This is Horror

MTV aired a series called "This is Horror" (AKA "Stephen King's World of Horror") back in 1989 and it could be responsible for my development into the freakish man I am today. Had it not been for this collection of interviews and gruesome clips, I may never have developed my Linnea Quigley fixation and pursued Night of the Demons and Sorority Babes in the Slimeball Bowl-O-Rama so doggedly. I was also introduced to the world of Sam Raimi. After watching the segment on the Evil Dead series, I immediately went out and talked my parents into renting parts 1 and 2. And then I proceeded to watch Evil Dead 2: Dead by Dawn about 15 times. (Luckily, they didn't watch them with me or my horror smorgasbord would have been over before it started.)

"This is Horror" was a rallying cry to horror fans. It confirmed what my 12 year old brain already loved about the genre and it opened my eyes to an entire universe of insanely sick and creepy stuff. Unfortunately, this series has been neglected by the DVD age so far. Some kind souls have placed some clips on Youtube but the entire series is tough to find. Here is an excellent review of the Japanese laserdisc which carries the title Encyclopedia of Horror.











Brian Yuzna segment

Drag Me to Hell

You know I hate to be topical but I do get out of the house once in a while, yes I do! I figured that Sam Raimi's first time directing a horror film in nearly 10 years was a reason to get my ass to the theaters. I met up with my friend and part-time moviethoner, Nafa, at Muvico Starlight 20 to catch Drag Me to Hell yesterday. When is the best time to catch a horror movie? Why Sunday morning, obviously.

The theater was almost deserted with only about 20 or 25 people showing up for the 11:00am show. Nafa and I sat almost next to each other but we had that empty seat between us (AKA 'man-space'). This prevents us from reaching for each other if things get too scary. We did not want this to turn into Drag Me to Cuddlefish or Drag Me to Spooning. My wife and his girlfriend need to be able to trust us on our man-dates. Armed with my Mountain Dew and Reece's Pieces and Nafa with his Diet Pepsi, we were fully prepared for Drag Me to Hell (or were we?).

Without doing an actual review (LAZY!!!), I will say that Drag Me to Hell is like going to the Haunted Mansion at Disney World if the animatronic ghosts threw hammers at your face. Muvico always cranks the volume so a roller coaster flick like this one with excellent sound design really kicked ass. What the film lacks in gore (no bodily dismemberments), it makes up for in gross outs, violence and some very bizarre imagery.

I consider this a must see for Sam Raimi fans. It's both scary and funny. He has taken a break from emo spiders to do something really friggin' cool. The story, the cast, the soundtrack and airtight direction are all aces. Plus, on the drive home in broad daylight, I was getting very creeped out just thinking about what I had just seen.

So let's see: $16 million for opening weekend? That's not too bad but let's not let this one drop off the map, okay folks? Go see Drag Me to Hell. You won't regret it.