It's a Horror to Know You:: Carl of The Devil Made Me Watch!

It's a Horror to Know You: Carl from The Devil Made Me Watch!

1. What is the first film that ever scared you?

The first one I remember losing sleep over had to be Evil Dead 2. Weird when I think back about it now as that one is hilarious. But back then 8 year old me did not get the humor at all. I remember waking up in the middle of the night and checking out my bedroom window looking for a dead female corpse to pop up on my lawn and dance around. Honorable mention goes to The Dark Crystal. Brian Froud is a genius. The characters he created still disgust and terrify me to this day. I can't believe Jim Henson was aboard on this one. It's such a weird and dark movie. I use to come home from school everyday for months and watch it. I've probably seen it more than any other movie.

2. What is the last film that scared you?

It seems to be everyone in these interviews mentions Insidious…and I won't be any different. I'm so numb to most scares now a days. I look for quality of special effects etc. when scares happen and that's such a movie geek thing to do. But when I watched Insidious I jumped up so many times and got very weirded out at least five or six times. Too bad the ending wasn't anything special but what can you say, this movie was about the ride to the ending more so than the ending itself.

3. Name three Horror movies that you believe are underrated.

Halloween III: Season of the Witch: I get shit for this constantly every time I bring it up but the fact of the matter is, had this not been called Halloween 3, it would have been a hit (in horror circles anyway) and could have spawned sequels. Unfortunately, the Michael Myers fanbase demonizes this movie and do nothing but shit on it. It's a great movie and should be given a second chance by everyone.

WestWorld (1973) – Not sure if it's really a horror movie but if what happens in the movie happened in real life, it'd be pretty horrific. This one is written directed by Michael Crichton. It's about a place called West World that is similar to a theme park. You can go there and pretty much act however you feel as most of the people in character are all robots. You can go to one place that's in medieval times or the wild west etc. James Brolin and Richard Benjamin get to West World to relax and end up getting into a quarrel with one robot played by Yul Brynner that ends up with Brynner's robot getting gunned down. Brynner's character keeps coming back for Brolin and Benjamin after there's a malfunction with the robots all over the park. What follows is basically an early version of The Terminator. The tension is so thick it's almost suffocating.

The Dead Next Door (1988) – some people love it but I find they are few and far between. When you read up the story behind J.R. Bookwalter's struggle to make this movie over several years, it gives a certain appreciation. Sure the acting and story are awful but you can see the love and effort that went into the effects. Too bad this kind of time and effort wasn't put into zombies movies now a days instead of people just regurgitating they're favorite zombie movies growing up. No one uses practical effects anymore and I believe it's really hurting horror movies in general. Studios are throwing small amounts of money at young film makers and just sending it direct to DVD for us all to piss and moan about. I'm sure most budgets for direct to video movies now are being spent on the cover art in the hopes that random suckers (like myself) will rent them without any background info. But I digress…

4. Name three horror movies that you enjoy against your better judgment.

The Howling 2: Your Sister is a Werewolf – This movie is so goddam ridiculous how can you not love it? Weird rituals with the werewolves themselves, strange midgets, terrible effects, Christopher Lee actually taking it seriously and what about the final credits?? Absolute garbage and I love every minute of it.

Chopping Mall (1986) – A Jim Wynorski classic. This movie is so terrible but in a classic 80's "so bad it's good" way. The robots aren't scary at all and the characters are so dumb but there's so many classic scenes. Kelli Maroney's expoding head starts off the killings and it's non stop from there. I could watch this one over and over as the feeling of the 80's is palpable.

X-Ray (AKA Hospital Massacre) (1981) – Unbelievable. So over the top ridiculous I can't even describe it. Barbi Benton is going to get some test results from the hospital but there's a killer from her childhood trying to mess with and kill her. The first 15 minutes are spent trying to get you to think everyone that appears on screen could be the killer. It's humor straight out of The Simpsons or something. Janitors giving the "evil eye", shifty looking doctors, basically everyone looks guilty. The movie just steam rolls with the absurd from there. I don't think once does Barbi Benton even try to leave the floor she's on. Watch out for the scene of the three guys in traction. Priceless. I'm hoping the makers were in on the joke because if not, they made the most unintentionally hilarious horror movie in existence. Well….next to Pieces (1982) although I'm pretty sure Joe D'Amato was in on the joke there.

5. Send us to five places on the Internet! (Include the URLs!)

A Slash Above -Luisito Joaquin Gonzalez does an awesome job of reviewing slashers. A past contributor to The Hysteria Lives! website, I think he's grown a bit beyond that site as he still is pumping out the reviews. Justin seems to have slowed down and mainly focuses on the slasher "hey days"

Horroretc – Great podcast. Ted and Anthony's love of horror is so painfully obvious. The personalties of both guys manage to even each other out. I could listen to them all day.

The Hysteria Continues Podcast – Amazing podcast about slasher only movies. I believe you interviewed Justin from the Hysteria Lives! already. Four guys take each podcast and discuss a slasher movie. Funny, interesting with innuendos that makes me laugh every single time.

The Monster Club – site hosting old radio horror shows from the 30's, 40's and up. There's some great stuff there and I'm surprised no one does this anymore. Says something about leaving horror to the imagination instead of having it served to you visually.

Made for TV Mayhem – cool little blog specializing in TV. It covers a lot of the made for TV horror that really isn't being made these days. Just an overall appreciation for TV from the past.