Let The Festivities Begin

I started off the Halloween weekend movie marathon by watching 'The American Nightmare,' a documentary that examines some of the seminal horror flicks from the 60's & 70's. I found this highly enjoyable because it contained a lot of director commentaries that examined the societal issues and influences of the time, and how they related to or were reflected in the movies discussed. Some of the horror greats giving insight in this documentary include John Carpenter, Tom Savini, Wes Craven, David Cronenberg, Tobe Hooper, John Landis & George Romero. Great stuff.

Next, I indulged in the campy classic, Evil Dead 2. I love the Evil Dead movies. When I was a teenager, there was a period of time where my siblings were living with my grandmother, and I was staying with my father (my mom had died years earlier). I was working part time, and needed to entertain myself while my father was working. Spending a lot of time alone, I really got into horror flicks. My dad would take me to the video store & I'd load up on my first time rentals of movies like Evil Dead, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Basket case, Sleepaway Camp, Night of the Living Dead and Nightmare on Elm Street...I got into reading a lot of Stephen King at that time, as well. It's nice to have these movies to serve as a catalyst for a rubber band effect in bringing back the memories of seeing many of these great movies for the first time years ago.

Cronenberg's The Fly is about to hit the dvd player....more to come later.