Happy Friday the 13th!

It's long been my tradition to spend Friday the 13th with a new horror movie. Halloween, too, I might add. 

It started way back when I was a kid and I discovered that for some strange reason, I loved horror movies! I had a fine accomplice in this area, my best friend. I can remember watching USA on Saturday and Sunday afternoons, you know, back when they played good movies. If we weren't hanging out, we would call each other and watch the movies together over the phone. Course, her parents weren't as strict as mine so I had my other hand gripping the remote, finger poised over the jump button with something like Nickolodean at the ready. Ah, those were the days! Movies like Waxwork and the Halloween franchise were introduced to me this way. I wasn't even 10 yet.

Years later, when my bedtime was no longer an issue, I would stay up and watch Jo Bob Briggs on Saturday nights. I miss you Jo Bob! This was before they gave him a sidekick, when he played only horrors. Yep, Jo Bob was the first one to introduce me to Dario Argento's Suspiria (highly recommended) and Phantasm. 

By this time, my friend and I were old enough to head over to our local video store on our own. VHS was still the most readily available, which sucked 'cause every once in a while you got one that jammed the deck and then you had to spend hours trying to fix it. Her favorite discovery back then were the Sleepaway Camp movies. Meanwhile, I was working my way through Hellraiser and its follow-ups. Yep, we were total movie junkies and finding a new horror flick really made our weekends.

These days, choices seem to be harder to come by. I'll watch torture porn like Hostel and Saw only on dvd and only when there's really nothing else left. I've found a plethora of new ones in the foreign market, though. Asia in particular has some fantastic ones. Spain, courtesy mostly of Guillermo del Toro, has some very dramatic ones. The Italians still hold fast to their belief that the gorier the film, the better it will be. The French are just putting out some strange ones. And the Germans, well theirs are almost too thriller to be true horror, but I like 'em anyway. Mustn't leave out the UK area, either. Danny Boyle in particular is one of my faves, and Neil Marshall is one to watch.

Normally, M. Night Shyamalan's first rated R release would be my pick for today, but I have to wait until my other is home to see it. I'm trying to budget, too. I did, however, buy a French movie called Frontier(s) and I have yet to watch it. I also just finished watching the German flick Antibodies not at all sure what the title had to do with the rest of the movie, and it was definitely more Silence of the Lambs than traditional horror. 

If you're interested, here are a few of my faves:

If you love zombies: Danny Boyle's 28 Days Later is absolutely not to be missed. Neither is Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright's Shaun of the Dead (both UK).

For a great ghost story: Guillermo del Toro's Devil's Backbone is one of the best (Spain)!

The German film Anatomy remains one of my favorite new slasher films. Stars Franka Potente and Benno Furman, directed by Stefan Ruzowitzky.

In the American ring, John Stockwell (who once starred as the jock in the film version of Christine) directed his first horror film in '06. Turistas turned out to be great in my opinion. Most recently, Carter Smith's The Ruins (based on Scott Smith's novel) did not let me down.

Of the Asian ones, R-Point is great, Ghost has a really nice twist, and The Red Shoes is one you'll never forget. 

Classics that you must see: The Lost Boys and Near Dark (before they remake it!), Friday the 13th #s 1&2, Nightmare on Elm Street #1, Halloween 1&2 (not the remake), Children of the Corn #1 only, anything George R. Romero has released and the remakes of his releases - you must see the old ones, then the new ones. The new ones employ the more active zombies - more fun to watch people try to get away from. 

I can't even think. There are SO MANY great movies out there. Fun ones, gross ones, over the top ones, you name it, it's out there.