You supporting your local horror scene?

I hope you all had a nice weekend! I know I did! I got a bit of much needed rest and relaxation after a long week of work at the day job. Friday night, I went to a screening of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre at Cult Fiction Underground in East Nashville. There was a special Q&A with John Dugan, aka Grandpa which was insightful and entertaining. Dugan is a pretty funny guy and he is super nice. It was nice to see Texas projected, even if it was a cleaned up blu-ray.

While there, it got me wondering about the idea of a local horror scene. The folks in attendance were a whos who of local horror nerds. I started to wonder, why aren't we more punk rock about this? Why isn't there more of a sense of community? And then I remembered, we're all a bunch of nerds. We're genetically predisposed to be antisocial mouth breathers. Im guilty of it myself. When I was running my site, I was making an effort to highlight local stores and movie screenings but I did little to organize anything substantial.

While Cult Fiction Underground hosts screenings in their humble theater weekly, I kinda want more. I want something bigger like The Hudson Horror Show. I want 35mm projections and multiple movie lineups with a fully stocked bar! Is that too much to ask? We have The Belcourt in town. Maybe something can be set up there. Maybe, I should write an email.

Texas Chainsaw Nostalgia

Tonight in Nashville, there is a screening of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre at a crazy awesome place called Cult Fiction Underground. Cult Fiction Underground is a tiny theater in the basement of an even crazier place called Logue's Black Raven Emporium. I hesitate to label this place as a vintage shop only because it has a vibe that cant really be labeled. Anyway, if any of you are ever in Nashville this is a place to check out without a doubt.

With that all being said, a special opportunity presents itself tonight alongside the screening. John Dugan, Grandpa himself will be in attendance telling stories about production and such before the screening. The opportunity in question is the chance to ask this gentleman anything I want to know about TCM. To be honest, all the questions I have had have all been answered at some point. I honestly can't think of anything I'd want to ask him.

Either way, it will be cool to see the film in such a crazy environment. But to prep myself, I watched the movie again last night for the first time in a year or so. I used to watch this movie at least once a week for the longest time. Many nights, it was what I put on to go to sleep to. So, I know it well.

But, on this particular viewing I had a more than usual critical eye. I started to think that The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is less of a horror film, than it is a surrealistic visual and audio nightmare. Its focused more on disturbing imagery and disorienting sound effects than it is on gore and jump scares.

This movie has always played better to me with my eyes closed drifting off to sleep than it has with an attentive eye. I love this movie. Don't get it twisted as they say. Maybe it's just me, but Ive always though that Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 surpasses the original in concept and execution as a horror film. Bill Moseley alone makes this movie 100 times more entertaining. And need I remind you...

Oh my achin bananna!

And I know, its a different kind of movie. You probably shouldn't stack them up against each other. So on and so forth, TCM is a classic, its a trendsetter, slow burn....whatever. I get it. I love it, remember? I'm the guy who used to use it as a lullaby, But, to reiterate what I'm saying. Maybe, just maybe its not a horror movie. Maybe its more along the lines of E. Elias Merhige's Begotten with just a slice of Slasher film snuck in. Or maybe I'm over thinking it. Maybe Texas Chainsaw is just a slasher film. Thats what everyone says.

I'm sure Dugan wouldn't say anything different if I asked him, "Hey Grandpa! Was The Texas Chainsaw Massacre originally intended to be an esoteric, surrealistic dream set against an angst-y counter cultural landscape that was meant to lull the viewer into a apathetic state of disillusion concerning the counter culture of the late 60s/early 70s?"

Maybe I should be that guy.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!!

Good morning Blog readers and Bloggers alike! The time now is 10:12 AM on January 2nd in the year of our Lord, 2014. I've decided to try my hand at blogging once again and maybe, just maybe I'll stick to it this time.

This year will be an exciting year for me for many reasons. The first reason of course is the impending birth of my child. The sex will be determined in a few weeks and it's due on May 28th. We are planning on being out of the crazy warehouse loft that we live in and into a house by the time the baby is born. That's the plan anyway and its a good fucking plan! We'll see how it folds out.

On top of that, I've decided at least internally that I wont be doing any haunt work this year in the fall. The past 2 seasons, I've worked for Gore House. I did a lot over the course of our 2 years there. I helped design, I helped makeup, I ran characters, as well as my own character in the front of the house. The haunt has since been bought out and I have no intentions of working for a new crew. And I have been offered spots at Monster Mountain and Nashville Nightmare but, with the baby coming in the early Summer, I don't feel like my weekends in the Fall would be best spent not home with the newborn and a postpartum Wife. So, it will be my first season in almost 14 years that I havent worked a haunt.

So, 2014 is a new baby, new home, and a haunt season without professional obligations outside of my day job. That's pretty exciting.

With the Christmas season just behind us, I figured Id take a minute to brag about some of my loot. I got a ton of Fright-Rag shirts including but not limited to the following designs...

 

On top of the awesome shirts, I got a huge load of Blu-rays! I got the new Friday the 13th Blu-ray collection in the tin case. It comes with an awesome patch, a nice little booklet and a sweet tin case. Ive read some bad reviews on it complaining about the lack of uncut versions, cardboard sleeves, etc...etc and that's all well and good. I get it, but whatever. Im happy to have it in my collection.

I also received Chucky: The Complete Collection on Bluray. I watched every single one right in a row for the first time in years. Such a good series and the attention to continuity is pretty refreshing considering how uncommon that can be in horror franchises. I'm looking at you Halloween!!! I also locked down The Lords of Salem, the new Evil Dead remake and The Girl Next Door which I still haven't seen.

There is some new reading on my agenda as well. Doctor Sleep was another gift and Im about 60 pages deep. So far so good. Im going to have to alternate it with my baby books.

So, life is good. It looks like Ill be spending the next 3 months or so catching up to what is new in the horror world. If you read this blog, Im totally open to some new horror suggestions. Im way behind.

Thanks!

Squid