My first “guest blogger” is none other than writer, producer, director Tim Ritter. The maker of the original TRUTH OR DARE in 1986, he is also responsible for such classics as KILLING SPREE and CREEP starring the infamous housewife-turned-prostitute Kathy Willets. Tim decided to give his history of the rise and fall(?) of movie viewing...
Tim Ritter in his realm.
By Tim Ritter
Growing up in the 1970's I loved movies and TV shows. As a little kid in Elementary school, I became infatuated with horror movies---especially Dracula, Frankenstein, King Kong, Godzilla, and the Hammer horror films of the 1950's. In the early 1970's, there was no such thing as "cable TV" in my world, so most of the information I got on horror movies was from books I'd purchase at the Paperback Booksmith or check out in the library. I have such fond memories of those oversized library books on Hammer and Universal movies---hardbound with the plastic covering protecting the jacket, the grainy black and white photos so enticing. I had to see these movies! There were also books at school about said films---in the library---later they were banned for being inappropriate, if you can believe that! I suppose there were some "provocative photos" of Christopher Lee with damsels in distress in lowcut outfits, but...again, as an Elementary school kid, this was my obsession! I'd stare at these for hours.
On our old tube television sets---and eventually...my very own television in my room---which was a little black and white TV---I'd have to map out what the three or four channels we received and study the TV Guide like it was the Bible to see some of the movies I was reading about. Eventually, I did see very fuzzy versions---as in, through gray snow with bad reception---of movies like Dracula, Horror Of Dracula, King Kong, Godzilla, and many others. It was tough and frustrating to keep up on, and as cable TV slowly infiltrated our neighborhoods, other kids had access to like FIFTEEN stations! I was so jealous. I recall there was this mysterious "Channel 6" that ran all the Bela Lugosi horror flicks and tons of other stuff I had only read about, and I'd just stare at the blockings and capsule reviews in TV Guide for hours, so jealous of others getting the opportunity to see this stuff...
As time wore on, many horror movies started to be released on television, as huge events! So I'd mark my calendar accordingly, whether it was the Friday Night Movie Of The Week or the Sunday Night Movie Of The Week. Eventually, as a young, impressionable kid, I saw stuff like THE EXORCIST and KING KONG '76 [still a favorite of mine---I wasn't allowed to see the movie in the theater as a kid because of the press, Jessica Lange for her skimpy wardrobe and the Kong waterfall scene, though I did see a 12-minute preview of the movie in the theater when I saw THE SHAGGY D.A. on television and obsessed endlessly over how great this stuff was, along with my sci-fi favorites The Six Million Dollar Man, Star Trek, Star Wars, Planet Of The Apes, and many others...I also remember seeing THE INCREDIBLE MELTING MAN being advertised, and wow, what a great, entrancing trailer! Again, too young to see the movie, I'd obsess over that movie, what it was all about---AN ASTRONAUT COMING HOME FROM THE MOON AND MELTING!!!---endlessly! Again, I'd read about these movies endlessly in books and TV Guide, waiting for them to come to television, not even understanding what EDITED FOR TELEVISION meant at the time...
Growing up in the 1970's I loved movies and TV shows. As a little kid in Elementary school, I became infatuated with horror movies---especially Dracula, Frankenstein, King Kong, Godzilla, and the Hammer horror films of the 1950's. In the early 1970's, there was no such thing as "cable TV" in my world, so most of the information I got on horror movies was from books I'd purchase at the Paperback Booksmith or check out in the library. I have such fond memories of those oversized library books on Hammer and Universal movies---hardbound with the plastic covering protecting the jacket, the grainy black and white photos so enticing. I had to see these movies! There were also books at school about said films---in the library---later they were banned for being inappropriate, if you can believe that! I suppose there were some "provocative photos" of Christopher Lee with damsels in distress in lowcut outfits, but...again, as an Elementary school kid, this was my obsession! I'd stare at these for hours.
