-7 movies a week... I know all about angles, camera movements, editing, CGI and performances of actors. I can break down a movie and analyse it if I want to. And where is the magic now? Where is that innocent guy just sitting there enjoying the movie? Where did all this thinking come from? And why is there always so many interesting new movies released so that I always feel like I need to see even more and more and more?

Sometimes I still find that magic... watching Battle Royale for the first time is a classic example, Dark Water, Darkness and Kario brough it out too. But then it´s the other problem too.... I read too much. I saw Suspiria for the first time the other night... I loved it, but I knew it. I´d seen it mentioned so much, heard about it, knew too much of what was going to happen. And that somewhat ruined the movie. Othervise I think I once again had been sitting there, feelt the same magic.

The internet is a twinedged sword. It enables me, a Swede, to find info about movies I probably never would have known existed othervise. But it can also spoil them. There is a thin line between "knowing enough to make me want to see the movie" and "knowing too much and lose the excitement in the movie".

Irony, isn't it? Here´s to the magic, once more. May you all find it somewhere, somehow again.

[alice's girl (chucky's ex)]

Originally posted by thedudeabides
Remember reading Fangoria and seeing pictures of unknown horror movies for the first time?
Remember the feeling, the feeling that there was so much more out there than you experienced up to that point?


My parents were very strict when I was 7-17; I'd seen Nightmare on Elm street at a very, very young age but after that they wouldn't allow me to see any other horror movie. So I do remember reading a lot about them and seeing the posters and photos and trying to imagine what the actual movies could be like. I remember getting obsessed with the remake of THE FLY just by reading the storyline and seeing a few pics. I also remember the day my dad said he'd just seen ALIEN on tv, and I wouldn't be allowed to watch it before 18 because it was so gross. The idea that something could gross him out made the movie extremely interesting to me... Needless to say I saw it long before 18 and, uh, was a bit disappointed.

It was also around that time that I started reading all kinds of horror novels from Stoker to Poe to Stephen King, and discovered the classics (I was allowed to watch almost any movie made before 1970), from Lugosi and Karloff to Price or Cushing.

Not sure I lost the magic though. I still get the feeling once in a while...

[zombie fan]

That sums it up perfectly. Thanks for making my day.

[rogueboy]

Classic post.

You have perfectly brought to words what most of us feel on a regular basis...

On more occasions than I can count - I wish I could erase movie memories and watch them AGAIN for the first time.

Movies like The Shining, Darkness, Ghostwatch, Ringu, hell- Even the to watch the slashers through innocent eyes would be a pleasure...

Heres to hoping we all still find those "diamonds in the rough" that bring us back to the "good ole days"

Later
Tony D

[HankKommit]

Excellent post.

A good friend of mine has a 7 year old boy and he is so in love with horror. We were walking through BlockBuster last night and he had like 8 horror DVD's piled up in his arms to take to the counter just excited as hell. I felt bad when I had to make him put them back and just get what his mom wanted (and I didn't want to explain what a 7 year old was doing with 8 "R" movies.)

I would love to be that excited again.

[billylove]

I remember bugging the ticket booth operator to let us in to see the Lawnmower Man.

Dems good times.

[bunnymud wants tacos]

I remember watching The Omen 2 when I was 7-8. I think that is what got me into horror. Also remember seeing The Texas Chainsaw Massacare 2 in the theaters and hitching up with 2 frightened girls. Since then, it's been horror for me.

[Doug]

Nothing beats the smell of an old videotape in a big black box from a mom & pop video store.
Nothing.

[zombie666]

I miss the old mom and pop video stores without them I never would have seen dawn of the dead or zombie. The first time I saw night of the living dead on late night t.v. it scared me half to death. At least now my stepdaughter is showing a interest in the horror classics so I can enjoy shareing some of them with her, but I do have to be a good parent and monitor what she watches not so much for the gore nut the sex and nudity is a concern. We watched the t.v. edit of Halloween a week ago and she loved it. It was almost as much fun as seeing it for the first time.

[thedudeabides]

I can't wait to have children, because as they get older I'll have so much fun watching the movies I love with them.

