Growing up I always had a decent library of horror movies on hand. Old VHSs of Hellraiser, Friday the 13th, A Nightmare on Elm Street, and The Thing recorded off HBO or copied from a friend. USAs Up All Night and TNTs MonsterVision were on the air ready to rot my brains and satisfy my horror hunger. You could even catch an all day horror marathon some Saturdays on the Sci-Fi channel. Suffice it to say, my childhood was filled with horror movies.
A few times I had heard family talking about movies they had seen and how gory and frightening they were. One time really sticks out for me, the first time I heard about both The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and The Last House on the Left. I had to have been about twelve at the time, when I heard two older guys comparing the goriest movies they have ever seen. One mentioned TCM (which in an odd twist ended up being one of the least gory movies ever) and was describing the legendary meat hook scene in lurid detail. The other guy sorta shrugged it off and went in with The Last House on the Left, intestines and all. I was so enamored by the things I was hearing, I had to see these movies. I would, much later down the road.
It wasn't until 2003 that I would come across a website and community that would take a life of mild interest in horror and turn it into an obsession. http://www.houseofhorrors.com/ became my own little horror haven. I read about each movie in the Vault, I had never heard of most of them but seeing them along side some of my favorites made me very curious. I sought them out. Rental places, local stores, and even just online. These were the early days of downloading movies, the early days of video compression. When you downloaded a movie, it generally looked terrible. But that didn't matter. It was like when you had a friend copy a friends movie, you always suffered a little, but you got to watch it. And it made it that much better when you got your hands on a copy and saw it all in its true glory.
The first movie that I got my hands on was Evil Dead. I owned Army of Darkness so I was familiar with Ash and the Deadites, I was interested in checking out how it all began. I downloaded some blocky version online and spent the night alone in a pitch black living room as it all unfolded before my eyes. I loved it. Sure it didn't have the humor of Army of Darkness, but it had something else... A sense of creepiness. A sense of horror. The deadite in the cellar constantly watching, it's heavy breathing, its gurgling, it's taunting. Everything just worked. I had found an amazing movie that opened the floodgates to many more.
I started working my way through the movies in the Vault. Dawn of the Dead, Day of the Dead, Dead Alive, Evil Dead 2, etc... I found them all and loved them. I started lurking in the forums, going through threads of peoples favorite movies or the most brutal/disturbing they had seen. I noticed a few pop up on a more regular basis. Cannibal Holocaust and Guinea Pig Vol. 3: Flower of Flesh and Blood. They way people described them made them sound so amazing and horrific. I set out on my search. It was a no go on Guinea Pig. Don't know why, I just couldn't find it anywhere. But I did find Cannibal Holocaust.
I waited until everyone in my house was asleep. With the volume low, I sat back and watched what at that point in time was the most gruesome thing I had ever seen. I saw so many things I had never before seen put to celluloid. I didn't know how to feel. I know I felt dirty... but it wasn't bad. I felt beat up, but it was good. I felt alive. I had found a type of rush that few things could top. I had found an addiction. It was my new goal to find the most fucked up and disturbing movies around.
Some time down the road I acquired a job. Living with my dad, I could use the money for whatever I wanted. I wanted movies. Downloading them was all fine for a simple viewing, but nothing beats the feel of owning the real deal. The first movie I ever purchased was.... Evil Dead. It felt right. It was the movie that got me into this world, so its only fitting that it was the first in what grew to be a large collection. But I was looking for more. I wanted the dirtiest. I wanted the most soul crushing, heart rending films I could find. The first of these was my copy of The Untold Story. I had to order it off Ebay because at that time Amazon didn't carry it. It was a thrill. I didn't have an ebay account so I had to pass some money to a friend so he could make the purchase. I waited for what seemed like an eternity for it to come in the mail. I found out why soon after seeing it, it came directly from Hong Kong. I felt ecstatic. I waited for my house to be empty and popped it in. To this day that movie is still one of my favorites.
From there it only got worse. More movies, more money, more brutal. It was a couple of years later when I found what ended up being the rule to which I would measure all movies hence forth: August Underground. I didn't start with the first. In fact, I both watched and acquired them in reverse order. Penance stuck with me. I couldn't stop thinking about it. It was weeks before I was ready and watched Mordum. It was so much. I felt bad. I felt horrible. But I loved them. Weeks later again and it was time for the original August Underground. These movies set a new standard for me, one that I later had to stop judging other movies against because nothing really held up against it.
Lucky for me there was a lot of life in the horror scene, independent studios were making great things (like Toe Tag), there was the start of the French Extreme movement, and we were seeing more public interest in all things brutal. And this brings us to today.
I'm just a normal guy who is always looking for more. I felt like that passion should go somewhere, so here I am. Telling all about my thoughts and experiences with these great movies. I will cover everything from older movies to the latest. The paranormal, the mild, the slashers, giallo, the exploitive, and the snuff. Thanks for checking it out, hope you stay and like it.
tl;dr- I like horror movies, have seen a ton and will be reviewing them and talking about them.
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