My love affair with the horror genre began as a wee lad, fueled not by a desire to be scared, but a desire to read big kid books. Although the first horror movie I remember watching was Monkey Shines, the heartwarming story of a paraplegic with a homicidal helper monkey (which scared me
out of my little-kid short shorts. The climax, involving the paralyzed dude’s chompers removing the cute little monkey from this mortal coil, sticks with me to this day), my love of horror was spawned by my nascent pretension.
“I want to read adult books.” At the time, Stephen King was at the height of his reign over the supermarket book section, so he was an obvious choice to take my “books without pictures” virginity. Carrie led to more King, then Koontz and Straub. As my love of horror grew, I moved on to movies. The Nightmare on Elm Street series, Dr. Giggles, Candyman, and hundreds of others.
Recently, I turned 30, which, apparently makes people feel super nostalgic about the things I loved as a kid. Horror came back into my mind, after years of watching independent films about infidelity and French movies about Death (capitalization to emphasize pretension). I am a born again horror junkie, anxiously awaiting the second coming of the fun fright-film franchise.
I couldn’t live in a better place to feed my hunger for zombies, psycho-killers, and ghouls. Down the street from my apartment (which would bring its own terror to the claustrophobic), Andrea-Beesley Brown, better known as the Midnite Movie Mamacita, brings the community back to the golden age of horror, when men were escaped mental patients and women were zombies.
Held at MADCAP Theatres, the Mamacita’s screenings will make you cringe with terror, laugh at violence, and then cringe at your love of violence. Future screenings include Slumber Party Massacre (II and III!), House (not the overly praised medical drama), and Troll 2. Shows are generally on Thursday through Saturday night, with early evening shows for those who want to party afterwards, and later shows for the die-hard fans.
Those of you that aren’t horror fans will be able to enjoy MMM’s film screenings as well. As a lover of all exploitation films, she also shows “Women in Prison” flicks, campy comedies of yore, and movies so bad as to defy description. Check out her screening schedule at midnitemoviemamacita.net/. You’re sure to find a movie that will meet your guilty pleasure’s criteria, whatever they may be.