On our old tube television sets---and eventually...my very own television in my room---which was a little black and white TV---I'd have to map out what the three or four channels we received and study the TV Guide like it was the Bible to see some of the movies I was reading about. Eventually, I did see very fuzzy versions---as in, through gray snow with bad reception---of movies like Dracula, Horror Of Dracula, King Kong, Godzilla, and many others. It was tough and frustrating to keep up on, and as cable TV slowly infiltrated our neighborhoods, other kids had access to like FIFTEEN stations! I was so jealous. I recall there was this mysterious "Channel 6" that ran all the Bela Lugosi horror flicks and tons of other stuff I had only read about, and I'd just stare at the blockings and capsule reviews in TV Guide for hours, so jealous of others getting the opportunity to see this stuff...
As time wore on, many horror movies started to be released on television, as huge events! So I'd mark my calendar accordingly, whether it was the Friday Night Movie Of The Week or the Sunday Night Movie Of The Week. Eventually, as a young, impressionable kid, I saw stuff like THE EXORCIST and KING KONG '76 [still a favorite of mine---I wasn't allowed to see the movie in the theater as a kid because of the press, Jessica Lange for her skimpy wardrobe and the Kong waterfall scene, though I did see a 12-minute preview of the movie in the theater when I saw THE SHAGGY D.A. on television and obsessed endlessly over how great this stuff was, along with my sci-fi favorites The Six Million Dollar Man, Star Trek, Star Wars, Planet Of The Apes, and many others...I also remember seeing THE INCREDIBLE MELTING MAN being advertised, and wow, what a great, entrancing trailer! Again, too young to see the movie, I'd obsess over that movie, what it was all about---AN ASTRONAUT COMING HOME FROM THE MOON AND MELTING!!!---endlessly! Again, I'd read about these movies endlessly in books and TV Guide, waiting for them to come to television, not even understanding what EDITED FOR TELEVISION meant at the time...
The controversial Jessica Lange scene in King Kong 76.
As time wore on, we got cable TV and finally, I had ten, fifteen channels to choose from, including the mysterious Channel Six! Amazing! I'd buy a TV Guide each week with my allowance and write down when the movies I'd want to see were airing, whether it was a Ray Harryhausen stop-motion classic, a Godzilla vs. mixmash, a classic Universal Movie, or a Hammer Delight! Finally, I was seeing stuff that I had read about for so many years. Sadly, my imagination...had built many of these movies up so much that I was let down a lot, even if they were good! Reading about something and imagining what it will be is sometimes so difficult to beat! But I do recall really enjoying THE BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN, THE INVISIBLE MAN, and many more...I'd watch whatever they ran!
Once I got into middle school, I discovered the DIRTY HARRY movies on TV, with the cop that would do anything to solve a case, shoot first, ask questions later, and got obsessed with watching those. They'd run them late at night, like the Spielberg classic DUEL, and 70's TV horror movies were all the rage as well---stuff like TRILOGY OF TERROR, THE LEGEND OF THE HELL HOUSE, and many more---even after being theatrical releases in some cases, HELL HOUSE seemed to be more of a TV staple, along with DARK SHADOWS and the like...
DEATH WISH II was an interesting one---of course, I found the original movie on TV late one Friday night and got obsessed with it, and was again, banned by parents from seeing the controversial sequel on the big screen, but a couple of years later...what happened? Well, this fledgling new LOCAL TV STATION---trying to make a name for themselves, called Channel 29, ran the movie UNCUT for all to see! Man did that make waves- it was the uncut European Edition that had all the additional attack scenes in it that were later cut from the U.S. video release! They'd follow that up with FRIDAY THE 13th and a few others before the channel actually changed its approach due to public outcry---they were nearly shut down by the FCC for running stuff children could see before midnight! Strange times, I believe they were later bought out by Fox and now, Warner Bros.
