Fear is a big part of childhood for a lot of reasons. For one thing, you’re physically small at that age, so your surroundings naturally seem more imposing. Beyond that, you lack knowledge of how the world around you truly works, so you have more difficulty distinguishing between what’s real and what’s imaginary. That weird …
Do you remember this movie? I think Valentine pretty much disappeared within a few years of its release, but I did find some fans out there while researching on the web. I remember when I saw it in theaters. February 16th, 2001, with a large group of my friends. Weekly movie theater night was a …
For decades now, horror filmmakers have been warning audiences that the inanimate objects around us may just come to life someday and try to kill us. Common items we see every day — our vehicles, our household appliances, even our food — it’s all coming to get us eventually, so we’d better be ready. This …
Highway 299 high up in the Trinity Alps. Nighttime. Nobody on the road. On the side of a mountain looking down into a valley as my girlfriend puked her guts up on the road’s shoulder. All those years of studying Leatherface and his clan led to this moment. All those years of wondering why the …
The year was 1990. I was excited walking into the theater to watch Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III on its opening night. I avoided all media coverage about it (which was just Fangoria at the time), though I had seen a few promising photos. I wanted to be surprised. Would it live up to …
I love animation in all of its forms, but claymation is certainly my all-time favorite. Seeing 3-dimensional Plasticine people come to life is like breathing life into your favorite childhood toys. It’s just magical. When I realized that my neighbor Brian Shaw also shared a love for claymation films, we immediately agreed to start making …
Watching the 1986 Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 was not like watching the original for the first time. Gone was that sense of realism, and absolute terror was not the norm throughout the film. It was, however, its own special kind of beast, and it was one I thoroughly enjoyed. The sequel had moments of terror. …
Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2. The year was 1986, and it was coming. My first indication of it was not Fangoria, surprisingly enough. I used to devour each issue as it came out, but for some reason the only store near me that carried it was getting shorted its copies or not getting it at all, …
Note: If you have not read parts one and two of this column, please do so here and here first. Now I had my very own VHS copy of Texas Chainsaw Massacre. My Holy Grail of horror films. It was mine to keep forever. To say I was in Heaven was an understatement. The fact …
The title really says it all, but I’ll elaborate. I must have been 11 or 12 when I first watched Creepshow. My grandmother had rented some scary movies for me in early October of that year and most of them were classics I’d seen before. One film in that stack though was new to me, …
