It's a Horror to Know You: Nathan Rosen of MicroHorror!
1. What is the first film that ever scared you?
Aw, heck. I was a timid little kid and got scared by everything. Watching Ernie pull off Bert's nose really freaked me out. "E.T." scared me, "Labyrinth" scared me, when I was a little bit older I got scared by "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" (1978, I think) at some kid's sleepover party… but do you want to know the worst of all? The movie that scared young me so badly I had nightmares for months and couldn't try watching it again for about fifteen years?
Good old "Pee-wee's Big Adventure." Large Marge, man. One of the scariest scenes in modern cinema, no doubt.
2. What is the last film that scared you?
I'm a lot harder to scare these days. I just saw "The Cabin in the Woods," and I loved it, but I wouldn't say it scared me. Probably the scariest movie I've seen in recent years was "The Descent"– the early scene with the tiny tunnel and the cave-in really pinged the old claustrophobia.
3. Name three Horror movies that you believe are underrated.
"Phantom of the Paradise" (1974): Brian De Palma directs goofy, over-the-top grand guignol with a fabulous soundtrack by Paul Williams. What's not to love? I like to show it in a double feature with Williams' episode of "The Muppet Show."
"Slither" (2006): This is on everyone's list of underrated horror movies, I think. It wasn't afraid to get balls-to-the-wall weird, and deserves more attention.
"The Creeps" (1997): Another Charles Band joint, and aw, man. I can't even tell you what's so awesome about this movie without spoiling it. What's worse is that the cover gives it all away, when the twist works so much better if the audience doesn't know what's coming. If you can somehow see it without reading any synopsis or anything, just do it.
I guess I like a nice dollop of comedy mixed with my horror. Nothing wrong with that.
4. Name three horror movies that you enjoy against your better judgment.
"Jason X" (2001): Halfway between underrated and guilty pleasure for me. It's a laugh riot from beginning to end.
"Eight Legged Freaks" (2002): Another unabashedly ridiculous flick, and the only movie to pit giant jumping spiders against dirtbikes.
"Hellraiser: Bloodline" (1996): I can't defend this one. Cenobites in space. That's all. It's like "Jason X" without the deliberate comedy.
5. Send us to five places on the Internet!
MicroHorror: The world's largest free online archive of short-short horror fiction. I run it.
Gorelets.com: Home of Michael A. Arnzen, master of horror poetry and microfiction, and a brilliant scholar of horror.
MetaFilter: Not a horror site. Just a community full of cool people and great links and conversation. I
spend a lot of time there.
That's about all I've got.
Thanks Nate! There is no underestimating the power of Large Marge! I've got your back on Jason X, it's just so much fun and I don't mind the outer space thing at all. It's an easy jump for me and this entry feels more like an authentic Friday installment then the one before it. (Will I ever cozy up to Jason goes to Hell? Great cast but otherwise…) I don't think Hellraiser Bloodline is as bad as people pretend it is either. At least it doesn't have a CD head cenobite in it! I think Jason X, Leprechaun4 and Hellraiser 4 would make an awesome triple feature.
And now because of you I will be listening to The Phantom of the Paradise soundtrack all day.
…although I think my most favorite Paul Williams music can be found in Bugsy Malone!
I haven't seen a few of these – so I'm psyched to check them out – but I did a traumafession a while back about seeing Phantom in the theater when I was like 10 or so and it scaring the hell out of me. It was about 25 or so years later that I finally saw it again and actually got the humor and campyness – but at 10 everything about it was as serious as a heart attack to me.
Legend has it that when John Carpenter was approached to do Halloween III he said that the next logical conclusion for a man who couldn't be killed was to shoot him into space. Supposedly, he even wrote a treatment wherein Michael goes slasher-happy on a space station. If true it just goes to show that Carpenter was groundbreaking in any genre.
I just introduced a friend to Bugsy Malone! I think what's most disturbing is the adult singing voices that don't match the child voices in the slightest. That and that it was like "Miller's Crossing" meets "The Bad News Bears."
Here's Paul singing "For the Hell of It" on a Halloween episode of the old "Hardy Boys" TV show.
"The Descent" was great. At times I found the spelunking more uncomfortable to watch than the Crawler attacks!
"Phantom" could also be put on a double bill with "Suspiria" as they both star Jessica Harper! Might as well sneek in her "Tales From the Crypt" episode as well.