31 FLAVORS OF HORROR is what I ended up calling my month-long Halloween column, a celebration of the horror genre. I did it last year and it almost killed me, so naturally now, with a way busier schedule, I’m doing it again. According to my scientific calculations, October is thirty-one days. That means thirty-one blog-items. Sure, 31 is a number with a pronounced ice cream association, which may not be seasonally appropriate, but sugary treats are, so I’m going with it. And if the title seems corny, well, just think of popcorn, which is another very appropriate foodstuff.
Why this, now? Well, I love this time of year. I love Halloween. Monsters and candy: What’s not to love? More than that, I love movies. Daydreams in dark rooms. Combine all these things and there’s not much better about life. I can’t claim to be the world’s foremost horror fan, but I do know a few things, and beyond that, I’d like this to be a voyage of discovery for myself and hopefully anyone else who’s reading it.
Here’s how I’ll define horror for these purposes: Anything resembling scary movies, thrillers, suspense pictures, monster movies, and even science fiction — as long as creepy creatures are involved. I’ll mostly stick to movies, because that’s where the lion’s share of my knowledge and interest lies, but I may also spotlight novels, comic books, cartoons, music, and any other media, as long as the subject matter applies.
I love watching movies and I love talking about movies, both of which are activities that work best when other people are involved. It makes me happy to turn people on to movies they may not have seen yet, or to look at movies they may have already seen several times in a new and slightly different way. That’s what I hope to do with this column. I’m coming at this from a positive place; I hope to drum up some enthusiasm for the things that need the extra attention, and to share in the enthusiasm for the things that already are benefitting from plenty. If I encounter something too awful to be friendly about, I’ll at least do my best to be funny.
From this moment until November 1st, I’m not going to stop unless I’m somehow stopped. So if you hate what I’m doing, feel free to let me know – although effusive praise is equally appreciated. Twitter has become the most efficient place to do either the praising or the hating:
Recommendations and requests are particularly welcome, so let me know if there’s a horror flick you’d love to see spotlighted. But for now I’m headed back to school. First up will be one of the classics: Karl Freund’s 1932 THE MUMMY.
Meanwhile, here’s the graveyard plot containing last year’s picks:
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And here are a ton of horror-genre-related pieces originally posted throughout the years on my site, DEMON’S RESUME:
