once more....with feeling

While not a horror icon, Forrest Griffin is an icon to me. I have not blogged for awhile. Horror is still and will always be, my third love. Behind my wife (#1) and poetry (#2). But if there was a life I live- or a life I'd like to live- it would be Forest Griffin's. The real life Brad Pitt from fight Club. The man who can turn a boyish happy face into Swiss-cheese in under fifteen minutes. I have always wanted to be a fighter. The blood dripping into my lungs, in real life- not just on screen.

So, I wrestled in high school. I was never good. But I loved the sport. The brutality. The contact. The blood after practice. The drive. The passion. I was never good, but I tasted the feeling just enough to make it stick. Now I am a high school wrestling coach. This would have to be my fourth love, coaching wrestling. Just this past week I started training and weightlifting again. I want to get into shape before this season begins (Nov 1). The feeling i get after my body has been put through the grinder is on par with the feeling I get after writing a good poem. So here I am, once more....with feeling. Trying to not talk about fight club.

Six Feet Under True Blood

While I will refrain from judgement until I see more episodes...the early reports (from me and my wife) indicate that HBO's new series True Blood will be fantastic. No, I have not read the Charlaine Harris books, but will over this Fall. Like the Dexter series on Showtime, I like how cable networks are making good shows that promote better literature. Will this series still has much to develop, it looks great. Horror= bring it on. the show is by Alan ball who did Six Feet Under...a friggin classic of a show. I used to count the days until another new six feet episode. i hope to get the same from this program. And if it fails...so what, at least the networks are trying. Although the new incarnation of Masters of Horror (Fear Itself) was watched by me and two other people. Kudos to networks, especially HBO and Showtime for giving horror a chance. Let the blood friggin flow!

sleep....continued

"I've been guarding my gate for a long time..bitch!"

-Freddy proclaims to Alice Johnson (Lisa Wilcox) in the final scene of A Nightmare on Elm Street 4.

That line just stuck with me. Here we are, another random Tuesday...and I am restless.

Let me explain. Every night, I fall asleep watching a horror film. I go on kicks. Or series you could call them. Right now, for the hundred and fifth time, I am on an Elm Street kick (no, that's not all I watch, I am not obsessed). I start with one....then watch em' all...all the way up the Freddy v. Jason (which I loved) or...whatever else "they" make my "last" film of the week.

That line....I've been guarding my gate a long time....stuck with me. i have been doing this awhile. even before blogging. Before facebook. Even before Bill Gates. I have been in love with horror. I complain, yet, bring on the lack of sleep. I admit, yet relish in the love of horror. I want to hug and appreciate all those that admit...horror is A O K. No, I am not goth. I am a straight-laced father, teacher and I go to church. But horror is undefinable. Thanks to all that are out there, reading this, loving Halloween, enjoying blood, and seeing the truth that this genre presents us with.

My face...a book...oh the horror.

Clive Barker once said..."every body is a book of blood, when we're opened, we're red."

I hope facebook serves me right. Yes, through the advice of a trusted best friend I have joined facebook. When my friend visited this weekend he asked "are you on facebook?" My reply was....ummm...yes, I've heard of it, no I don't live in a cellar, but no I have no facebook...I'm not sixteen.

His reply..."well it's a great way to stay connected to old friends." and given that I am not the best for staying in touch with people. I talk to the friends I have here in Cincinnati, but not other friends, the few I have, that live in far away cities. I don't call them. i don't write to them. i don't send Christmas cards.

But per the conviction of my friend, I have joined facebook. To meet old friends. So if your on there, I'm on there. Maybe, like Clive says...i will be a face book of blood. Back to more horror blogging after the fireworks are over here in the nati.

Stephen King's N.

Nightmares

Well, the first week of school is over. And I am exhausted. Not due to school. But rather, what I think are self-induced nightmares. While getting back to school and asking for back to school horror films to watch...I found what I forgot is one of my favorites. I appreciate the suggestions, Christine and Ginger Snaps- both wonderful films. But I forgot A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge.

While A Nightmare on Elm Street may be a franchise riddled with comical cheese...nightmare 2 was the one that got me. When I was in the seventh grade and my family lived in a small, two-bedroom apartment...my brother had a friend over. My brother and his friend were four years older than me and my parents were out of town. He was supposed to be watching me. But he and his friend watched A Nightmare on Elm Street 2. And they let me watch.

I was spooked. I was scared to death. But kept watching. And here I am twenty years later blogging about it. So, when I brainstormed back to school horror movies, I remembered Elm Street 2. The bus scene.

This week I watched Elm Street, over two or three nights, in bed....as I always do to fall asleep with a horror movie. Normally I watch a movie, about twenty minutes worth, then drift into sleep. for some reason, the stars aligned this week and when I watched Elm Street 2...i never fell asleep much afterwards. I have probably only slept max, about three hours a night this week. Granted, it may be due to stress...back to school...whatever. But I think it is the film. Nightmare 2 is one sequel that i think....and I know I'm on a limb here...is better than the original. That buss scene creeps me out. The pool scene...where Freddy proclaims "you are all my children now..." are classic.

I didn't have nightmares this week. I just couldn't sleep. I am tired. But like it. Horror films can scare us, spook us, make us think, or just make us restless. that is why they are so powerful. The good ones affect people. A Nightmare on Elm Street 2 is a good one.

Real horror: back to school

Yes, it's that time of year: back to school. While daddy day care all Summer is fun, nothing beats teaching and going back to school. the students hate it- but teachers love the sounds of squeaky new shoes, scrawny-scared-freshman, and that feel of Autumn in the air.

So, while I may not be able to blog as much in the next few weeks: I did brainstorm what would be a great back to school horror movie to watch. I realized, there aren't many that I can think of (please, send suggestions in if you have some).

One I did think of was Lucky McKee's THE WOODS. This is a fantastic film, set in an all girls academy with spookiness going on in (you guessed it) the woods. There is great acting in this one, particularly from Ash himself, Bruce Campbell... playing a fairly straight-laced father. Luckey McKee is best known for his film May- starring Angela Bettis. Bettis in turn directed McKee in Roman. May and Roman are both great films. The Woods came after Roman and is a film I feel got too little attention. Maybe its not too scary....or too bloody....or came out at the wrong time (during the Hostel fueled torture horror times). But give the Woods a chance. And...please send me any ideas for "back to school horror."

The best school movie I could thin of was Summer School. With those guys that love Leatherface and the teacher leading the summer school class of misfits. But that's not really horror. Happy Haunting to all this Fall!