Once I got into middle school, I discovered the DIRTY HARRY movies on TV, with the cop that would do anything to solve a case, shoot first, ask questions later, and got obsessed with watching those. They'd run them late at night, like the Spielberg classic DUEL, and 70's TV horror movies were all the rage as well---stuff like TRILOGY OF TERROR, THE LEGEND OF THE HELL HOUSE, and many more---even after being theatrical releases in some cases, HELL HOUSE seemed to be more of a TV staple, along with DARK SHADOWS and the like...
DEATH WISH II was an interesting one---of course, I found the original movie on TV late one Friday night and got obsessed with it, and was again, banned by parents from seeing the controversial sequel on the big screen, but a couple of years later...what happened? Well, this fledgling new LOCAL TV STATION---trying to make a name for themselves, called Channel 29, ran the movie UNCUT for all to see! Man did that make waves- it was the uncut European Edition that had all the additional attack scenes in it that were later cut from the U.S. video release! They'd follow that up with FRIDAY THE 13th and a few others before the channel actually changed its approach due to public outcry---they were nearly shut down by the FCC for running stuff children could see before midnight! Strange times, I believe they were later bought out by Fox and now, Warner Bros.
Of course, my obsessing over SLASHER movies came with HALLOWEEN when it premiered on NBC in 1978. This is one I had been hearing about for a year or two prior from other kids on the school bus- how their parents started actually locking their home doors after seeing it and how scary it was when they heard "that crazy man breathing..." and wow, that one scared me to death, just seeing it on TV, and gave me the adrenaline rush of a lifetime! I'd been toying with the family super-8 movie camera for a while by then, trying to emulate ALIEN and STAR WARS, but now...I had a new direction to go in---all I needed was one actress, a rubber knife, a mask, and a shaky POV shot! Surely something easily accomplished by a 12, 13 year old moviemaker wannabe! So Carpenter's HALLOWEEN changed my life---just so many elements in that which are STILL haunting---the bad guy gets away at the end! The incredible score! The rapport between the babysitters and the kids---something we could all relate to at that time, because everyone had been baby-sat or made extra money babysitting! It wasn’t long before TV also introduced me to WHEN A STRANGER CALLS and it became another classic inspiration to me...
It was around 1979 when I discovered the first issue of FANGORIA with Godzilla on the cover---favoring that mag over Forry Ackerman's FM, FAMOUS MONSTERS, as a new era of horror was ushered in with slasher movies...I had been reading about them, of course, but HALLOWEEN was my big cable TV dose...But from Middle School to High School, the transition occurred, as my heroes became Wes Craven, David Cronenberg, H.G. Lewis, John Waters, etc. I'd be the kid in the back of the class, ignoring the teacher, reading FANGORIA MAGAZINE that was wedged inside my puke green folder that was meant for sentence diagramming...
Of course, HBO had taken hold in some homes, and it was here where at friend's houses, I'd be able to see the first of the UNCUT movies that I'd been dying to see...EMPIRE OF THE ANTS was one I recall vividly! And INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS '78, one that scared me to death so much I couldn't sleep the entire night, kept hearing that "pod cloning" sound effect and thought my whole family had been replaced...Crazy times, I even wrote a story inspired by it, called STUFFED PEOPLE, about family members being replaced by "plush animal stuffing" versions---an idea I saw used much later in STRANGER THINGS SEASON ONE, of all places!
I also discovered that I could actually SEE HBO on my black and white TV at some point---the scrambling back then was not quite as extreme for HBO. Many stations that showed uncut movies, like ON TV, had all these squiggly lines wreaking havoc on the screen but you could still see enough, through those lines, to see many good scenes, so I began trying to watch movies like that until I discovered HBO was pretty clear---you could see the picture quite nice through the UHF-ish fuzz if you sat back far enough! And the audio was scrambled but back then, it ran on a radio station so HBO viewers could get "theatrical sound in their living room" if they wanted it for their HBO movies---so I tuned my clock radio to 88.1 FM and got the sound! Now, HBO would run ALL KINDS of horror movies late at night, so I'd peruse the TV Guide and set my alarm for 2:30 AM to get up and see stuff like PHANTASM, AMITYVILLE HORROR, SCANNERS [which was the first R-rated movie I snuck into to see in the Cinema, btw- I paid for THE ELEPHANT MAN and disappeared into SCANNERS!], THE OMEN, and you know, eventually, all the great 70's and 80's horror movies.
