The Beginning, The Reckoning

I love the tagline 'The Beginning' especially for movies that have been franchises for quite some time. The New Beginning of the Friday the 13th series springs to mind first. I also love the tagline 'The Reckoning' although I can't think of a single movie with this particular tagline. (Quick IMDB search yeilded nothing I'm familiar with, mostly just French TV stuff) Wonder why I love this tagline so much? When I make my own movie, I'll likely give the sequel the tagline 'The Reckoning.' Anyway, it's my first post and here's the part where I introduce myself. I'm Jenn, I'm a horror movie freak and I've got a lot to say about this favorite topic of mine. There are a lot of horror blogs out there but this is MY horror blog and I'm excited about it. I've loved horror long before I knew who Boris Karloff or Lon Chaney were, I loved it long before I read an HP Lovecraft story or knew who Ray Bradbury was, and it would be years and years before I discovered Fulci, Argento, or Bava. I loved horror because of the Movie Time Video store and the horror VHS within. Those boxes, I could have stared at them for hours. I had no idea who HG Lewis was, all I knew was that 2000 Maniacs must be the scariest movie on the planet because the box (the big clamshell one with the girl after her tongue had been ripped out) was just so lurid. Who knew what it contained? It looked so taboo, so scary. The box for Uninvited made me never want to touch the cat again. And the interactive box for Frankenhooker was just so freakin fun. Who cared who Frank Henenlotter was then? I was drawn back to the horror section time and again, I always wanted to know what was behind those covers, what the tape really had in store for me. My mom didn't really care what we watched so my brother and I rented these horror stories and found out we really had a taste for them. It wasn't so much about the directors, or the effects, or the social commentary back then, it was about the thrills. It was about renting that tape, not knowing what was in store for you, taking it home, and watching something terrible and fun unfold. Years later, my brother worked at Movie Time Video and when the place went out of business a few years later, we loaded up the back of his car with most of the VHS from the store. I took most of the horror tapes home with me and still have them to this day. (I have a mighty DVD collection too, but I maintain you just cannot drunkenly pass out to a DVD like you can a VHS. The menu comes up, it startles you, you have to get up and take your contacts out and move around and you wind up in a bad mood - this means I will never get rid of my beloved VHS tapes.) This was almost 15 years ago and my addiction to horror is still going strong. I know there are lots of blogs out there about horror movies and so forth but I figure why not add another one? At least I can get some of this stuff out of my brain, something I don't get to do often as a waitress and part time English instructor. I know it's hard to believe my customers and my students don't want to discuss which Brian Yuzna movie is their favorite or if they prefer Mario's movies to Lamberto's. I'll be posting mostly review type stuff and other crap for as long as I feel like it.