Written in Blood

For years I thought my earliest theatrical experience belonged to Duck Tales the Movie: Treasure of the Lost Lamp (1990). Even in my hazy, 6-year-old memory, I recall the dark theater, the huge screen...

As were most teenagers in the late 90s, I was a Tim Burton fan. It was hard not to be given his striking aesthetic and proclivity for telling dark fairy tales in a way...

When it comes to the movies, comedy was my first love. Sure, horror has my heart these days, but I can’t deny that for a huge portion of my young life I was a slapstick...

In the summer of 2004, I spent my Friday nights shilling concessions to people trying to catch the latest blockbuster releases. As they are today, back then most of the screens in my particular...

The soft glow of multi-colored florescent lights was the only thing polluting the darkness. The shadows from the limbs of the faux-evergreen which they adorned creeped into the entryway of the room housing our...

Long before I had ever seen a horror movie in full, I was well aware that a man wearing a hockey mask and brandishing a sharp weapon was bad news. I can’t quite pinpoint it,...

As a burgeoning horror fan in the mid-2000s, it became rather apparent fairly quickly that not everyone in the world was as into the genre as I was. Sure, these days horror seems to be...

Everything transforms eventually, in one way or another. But, let me back up… While 1981 saw the release of three rather large in scope werewolf films, An American Werewolf in London, The Howling and Wolfen,...

My imagination was running wild. The menacing heads of encroaching zombies stretched as far as the yellow and black horizon, under the shadow of a dimly lit cityscape. Floating above it all in large red...

Growing up, my house tended to be the spot where most of my friends hung out. We had video games, a pantry stacked with snacks, parents that didn’t interfere… you know, the usual. but...

In my fledgling days of horror fandom, browsing the new release aisle at the local retailers was a weekly tradition. Every Tuesday, I would hit my electronics store of choice, scouring the shelves for...

The TV glowed in the center of the room, reflecting the visage of a stern looking news anchor going on about something I had no doubt was very serious. Sure, I was tired, but...

After the cereal had grown soggy and the orange juice was long gone, the final credits rolled on the morning’s last cartoon. Still, the day was far from over. It was time to roll...

At first glance, I thought I was staring at a copy of Twilight (2008). The pale, brooding face staring down from the top right corner of the key art was a dead ringer for Robert...

Even as a child, with no knowledge or interest in the more horrific stories that the world had to offer me, I was aware of the name: Stephen King. The moniker felt more like a...

The bulk of my experience with horror as a kid can be summed up by all of the unreasonably disconcerting VHS covers I nervously studied while passing by them in the video store. The...

Horror movie tropes are a funny thing. On the one hand, they’re sort of comforting. Like an old friend, showing up to chat and have a beer. Familiar. Enjoyable in the way that nostalgic memories...

I have a confession: I didn’t always get horror. You see, the horror genre and I have a long, sordid relationship. Sure, everything is all wine and roses now, but, like most great romances, it...

I’m not ashamed to admit that as a budding horror fan, my first obsession— my first love— was zombie flicks. George A. Romero’s Night of the Living Dead (1968) ignited a passion within me for...

Fandom, that is, one’s dedication to a particular topic, study or artistic exploit, is driven and often defined by discovery. Exploration. Finding something new… and taking it with you as your appreciation and understanding...

The day the Hollywood Video finally opened its doors was a notable one in the small town where I grew up. Over the months leading up to its grand opening, my friends and I had...

It was late and it was snowing. I was wrapped in a blanket that smelled sort of funny, you know, a musty sort of smell that led me to believe it had been balled...

“He left me, as a reminder of what happens when hope is lost, when belief is forgotten, and the Christmas spirit dies.” Now, I know what you’re thinking: it’s Christmas and, conceptually speaking, a dead...

I had been hearing about Tucker and Dale vs. Evil (2010) for over a year when it finally hit Netflix in late 2011. I was deeply entrenched in the horror genre then— scouring...

Creating something, regardless of your canvas of choice, is a frustrating, tumultuous process. The act requires sacrifice, both of self and ideology, resulting in something that goes out into the world and, in turn,...