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| Loving Zombie Movies |
| AT THE TENDER AGE OF NINE I VIEWED MY FIRST HORROR MOVIE - RIDLEY SCOTT'S 'ALIEN.' FROM THAT MOMENT ON I WAS TRANSFIXED WITH THE HORROR GENRE AND IT WAS NOT LONG BEFORE I WAS INDULGING IN HORROR GREATS SUCH AS DAVID CRONENBURG'S 'THE FLY' AND JOHN CARPENTER'S 'HALLOWEEN.' I REMEMBER WHEN I FIRST WATCHED 'HALLOWEEN,' CONVENIENTLY PLACED ON THE HOLIDAY, I WATCHED IT IN MY DARKENED ROOM - INITIALLY I THOUGHT IT WAS TERRIBLE - NO GORE, YOU CAN'T SEE ANYTHING, THAT SORT OF THING, I MUCH PREFERRED THE VISCERAL 'FRIDAY THE 13TH,' BUT IT WAS ONLY A SHORT TIME AFTER THAT, THAT I LEARNT THE TRUE SKILLS AND TECHNIQUES REQUIRED TO MAKE A TRULY SCARY HORROR MOVIE. AFTER THAT I LOVED 'HALLOWEEN' AND OTHER SIMILAR SLASHERS. BUT AFTER VIEWING THE MAIN ATTRACTIONS OF THE GENRE, EXCEPT THOSE THAT WERE HARD TO FIND, MY LUST FOR HORROR HAD TO BE QUENCHED BY SOMETHING ELSE, CLEARLY THE SLASHER MOVIE WAS NOT MY SPECIFIC FORTE - OR AT LEAST AT THIS TIME. IT WAS AT THE BEGINNING OF MY GCSE YEARS IN HIGH SCHOOL (AGE 14-16) WHEN I BECAME AWARE OF ROMERO'S WORK - ONLY IN A MYTHICAL WAY HOWEVER - SOMETHING OUT THERE I COULD NOT REACH. BUT THEN THE STOPGAP, BUT ONE OF MY FUTURE FAVOURITES, 'THE EVIL DEAD' BECAME KNOWN TO ME. AT FIRST BY A 'REVIEW' BY A FRIEND, WHICH CENTERED ONLY ON "GREEN MASHED POTATO AND PENCIL STABBING" I KNEW THERE WAS MORE. SO, THAT NIGHT IN FACT, I STUMBLED ACROSS A CHEAP COPY OF IT IN MY LOCAL POST OFFICE, AND BOUGHT IT. HOWEVER, AT THIS TIME, THE FILM WAS STILL HEAVILY CUT IN BRITAIN AND THEREFORE MY FIRST COPY OF THE FILM WAS THE CUT VERSION, BUT IT WAS STILL A JARRING FILM TO VIEW. THAT NIGHT I OPENED MYSELF TO THE TERRIFYING TOUR DE FORCE OF GORE AND HORROR OF THE DEADITES AND FLESH EATING DEMONS. LATER, ON MY 18TH BIRTHDAY, I WOULD RECEIEVE 'THE EVIL DEAD' IN A FULL UNCUT ANCHOR BAY EDITION, AND YET AGAIN, 'THE EVIL DEAD' WOULD WOW ME. BUT HOW DID I COME ACROSS MY FIRST ROMERO ZOMBIE FILM? MY FIRST EXPERIENCE WAS 'DAY OF THE DEAD'. I WAS LOOKING FOR 'EVIL DEAD 2', BUT INSTEAD, CAME ACROSS THE THIRD (AND FINAL, AT LEAST THEN IT WAS) IN THE 'TRILOGY OF THE DEAD'. IT WAS IN A LOCAL STORE FOR A CHEAP PRICE, I SNAPPED IT UP AND HEADED HOME AND WATCHED THE INCREDIBLE EFFECTS BY TOM SAVINI UNFOLD ACROSS A FILM DIRECTED BY THE BEST IN THE ZOMBIE HORROR BUSINESS, GEORGE ANDREW ROMERO. I WAS IMMEDIATELY HOOKED, BUT IT TOOK A FURTHER YEAR TO TRACK DOWN 'DAWN OF THE DEAD.' LUCKILY, A TIP OFF BY A FRIEND LED ME TO IT AND I RECEIVED IT AS A BIRTHDAY PRESENT. MY FIRST VIEWING I WAS LITERALLY ON THE EGDE OF MY SEAT FOR THE ENTIRE 2 HOURS AND 20 MINUTES OF THE 'DIRECTOR'S CUT' (AGAIN, THE BBFC HAD BEEN SCISSOR HAPPY AND 6 SECONDS - NOW WHICH ARE AVAILABLE IN BRITAIN - HAD BEEN CUT OUT), AND WHEN THE FINAL CHIME OF THE MONROEVILLE MALL CLOCK RANG OUT, I SAT THERE STUNNED FOR A GOOD MANY MINUTES. FOR A YEAR AFTER THAT, I WATCHED IT EVERY MONTH. A PILGRIMAGE TO THE FANTASTIC ARTWORK METICULOUSLY PAINTED BY ROMERO. MY TIME HAD COME - I WAS THE ZOMBIE MAN IN MY YEAR - I WAS THE EXPERT ON HORROR AND ZOMBIES - THE FOUNTAIN OF KNOWLEDGE ON THE SUBJECT. LIKE YOU SEE IN MOVIES, I WAS 'THE MOVIE GUY', AND I HAD FINALLY FOUND MY CALLING IN LIFE - FILM. THANKFULLY, THE DRUDGERY OF AVERAGE HIGH SCHOOL LIFE AND THE DULLARDS THAT WERE THE OTHERS FROM THE YEAR, EXCEPT MY GROUP OF FRIENDS DID NOT HAMPER MY LOVE OF HORROR, IN FACT IT WAS A MEDIUM INTO WHICH I COULD SINK AND REALISE MY FEARS IN CELLULOID GLORY. AFTER THAT I HAVE MANAGED TO TRACK DOWN FURTHER HORROR GEMS SUCH AS 'BLACK CHRISTMAS' AND THE EXCELLENT 'THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE' TO ADD TO MY COLLECTION OF 661 (RECORDED TOTAL ON 27/05/2003) FILMS AND COUNTING. THE REST SHALL WE SAY IS HISTORY. BUT ONE THING IS FOR SURE, THE ONE AND ONLY LOVE OF MY LIFE SHALL BE THE GENRE THAT IS ZOMBIE. Nick Thomson - AKA - MinionZombie "King of the Undead" |