It was around 1979 when I discovered the first issue of FANGORIA with Godzilla on the cover---favoring that mag over Forry Ackerman's FM, FAMOUS MONSTERS, as a new era of horror was ushered in with slasher movies...I had been reading about them, of course, but HALLOWEEN was my big cable TV dose...But from Middle School to High School, the transition occurred, as my heroes became Wes Craven, David Cronenberg, H.G. Lewis, John Waters, etc. I'd be the kid in the back of the class, ignoring the teacher, reading FANGORIA MAGAZINE that was wedged inside my puke green folder that was meant for sentence diagramming...
Of course, HBO had taken hold in some homes, and it was here where at friend's houses, I'd be able to see the first of the UNCUT movies that I'd been dying to see...EMPIRE OF THE ANTS was one I recall vividly! And INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS '78, one that scared me to death so much I couldn't sleep the entire night, kept hearing that "pod cloning" sound effect and thought my whole family had been replaced...Crazy times, I even wrote a story inspired by it, called STUFFED PEOPLE, about family members being replaced by "plush animal stuffing" versions---an idea I saw used much later in STRANGER THINGS SEASON ONE, of all places!
I also discovered that I could actually SEE HBO on my black and white TV at some point---the scrambling back then was not quite as extreme for HBO. Many stations that showed uncut movies, like ON TV, had all these squiggly lines wreaking havoc on the screen but you could still see enough, through those lines, to see many good scenes, so I began trying to watch movies like that until I discovered HBO was pretty clear---you could see the picture quite nice through the UHF-ish fuzz if you sat back far enough! And the audio was scrambled but back then, it ran on a radio station so HBO viewers could get "theatrical sound in their living room" if they wanted it for their HBO movies---so I tuned my clock radio to 88.1 FM and got the sound! Now, HBO would run ALL KINDS of horror movies late at night, so I'd peruse the TV Guide and set my alarm for 2:30 AM to get up and see stuff like PHANTASM, AMITYVILLE HORROR, SCANNERS [which was the first R-rated movie I snuck into to see in the Cinema, btw- I paid for THE ELEPHANT MAN and disappeared into SCANNERS!], THE OMEN, and you know, eventually, all the great 70's and 80's horror movies.
If you squint your eyes and sit back far enough you can enjoy a good scrambled HBO movie.
It was crazy having to study the TV guide, though, set your alarm close to your head, careful not to wake anyone else in the house, and watch all these movies through grainy black and white fuzz through blurry early A.M. eyes! But I made a habit of it! Of course, with the introduction of the VCR- Video Cassette Recorder, the game was changed! Suddenly, you could watch WHATEVER YOU WANTED, WHEN YOU WANTED...by recording it and replaying it! Or renting it! So naturally, I HAD to have a Beta VCR, but honestly, we were a lower middle class family and those bad boys were SUPER EXPENSIVE when they came out, like $1,000.00! In school, I was nearly failing Geometry, the only class I really had super trouble with- that and Algebra to me were like hieroglyphics- and I would have to study three or four hours a night to barely squeak by. My mom made a deal with me- if I could pass these courses throughout the year, the reward would be a Beta VCR, in my bedroom!
Of course, I dug in. I can't say it was easy---the gold at the end of the rainbow didn't make my understanding of higher math any easier, but I was able to squeak by with a C average by the end of the year in higher math---and wow, as they say in the Brady Bunch---"put on your Sunday best, we're going to Sears! To get a Beta VCR!"
