Part I: Fresh Meat
There seems to be a pandemic in the horror watching community, and I'm a part of that pandemic. A lot of so-called dedicated horror film buffs are stuck in a rut. Actually, I'm going to speak for myself. I'm stuck in a rut. All of the films that I grew to love during my formative years (I'd say 11 - 25) are the only films or franchises that I will watch. That's it. So what's so terrible about that? What's terrible is that I'm not giving any new horror a chance to become like those films that I'm so attached to. There's no word being spread from my mouth, tweetersphere, facebookandia, or any other source of spreading the word of new horror so that someone may randomly look upon those things or hear my words and search that new film out. I've come across many tweets and articles on websites that proclaim that this is - as I said earlier - a pandemic of sorts.
The last horror film that I saw in theaters was The Purge. That was almost over a year ago. The last horror film that I caught on demand was Bad Milo. In between those two, the only new horror films that I've caught were Carrie and You're Next. Aside from those 4, I've watched Nightmare 1-4, Carpenter's Halloween, Scream 4, Rob Zombie's Halloween, Fright Night ('85), The Cabin In the Woods (twice), and F13: IV. The latter list are all films that I've seen multiple times, but always find a nostalgic factor in sitting down with them over and over. Yeah, even Zombie's Halloween. I could write an entire thesis paper on how people are obsessed with nostalgia (hi fellow millennials), and if I started on that here, I'd probably be writing until the wee hours of the morning. So I won't.
How do I remedy this? Doesn't sitting down and watching new horror films sound so freaking easy? Considering that the VOD platform is overflowing with releases each month, I should have watched a plethora of new films. Nope. Negative. I shall change all of that. I swear by my Heather Langenkamp signed copy of the Nightmare blus, I will change that.
Part II: The Past Haunts Me
This can contradict the whole watching past movies to settle me horror crave. There are a ton of what are considered horror classics that I've just never bothered to sit and watch. A recent conversation with a friend brought this realization to light as he listed off a handful of films that he thought a self-proclaimed horror buff should have seen. He listed off five movies to which my responses were "Haven't seen" before I started making a list of films that I needed to sit and watch. I went to Facebook asking the peoples there to list films that they thought were classic, and about 80% of those, I hadn't seen.
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| See? That's 49 comments worth of shame. |
Again, this should be an easy fix. But good news! I did start on this. I recently watched Rosemary's Baby for the first time ever. Did I like? Yes, yes, and yes, I did. Mia Farrow's Rosemary, I love you. Such a sordid, twisted tale. Ti West seemed to have learned a little something from Roman Polanski. Thank you, slow burn. That Ti West statement is the best realization that I came out of watching Rosemary. The influences that that past greats now have on the recent greats are noticeable.
Part III: Lists Are Important
So here I am. And here are the lists of films that I plan to watch before the year is out. The lists are separated into the new films coming out soon or recently released and the classics from the past.
New . Recentish
Nurse 3D
Grand Piano
The Sacrament
Blood Glacier
All Cheerleaders Must Die
Willow Creek
Wolfcop
The Purge: Anarchy
Deliver Us from Evil
Life After Beth
Cooties
Only Lovers Left Alive
Godzilla (Does he count? Sure, he does)
Note: These are the only titles that have interested me based on either trailer or plot. My happy ass wishes it had time to sit and watch every film that was released. Also, the majority of found footage films will not be seen by my eyes unless its synopsis is something new ... which is rare.
From Their Past, Not Mine. Yet.
Phantasm
Phantasm II
Phantasm III
Phantasm IV
Below
The Last Winter
Don't Look Now
I Spit On Your Grave
The Entity
The Orphanage
The Devil's Backbone
Trilogy of Terror
Trilogy of Terror II
Psycho
Psycho II
Psycho III
Psycho IV
See No Evil ('71)
Cujo
The Sentinel
Amityville Horror ('79)
The Mouth of Madness
The Changeling
Needful Things
Peeping Tom
Night of the Demons ('88)
Sleepaway Camp
Witchboard
Lifeforce
So much. Too much. Not enough! Okay, I leave you with the trailer of what I hope will be pure brilliance.
