Welcome to Dr. Mystery's third blog. As some of you may know, I have an obsession with lists. Movie lists, music lists, book lists, sandwich lists, etc. While I find the ranking of films, albums, etc. in any hierarchical order ridiculous, I love watching, listening to, reading, and/or eating all the items on a list. It's fun for me, and it's a good way to expose myself to the many wonderful, good, overlooked, underrated, overrated, baffling, stupid, and occasionally shitty things life has to offer that I otherwise might never have encountered. It's also fun to watch, read, etc. the big pile of stuff in the context of the list, and make interesting connections between each item. I'm a list nerd. I also really like movies, and I like writing about movies. I do this on Film-Watching Robot, and the predominant subject tends to be film as an art form. The word "art" has been so badly abused by jerks and assnuts that most people think art films (as opposed to "art films," c.f., the real-life equivalents of art-film parody "The Flower that Drank the Moon" in Zwigoff and Clowes' "Ghost World") are dreary, dull, depressing, and elitist. I find real art exciting, thrilling, fun, and pleasurable. Sometimes real art can be difficult and frustrating, but, then again, so is skiing and eating too many hot dogs. People tend to make up their minds about art before they give it a chance. "Art's not for me. It's none of my business." But I digress. I spend a lot of time writing about neglected artworks, or at least what I feel are neglected artworks, but I'm also a big proponent of stoopid fun. Fun is important. High culture and low culture are both worth our time. It's only middle culture that should be avoided, at all costs. I'm taking a long time to get to a setup of this blog. I apologize for the shittiness of this introduction. Let's try this again.
I love horror movies. I haven't had much of a chance to write about horror movies on Film-Watching Robot. My love of lists and horror movies led me to a used copy of Fangoria's 101 Best Horror Movies You've Never Seen, a guide to underrated and overlooked horror movies. (I used to buy copies of Fangoria magazine behind my mother's back as a child. She thought the blood and gore would warp my impressionable young mind. And IT DID! Bwa-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!) I have made it my business to watch all 101 of these films and report my findings on this blog, hopefully with lots of stills and YouTube clips. I have watched nine of them so far, and have been averaging two or three a month. Won't you join me and rekindle our collective love of horror movies (all of us, right?)? Pleasant screams, douchebags. First update to come later today (or tonight).
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Horror and exploitation movies from the 20th century reviewed semi-weekly
First 10 Songs on Shuffle
- Dinosaur Jr - Feel The Pain
- The Fall - A Lot Of Wind
- Gato Barbieri - Fireflies
- Jerry Holmes - I'm The Man
- Bobby "Blue" Bland - Don't Cry No More
- Sam Cooke - Bring It On Home To Me (live)
- Isis - Stone To Wake A Serpent
- The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Love Or Confusion
- The Sensational Alex Harvey Band - Vambo Marble Eye
- Guided By Voices - How Can You?
Links to My Other Writing
Blog Archive
2 comments:
Over time people change, but change need not equate to growth. Some cast off influences, loves, and obsessions like a constrictive skin; whereas others build upon them. As a child, I adored monsters and being frightened. I turned to artificial horrors as an escape from the horrors of life. Gradually, my tastes became more diverse, but my love for horror never left me. I would walk to the local video stores and rent every horror film -- shit or otherwise. It was not until I was able to drive -- or be driven -- to our neighbor city over the bridge that I was exposed to art, independent, and foreign films. Tarkovsky quick became a favorite, but I still was overwhelmed by quiet horror films like The Changeling and remained entertained by absurdities like Dr. Butcher, M.D.. The "M.D." abbreviating "Medical Deviate" for the retitled and recut American video release of Zombi Holocaust.
I could go on, but I would only sound more and more like a demented douchebag. Anyway, I will gladly join you in this endeavor -- I shall pick up the book on the return home from work tomorrow. Being somewhat familiar with it, I believe I have seen about seventy-five of the films -- though many of them I have not seen in years.
If this list falls readily enough, I also have Rue Morgue's The Connoisseur's Guide to 100 Alternate Horror Films.
Excellent! Thanks for joining the party. And thanks for mentioning that Rue Morgue list. I ordered a copy after reading your comment, and will tackle it after the Fangoria list.
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