It's a Horror to Know You: David Young Author of Born on the Night of the Living Dead!
What is the first film that ever scared you?
That would be "Don't be Afraid of the Dark." Those little demons that crawled out of Kim Darby's chimney looked just like the apple-head dolls my grandma used to make and display around her house. Only these weren't farmers, princesses or hoboes – these were monsters that came out at night with the sole purpose of dragging you to hell. Yeah, try being a kid and going to bed after that one. Runners-up include "Horror Express," "Rosemary's Baby" and TV commercials for "It's Alive."
What is the last film that scared you?
I get creeped out just thinking about "Tiptoe through the Tulips" from "Insidious" but I'd say "Grave Encounters" was the last movie that had a near-perfect mix of fun and fright.

Name three Horror movies that you believe are underrated.
1. Geez, I'm probably alone on this one but 1979's "Dracula" hasn't aged a day for me. Frank Langella is cool as all get-out and undead Mina crying "Come papa!" still freaks me out.
2. Lucio Fulci's "Zombie." With every new CGI-driven, semi-competent zombie movie I see, I have to go back and scrub my brain by watching this nasty beauty. While it's often seen as the imbecile cousin to Romero's chef d'oeuvre, it's filled with so many shocking and unbelievable images, I've yet to see a zombie movie that can top it – or figure out how to fit a shark into the plot.
3. Since I currently reside in Thailand, I've got to include at least one Thai horror film. "Shutter" from 2004 is truly suspenseful and frightening and has one of those endings that will burn itself onto your brain no matter how hard you try to get rid of it. Bonus, it's Thai!


Name three horror movies that you enjoy against your better judgment.
1. 
I'm sorta embarrassed at how much I enjoyed "Dance of the Dead." But how can you not love a move where the only thing holding back an army of the undead is a slow rock version of Pat Benatar's "Shadows of the Night?"
2. "1408" Ummm… how can I put this? Kinda great.
3. I'm going with another Thai movie to finish off this list: "Art of the Devil" from 2004 – which is basically a gore flick but tells a story that relies heavily on Thai and Cambodian black magic. I've heard bits and pieces of this stuff over my years here in Thailand so it was fun to see it played out in a movie.

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Frank Langella as Dracula?!!!! Holy crap – how have I never seen this?
David is right – those little creeps from Don’t be Afraid of the Dark do look like apple-head dolls. I don't recall having any actual dolls, but I recall making the heads with my mother – they would be lined up, all decapitated-like, on top of the stove. Needless to say that I did not like them much.
Is there shame in liking 1408? I thought it was decent enough….
David, Thanks for this IAHTKY & thanks for writing "Born on the Night of the Living Dead". I'm still thinking about it!
Folks, do yourself a big favor and check out David's Book! If you enjoy this site I can pretty much guarantee that you'll love it especially if you grew up in the late seventies/early eighties.
Once I started reading it I really could not stop. I only took a break to eat and I didn't even want to do that.
It ended up being one of my favorite books on movies and what they mean in our lives that I think I've ever read.
We'll have more on it coming up soon but here again is where you can find it on Amazon….
http://www.amazon.com/Born-Night-Living-Dead-ebook/dp/B009ELN33C
And only 3.99- that's like the price of a beer! And it tastes better than beer! (I don't say that lightly)
As for shrunken apple heads, I believe I now have a new craft to attempt before Halloween.
I will say that if the film 1408 is anything like the short story 1408, it should be pretty good.
I'm glad I'm not alone in my baffling enjoyment of Dance of the Dead. I put it on expecting to shut it off within twenty minutes, but it was a pretty entertaining ride!
Your book sounds pretty cool, I'm definitely going to check it out!