It’s a common topic of conversation around this time of year: what’s the best horror movie?
Many of my blogs have featured a nostalgic theme. So indulge me as I walk down memory lane once more to answer above question. When my older brother was in his swinging teens and I could only dream about being as cool as he was, my brother played guitar in a rock and roll band. Yes, rock and roll band. That’s what they were called in those days.
My quiet, reserved, shy brother played rhythm guitar on his bright apple red Fender Stratocaster in clubs where go-go girls danced in cages right next to him.
On Saturday nights when my brother’s band had a gig, it meant he wouldn’t get home until late. Mom and Dad would often go see my brother play, but on nights they didn’t, Dad would go to bed after the 10:00 news. Mom, who to this day loves horror movies, the spookier and creepier the better, would let me stay up with her and turn on Channel 18 to watch Shock Theater.
Shock Theater is where I saw, one after another, the Universal Studio horror classics: Frankenstein, Dracula, Wolfman. I loved each and every one of them.
Decades later, the “monsters” are revered at Universal. They single-handedly saved a studio in deep economic trouble by drawing huge crowds to theaters to see the latest in the saga of each “monster.”
I never tire of seeing those old classics.
There were some horror movies I saw as a youngster that left me wide-eyed.
I recall walking out the exit doors of the old Juneau Theater on Mitchell Street that led to an alley after seeing this movie, scared out of my wits.
"Do you know where you are Bartolome?"
Of course, what could be the very best never had a monster, a man in a mask, a spaceship, a robot, or a villian with super-human strength...
Happy Halloween