My friends with HBO could now record me UNCUT movies to watch whenever I wanted! It was amazing, I was...overjoyed. It was too good to be true. I pretty much got to see everything I wanted, and when I got old enough to discover rental stores and bicycle there---boy was I in for a treat, re-viewing all my old TV favorites UNCUT! From DIRTY HARRY to HALLOWEEN to THE EXORCIST, wow, I had been missing a TON OF STUFF, as we all know who grew up in that era. Suddenly, the TV Guide wasn't needed as much! I could simply give someone a blank tape and have them record me stuff, and some of my friends had TWO VCRS and would rent movies and record them onto my tapes! Yes, early piracy, but I wasn't selling anything, and we were paying the rental fees- and of course, when the sell-through rage finally hit, I'd BUY the movies as well to "own" the packaging. Movies were my life, man, and the more I watched and discovered- especially stuff like THE HILLS HAVE EYES, PINK FLAMINGOS, VIDEODROME, THE BROOD, ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK, ALIEN...on and on it went, man. The uncut version of THE EXORCIST about blew my mind!
As things progressed into VHS, of course, some movies had a difficult time coming out and if you had the right connections, say with someone like Chas. Balun, you could score or trade copies with him of stuff that was UNCUT from foreign markets or not released yet. Over the years, it was an incredible time- reading about movies in magazines like FANGORIA, DRACULINA, GOREZONE, and DEEP RED...having to track the movies they were covering and showing pictures of---just like my Elementary School days, you know, seeing those pics and NOT being able to see the content on my airwave only television---and here, not being able to go to my video shop and score an uncut INTRUDER, or this little gem called HENRY: PORTRAIT OF A SERIAL KILLER that had fallen into the cracks and not seen distribution for four, five years after it was made...So it continued to be a rather incredible time, reading about movies and trying to track them down, and of course, there were maybe a dirty dozen or so of dudes out there that you could go to, like Balun, that could hook you up with something rare, through a trade or cash. And of course, we diehards would always buy the movies when they came out. Heck, when I got my Beta player, I immediately started to try to BUY movies, starting with BASKET CASE and PIECES on original run Beta tapes! The price- $80.00 each! This didn't last long, I mean, I was a dishwasher that made about $80 a week, so...that habit died hard until sell-through became the norm...
Of course, I dug in. I can't say it was easy---the gold at the end of the rainbow didn't make my understanding of higher math any easier, but I was able to squeak by with a C average by the end of the year in higher math---and wow, as they say in the Brady Bunch---"put on your Sunday best, we're going to Sears! To get a Beta VCR!"
My friends with HBO could now record me UNCUT movies to watch whenever I wanted! It was amazing, I was...overjoyed. It was too good to be true. I pretty much got to see everything I wanted, and when I got old enough to discover rental stores and bicycle there---boy was I in for a treat, re-viewing all my old TV favorites UNCUT! From DIRTY HARRY to HALLOWEEN to THE EXORCIST, wow, I had been missing a TON OF STUFF, as we all know who grew up in that era. Suddenly, the TV Guide wasn't needed as much! I could simply give someone a blank tape and have them record me stuff, and some of my friends had TWO VCRS and would rent movies and record them onto my tapes! Yes, early piracy, but I wasn't selling anything, and we were paying the rental fees- and of course, when the sell-through rage finally hit, I'd BUY the movies as well to "own" the packaging. Movies were my life, man, and the more I watched and discovered- especially stuff like THE HILLS HAVE EYES, PINK FLAMINGOS, VIDEODROME, THE BROOD, ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK, ALIEN...on and on it went, man. The uncut version of THE EXORCIST about blew my mind!
