Living Through Horror - The Safe Zone

[Festered]

Originally Posted by neverending

When I was a kid we had a quaint little phenomina in our neighborhood- something that doesn't exist any more- a neighborhood theatre. With one screen. Locally owned.

Every Saturday I'd walk down the the Center Theater and watch the Double Feature matinee for $1.00. In addition to two feature films there would be cartoons, old newsreels and serials from the 40s- all lovingly programmed by the theatre manager. There were even prize give aways. One time I won a Weird-Ohs model kit by Ed "Big Daddy" Roth.

I saw some amazing movies there, but by far my favorites were the Hammer double feature and the Roger Corman Poe adaptations. I saw just about every horror & sci fi film made in the late 50s, early 60s there. Seeing them on the big screen was something I'll always remember.

I had a Sleaze Palace up the street from me, as a kid. Used to get in it all the time, cause I looked a lot older and usually the guy in the booth didn't give a rat's ass who got in. During the day, they had all the horror and action flicks. At night, the raunch. Occasionally they would have some low-budget celebrity make an appearance. Once, they had porn star Georgina Spelvin pop in for a week and do that little number with the snake. Caught that show 3 times before it left town. :p

[Vodstok]

I lived on an Air Force base in Indiana for a while when I was a kid and I remember vividly the theater there. It was open from i think 5 till midnight, and would show any given feature once a night. I still remember the posters for Tomboy (early cleavage memories), return of the living dead and the stuff.

Before that, when we lived in washington, I remember going to drive ins all the time. Everythign from james Bond to Clash of the titans and Beast Master :)

[Festered]

Last drive-in flick I saw was The Shining.

[fortunato]

Originally Posted by neverending

What were they? Creepy & Eerie, or things like House of Mystery/Secrets, etc?

I had a giant stack of Creepy and Eerie magazines that I found at an antique shop when I was a kid. I had saved up several allowances to get them, and read them constantly.

[jenna26]

Originally Posted by Vodstok

Before that, when we lived in washington, I remember going to drive ins all the time. Everythign from james Bond to Clash of the titans and Beast Master :)

My parents took me to see A Nightmare On Elm Street at the drive in when I was a kid.....I lasted about 25 maybe 30 minutes (until the bathtub scene) and they had to take me home...LOL. I think they were relieved. My dad kept looking at me the whole time, asking "are you okay? do we have to go? are you okay?" :p I was like, yeah, I'm fine.....then there was that scene....and I was like....we have to go, NOW....that movie scared the hell out of me. Not as bad as The Texas Chainsaw Massacre though, I couldn't even finish watching that movie all the way through until I was 16, it traumatized me so much when I was a kid..haha. :o

[missmacabre]

Well I wasn't into horror as much as sci-fi when I was really young. My dad would lay on the floor and I would lay on his back and we would watch original Trek, and Next Gen. Iloved it and I think that's when I knew I would be a nerd my whole life. Once Next Gen got into borg territory my Mom told my dad I couldn't watch it because it was too scary. That was sort of the end of me and my Dad's close relationship.

Obviously that bothered me, so to spite my Mom I would always get Goosebumps books from the Library, and watch Are you Afraid of the Dark? Once I got a little older (about grade 4) I started reading a ton of Agatha Christie books. Then in about grade 6 it was Dracula, Frankenstein and a whole lot of Poe. I just wanted to read all the time.

Once I started highschool we got the Scream Channel, and every day I would rush home to watch Twin Peaks, and after that they always played a classic like The Omen or Rosemary's Baby. I have seen just about every horror movie that has come out since, but am missing a huge chunk of movies from the 70's. Too bad cause those scare me most.

So I guess this was less an inspirational story, and more a story about my horror origins being based on hatred. Oops.

[novakru]

Drive-ins:)
Saw Carrie at a drive-in
What a great trend that needs revitalizing

[neverending]

Originally Posted by novakru

Drive-ins:)
Saw Carrie at a drive-in
What a great trend that needs revitalizing

Agreed. I remember we all went to a dive in one time- I must have been 6 or 7. The second movie was Whatever Happened to Baby Jane. My mother turned to me and suggested I might want to lay down and take a nap. Stupid me- I did!

[La Chat Noire]

My boyfriend and I had our first date when we went to see the first Saw together. I was so happy to have someone to see horror movies with.

[neverending]

I remember with great fondness a monster coloring book I had. I couldn't have been more than 6 or 7, and already a big monster fan. It had all the Universal monsters in it. I was saavy enough at that age to know somebody had to have put the book together and publish it. I wrote the publishing company a fan letter and my mother helped me mail it. To my surprise I got a reply and they promised they would send me any other books they put out with a monster theme. Of course they never did, but it's a fun memory.