Tuesday, October 9, 2007
Well it’s that time of the year again when such diverse occasions like celebrations and legislative responsibilities are at hand. The Supreme Court gets back to work perverting and distorting our constitution, the German people all over the world don those idiotic hat-shorts-suspenders outfits in recognition of Oktoberfest, and I, your lovely host, begin the most important celebration of all; that infamous annual cinematic extravaganza…The Keck Horror Film Festival!
As many of you know...I’m weird. Or so they say. (I’m not, actually, but if some want to think so, let ‘em have it). Anyway, the Horrorfest. It starts on October 1st, and ends on Halloween night. Here’s the basic set-up. I watch horror and science fiction movies all month long and nothing but. I have probably forty or fifty films to get through, so I need that long to get to all of them. I refrain from watching any horror or science fiction movies during the other months of the year so the anticipation is as strong as a vampire waiting for sunset. Actually, that’s stupid. A vampire is asleep during the day so he isn’t ‘waiting’ for sunset, but you get the picture.
I almost lost it and started before the first of October rolled around. But I was strong and held out. Which made the morning of the first day terribly exciting. I felt like Colin Clive: “IT’S ALIVE, IT’S ALIVE!!!”
The Keck Horrorfest is a grand thing, indeed. Just think of it; waiting all year, no vampires, no werewolves, no cyborgs, nothing…for a whole year. Am I the model of self-control or what? It was tough, sure, but I did it. And now, it’s here, in all its bloody glory.
The list? Well, among others we have (not in order) John Carpenter’s The Thing and Halloween. Romero’s dead trilogy, Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead, and Day of the Dead–Land of the Dead NOT included. Also, the new Dawn of the Dead, definitely one of the greats and a future classic. Alien and Aliens, Predator and Predator II, The Terminator and The Terminator II, The Blob 1958 version (campy I know, but I like it), The Haunting 1963 version, The Fly, both the original and the remake, the Hammer Film’s The Horror of Dracula with Christopher Lee, the greatest Count Dracula to date, The Innocents, Innocent Blood, Near Dark, Phase IV, Hitchcock’s Psycho and The Birds, and far too many more to name. On some days I will watch six or seven movies in a row. Yes, no exaggeration. It’s an all day and all night affair. My record (not for a festival) is fourteen and a half hours straight. Weird? Naaahhh…
Oh yes, it’s going to be a month of wonderful entertainment for me and some of my closest and most discriminating horror fan friends. They only do some of the movies; they aren’t quite the macho man that I am.
But, fear not my faithful readers, I will still be writing my column each week, just as before. And just for you, my loyal following, for the whole month of October my ‘Let’s Talk’ section will reflect the Halloween season tradition. I will be putting up articles dealing only with a horror or sci-fi theme.
Well, there you go. The Keck Horror Film Festival. It only comes around once a year, but when it does, I’m in Heaven. Of all my movie festivals the Horrorfest is my favorite.
Yes, there are others.
So have a happy Halloween, and do yourself a favor. Watch one or all of the films I’ve mentioned. You’ll be glad you did. After all, as you know, if I recommend it you know you can’t go wrong…or so you’re told.