As things progressed into VHS, of course, some movies had a difficult time coming out and if you had the right connections, say with someone like Chas. Balun, you could score or trade copies with him of stuff that was UNCUT from foreign markets or not released yet. Over the years, it was an incredible time- reading about movies in magazines like FANGORIA, DRACULINA, GOREZONE, and DEEP RED...having to track the movies they were covering and showing pictures of---just like my Elementary School days, you know, seeing those pics and NOT being able to see the content on my airwave only television---and here, not being able to go to my video shop and score an uncut INTRUDER, or this little gem called HENRY: PORTRAIT OF A SERIAL KILLER that had fallen into the cracks and not seen distribution for four, five years after it was made...So it continued to be a rather incredible time, reading about movies and trying to track them down, and of course, there were maybe a dirty dozen or so of dudes out there that you could go to, like Balun, that could hook you up with something rare, through a trade or cash. And of course, we diehards would always buy the movies when they came out. Heck, when I got my Beta player, I immediately started to try to BUY movies, starting with BASKET CASE and PIECES on original run Beta tapes! The price- $80.00 each! This didn't last long, I mean, I was a dishwasher that made about $80 a week, so...that habit died hard until sell-through became the norm...
Blockbuster pounced the video scene in 1985 running many mom and pop video stores out of business over time. At their peak in 2004 they had over 9.000 stores. Through the evolution of movie viewing habits, in 2018 Blockbuster had 8 stores left in remote locations.
Of course, the notoriety wore off over the years- renting five movies a weekend and binge-watching them all, then hunting down uncut bootlegs and unreleased in the States movies, finding the Italian movies uncut from overseas...you know, there was a million things to view, it seemed, an endless array, but VHS...leading to DVD and the "extras" markets [I remember scoring a copy of Roy Frumkes DOCUMENT OF THE DEAD directly from the man himself in NY from people that knew him and thinking it was so cool!] changed the game in its entirety, and has led to the current, now dwindling markets of Blu Ray and 4K. The collectors are still there, but now it seems to be OOP [Out Of Print] is all the rage for rare DVDs and Blu's, or LIMITED EDITION [and that's limited to under 1,000 copies---something unheard of back in the day when copies of movies were selling tens of thousands and MILLIONS at the higher levels!] have morphed the Collector's Market again somehow.
As we slide toward the year 2020...rather reluctantly, really...groaning...how do we watch movies now?
Trent Reznor has a great Nine Inch Nails song called THE COLLECTOR, with some great lyrics:
"I pick things up, I am a collector
And things, well things, they tend to accumulate
I have this net, it drags behind me
It picks up feelings for me to feed upon..."
I look back upon the old days, of obsessing over books...pictures in books...and words...over movies. More than the actual movies themselves! And even into the 1980's, the LATE 1980's, it was the same---magazines, fanzines, they held the key over what to obsess over, what to covet over, what to look for and try to find and OWN...Back in the day, unless you lived near a drive-in or a movie theater where you could sneak in easily, it was very difficult to see movies like MANIAC, VIDEODROME, NIGHT SCHOOL, SILENT NIGHT DEADLY NIGHT, DAWN OF THE DEAD, etc. It was IMPOSSIBLE to see the old H.G.Lewis classics unless they were a part of a "best of" tape like SEX AND VIOLENCE or FILM GORE, where I first saw those movies in extended clips of "just the good parts..." And older stuff that you'd read about...like LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT...no chance! Until Vestron released it and its excellent Hess counterpart, HOUSE ON THE EDGE OF THE PARK, a couple of years later...
What a time to live as a movie fan! What a place!
Sadly, unless you go out of your way to kind of live in a bubble, that experience has largely disappeared today...even for me. Today, who could foresee the way the Internet would not only become "the new world of Videodrome," in a way, and the way EVERYONE would have video in their hands to create and upload content...and the way...we ultimately read about, discover, and watch movies.