Five years old isn't too young for Cannibal Ferox, is it? (I'm kidding...or am I...)

I joke with my wife and family that my future children will have many sleepless nights when they are young, but once they watch some great movies, they'll never be afraid of anything.

It will be like reliving these great moments all over again when I share them with my children. I've gotton some of those moments when I was dating my wife and she would see these movies for the first time. Now she's a seasoned horror movie watcher just like me.


In time, I think I'll be able to capture that magic once again.

Until then, I'll watch Dawn of the Dead again, and reaffirm myself in all that is good in life.

[Guy Woodhaus]

here's to being 6 years old again, wishing every day was Halloween.

[malfuncsean]

I'm with you guys. I am a very nostalgic person. I long for the days of the drive-in and small 1 & 2 screen walk in theaters. I remember watching the original "Friday the 13th" out the back window of my parents car at the drive in while they watched something else. I couldn't hear it, but I watched the whole movie. And how's about those double features! Those are a thing of the past. I remember going to a walk in and seeing "Halloween II" & "The Funhouse" together. And then a couple weeks later seeing "Halloween II" again but this time with "An American Werewolf in London." Those were the days. -Clark

[Dr. Vitus Werdegast]

Originally posted by Guy Woodhaus
here's to being 6 years old again, wishing every day was Halloween.


Everyday is Halloween :)

[Boys #22: elmie]

While I agree with all these nice waxy sentiments, allow me to put a damper on all the fun ...

A lot of this is the horror fan's own damn fault ... I don't want to knock anyone's tastes, but the films we as horror fans have come to embrace, and the smoothing of our horror antenne, is a big reason why things are different today ....

Watch the trailers ( TV spots ) for films like
MANIAC, HOUSE OF WHIPCORD, BEYOND THE DOOR, or THE PROWLER ... Those spots are disturbing ... What sucks is not only the fact that films like these are a rarity here in the USA, but how a TV spot so grim wouldn't even be tolerated .... and the movie posters have completely changed too ..... It's all been watered down so that there are NO disturbing characters anymore .... It's all easily justified through cartoonish killers and stupid humor .... and overboard CGI .....

So the next time you start thinking how great it is that Peter Jackson has become widely recognized, maybe you might want to think about how he might be part of the problem ... same goes for Eli Roth ....... When was the last time either of these guys scared anyone ??? ...... isn't that what horror is all about ???

[thedudeabides]

I think that has a lot to do with the general public. Horror fans would love less glitzy, unwatered down smart horror movies market to intelligent people who want to be scared and amazed, not som mallrat who couldn't care less what is ahppening as long as there is a "Part 5" after it.

That's what the majority of us have been lamenting on these boards for months... hell, years.

So if anyone ruined horror movies, it's the general public not the horror fans. We're the ones that keep horror movies of any type limping along.

(As for the example of Peter jackson, or anyone who makes it "big"...I like his earlier work much more. And I have no illusions on the fact that those days from him are over.)


The whole point of this thread is not to debate the status of horror. We all know what the problems are, and we all know to an extent we are part of the problem, but still, if we didn't like the state of horror today, we wouldn't wax nostalgic.


Sometimes you gotta just remember your roots.

You gotta remember what started you love for all of this.

Well, I do. And I like that feeling. And yes, I'm not getting it all that much today.

But it's not for a lack of trying.

[malfuncsean]

The reason behind all of the issues above is big business corporate America. It is all about the money. The small studios that used to give people like Geroge Romero money to make HIS films are a thing of the past. If he works with a studio now he has to play by their rules which will hurt the film. The small ma & pa video stores are almost a thing of the past because of Blockbuster. If Blockbuster carried porn then all of the small indy video stores would be closed because that is the only thing keep the few that are out there open. Drive-in theaters are all but extinct because that is one huge valuable piece of property. When my favorite drive-in was torn down guess what they built there....a fucking Wal-Mart! Same goes for the single walk-in theaters. They can't compete with the giant multiplex with 22 screens, state of the art sound systems, & lazy-boy style seats. Those days are gone my friends. Hold on to your memories because that's all you got. -Clark