Today, you can pretty much type any movie title into a SEARCH ENGINE and read about it on Wikipedia or some horror-related site. Yes, there will be pictures, but naturally, our attention spans are short, so we don't waste the time. We can find the trailer instantly on Youtube, and well, yeah, it might look of interest. So perhaps we'll check it out or perhaps we'll lose interest because there's about twenty, thirty other titles that are ALSO distracting us, demanding our attention...And then, we might even forget about what we were looking for with our heads dancing with imagery and synopsis blocks of these other titles.
Everything is available. You head on over to Amazon Streaming, then Netflix Streaming, to Vudu, to Hulu, to Vinegar Syndrome Streaming...hey, it's all there. I read about a paragraph of that movie, is it any good? Wait, that title looks good too, is it new? Let me sample it- push play, oh man, that's boring, I'm five minutes in and I am BORED TO DEATH with this.
Let's head over to this other streaming site! Look at all the covers. I'm scrolling through now, that one looks good, pretty new. There's an oldy I missed, maybe I should watch that, man what great artwork they did on the cover? Is Cameron Mitchell really in that? Oh wow, look at that, they're up to Part 5 in that series, how did I miss the last three? I'm scrolling now, I want to watch something and there's so much here now...I've seen that, do I want to see it again? Is it uncut, is this the EXTENDED version? I dunno. What else is there?
Oh, look at that! I didn't know Linnea was in that-oh, wow, I saw that in the theater 30 years ago, maybe I should watch that again. Naw, it wasn't THAT good, was it? Cool cover though, let me check out the reviews and see what other people think...
Pretty soon, in my quest to WATCH a movie, simply watch one...I find I've been searching the Net and scrolling through digital poster art for ninety minutes, pretty much...the ninety minutes I had set aside to watch a movie! And guess what? I watched...NOTHING.
And now---I'm out of time, with so much to do, bills to pay, responsibilities.
Maybe tomorrow.
What was it I had initially been looking to watch? Oh yeah, I'll add it to my Que to WATCH LATER- there's only 880 titles on there I want to get to on this Streaming site. And that stack of DVDs in the living room. And that shelf of Blu Rays I've been adding to with all those extras in my office.
Ah, what to watch? I dunno. No, not only WHAT to watch...when will I watch it?
Oh, my pal told me about this new remake, maybe I'll watch that tomorrow- but wait- there's this new series I've been dying to binge watch on Netflix, it's only ten episodes, so maybe I'll hit that tomorrow, or the day after...I think I'll add it to my Que...oh wait, says it's already been in my Que...
,,,for a year now!
So..how's YOUR movie watching going with EVERYTHING at your fingertips instantly in this oversaturated, over-informed technological age? Are you collecting still? Are you adding to the shelves? Are you glancing at the TV while answering texts on your smart phone? Are you watching popping circular discs into machines? Is the TV Streaming endless things, or are you just watch the same old favorite every night before you fall asleep and get up to go back to your job again...repetitively....like Groundhog Day...
Are you...watching anything at all? Or...is the Smart TV...and it's IP tracking devices...and Alexa recordings...
...watching YOU? [Like the killer in...WHEN A STRANGER CALLS...]
As we slide toward the year 2020...rather reluctantly, really...groaning...how do we watch movies now?
Trent Reznor has a great Nine Inch Nails song called THE COLLECTOR, with some great lyrics:
"I pick things up, I am a collector
And things, well things, they tend to accumulate
I have this net, it drags behind me
It picks up feelings for me to feed upon..."
I look back upon the old days, of obsessing over books...pictures in books...and words...over movies. More than the actual movies themselves! And even into the 1980's, the LATE 1980's, it was the same---magazines, fanzines, they held the key over what to obsess over, what to covet over, what to look for and try to find and OWN...Back in the day, unless you lived near a drive-in or a movie theater where you could sneak in easily, it was very difficult to see movies like MANIAC, VIDEODROME, NIGHT SCHOOL, SILENT NIGHT DEADLY NIGHT, DAWN OF THE DEAD, etc. It was IMPOSSIBLE to see the old H.G.Lewis classics unless they were a part of a "best of" tape like SEX AND VIOLENCE or FILM GORE, where I first saw those movies in extended clips of "just the good parts..." And older stuff that you'd read about...like LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT...no chance! Until Vestron released it and its excellent Hess counterpart, HOUSE ON THE EDGE OF THE PARK, a couple of years later...
What a time to live as a movie fan! What a place!
Sadly, unless you go out of your way to kind of live in a bubble, that experience has largely disappeared today...even for me. Today, who could foresee the way the Internet would not only become "the new world of Videodrome," in a way, and the way EVERYONE would have video in their hands to create and upload content...and the way...we ultimately read about, discover, and watch movies.
Today, you can pretty much type any movie title into a SEARCH ENGINE and read about it on Wikipedia or some horror-related site. Yes, there will be pictures, but naturally, our attention spans are short, so we don't waste the time. We can find the trailer instantly on Youtube, and well, yeah, it might look of interest. So perhaps we'll check it out or perhaps we'll lose interest because there's about twenty, thirty other titles that are ALSO distracting us, demanding our attention...And then, we might even forget about what we were looking for with our heads dancing with imagery and synopsis blocks of these other titles.
Everything is available. You head on over to Amazon Streaming, then Netflix Streaming, to Vudu, to Hulu, to Vinegar Syndrome Streaming...hey, it's all there. I read about a paragraph of that movie, is it any good? Wait, that title looks good too, is it new? Let me sample it- push play, oh man, that's boring, I'm five minutes in and I am BORED TO DEATH with this.
Let's head over to this other streaming site! Look at all the covers. I'm scrolling through now, that one looks good, pretty new. There's an oldy I missed, maybe I should watch that, man what great artwork they did on the cover? Is Cameron Mitchell really in that? Oh wow, look at that, they're up to Part 5 in that series, how did I miss the last three? I'm scrolling now, I want to watch something and there's so much here now...I've seen that, do I want to see it again? Is it uncut, is this the EXTENDED version? I dunno. What else is there?
Oh, look at that! I didn't know Linnea was in that-oh, wow, I saw that in the theater 30 years ago, maybe I should watch that again. Naw, it wasn't THAT good, was it? Cool cover though, let me check out the reviews and see what other people think...
Pretty soon, in my quest to WATCH a movie, simply watch one...I find I've been searching the Net and scrolling through digital poster art for ninety minutes, pretty much...the ninety minutes I had set aside to watch a movie! And guess what? I watched...NOTHING.
And now---I'm out of time, with so much to do, bills to pay, responsibilities.
Maybe tomorrow.
What was it I had initially been looking to watch? Oh yeah, I'll add it to my Que to WATCH LATER- there's only 880 titles on there I want to get to on this Streaming site. And that stack of DVDs in the living room. And that shelf of Blu Rays I've been adding to with all those extras in my office.
Ah, what to watch? I dunno. No, not only WHAT to watch...when will I watch it?
Oh, my pal told me about this new remake, maybe I'll watch that tomorrow- but wait- there's this new series I've been dying to binge watch on Netflix, it's only ten episodes, so maybe I'll hit that tomorrow, or the day after...I think I'll add it to my Que...oh wait, says it's already been in my Que...
,,,for a year now!
So..how's YOUR movie watching going with EVERYTHING at your fingertips instantly in this oversaturated, over-informed technological age? Are you collecting still? Are you adding to the shelves? Are you glancing at the TV while answering texts on your smart phone? Are you watching popping circular discs into machines? Is the TV Streaming endless things, or are you just watch the same old favorite every night before you fall asleep and get up to go back to your job again...repetitively....like Groundhog Day...
Are you...watching anything at all? Or...is the Smart TV...and it's IP tracking devices...and Alexa recordings...
...watching YOU? [Like the killer in...WHEN A STRANGER CALLS...]