VHS HALLOWEEN - DAY NINE: SSSSSSS (MCA UNIVERSAL HOME VIDEO - 1973)

I think one of the things that made me a horror fan was being compelled to find a film that could actually truly frighten me. Very few people's egos will permit them to admit that they've been controlled by something as trivial as a film, particularly when it comes to horror. To say you've experienced a sense of dread or fear during a horror flick is to admit that you've been controlled and manipulated. No one wants to cop to the fact that they're powerless to something. Horror is incredibly pornographic in nature, in that it provokes a response from the viewer through intense and explicit imagery. In fact, that's precisely what pornography is. It does not strictly refer to graphic depictions of sexual acts. Anything that is of an extreme nature that provokes a physical response is pornographic. News footage of some idiot getting his head lopped off by middle Eastern zealots might make some folks sick, while secretly others might be titillated. Deep down, we're all fascinated by mortality, and so each and every one of us has some interest in morbid imagery or subject matter. On some level of consciousness, each and every one of us is interested in gruesome things because they are both possible and inevitable. Horror stimulates; it quickens pulses. A genuinely thrilling film can bring about a sense of euphoria afterward that can be addicting in much the same way thrill seekers are addicted to an adrenaline rush. There's absolutely nothing sick about it. In fact, these experiences are healthy. A great horror film plays on the audience's sense of empathy toward the characters getting run through a ringer on screen. Certainly there are movies that feed their shallow protagonists to villains like Christians to lions, but GOOD horror films invest in great characterization and give you the opportunity to empathize and even occasionally experience victory over the odds.

There are mountains of garbage horror movies made by low brow delinquent types who don't understand the psychology behind this genre or what makes these films work. In fact, very few writers or directors actually "get it," and even it's even more rare when you get a pairing of the two that both do. When those elements align, though, they can create a gratifying experience. Even if it's just one moment that bothers you or jolts you a little, it's a miraculous achievement on their part.

I've been rattled and creeped out by very few films throughout my life time, but when it happens, I'll commend the effort. One of the first movies to really shake the hell out of me was "Sssssss." Granted, I first experienced this movie as a little kid, but the experience was profound enough to haunt my memory for years to come. Overall, the movie effectively weaves a mood of its own, but what really scared the shit out of me was the imagery at the end of the film when they reveal the half-man half-snake hybrid. The first time I saw that I ran out of the room. After that, I was routinely teased by my family, who'd remind me of the Dirk Benedict snake man at really inopportune times. Decades later, the movie doesn't hold the same impact that it once did, but it's still a very entertaining and well-made film. In fact, it's relatively tame but still manages to be a strong little mood piece. For parents seeking films to watch with young ones around this time of year, I would whole heartedly recommend it.

The plot is simple, and leans more toward nuclear fifties sci-fi. Benedict plays David Blake, a student who gets a job at a serpentarium, assisting a doctor who's performing radical research on snakes. Blake eventually becomes a part of the doctor's experiments when he begins receiving dubious injections which lead to some pretty severe life changes. All this is complicated by a brewing romance between Blake and the doctor's daughter. It might not unnerve you, but it is at least a fun ride. Worth seeking out.

Trailer courtesy mgoddard23.

THE BOY WHO CRIED WEREWOLF (1973)

This title brings a flood of nostalgia and memories of sitting on my grandmother's living room floor while glued to the TV set. Her house, which was where I grew up, was located across the street from the state hospital on Foothill Road. Back then, there was a constant routine, where I'd be out in the back yard digging holes with salad spoons and playing with my pet turtle, and then I'd hear the siren from up the street and move into the security of our home. That meant that someone had escaped the hospital, and that it was a good idea to move inside and lock the doors. I became a very pale child thanks to the crazies who regularly roved our neighborhoods, and KCOP kept me occupied in those days.

One of my most vivid recollections from childhood occurred one Sunday afternoon while I was parked in front of the TV while my grandmother was in the kitchen making dinner. I can't remember what I was watching, but I saw a bald man in a hospital gown pass by the window behind our large television set. He was shaking and covered in blood. I called to my grandmother, who stepped away from the stove to see what the matter was. She looked out the window and saw this gory escapee ascending our driveway toward our garage. She frowned and shook her head in the sort of way she would when I'd made a minor mess. So she called the hospital, grabbed her broom and went outside to SHOO THE MANIAC AWAY. I protested but she went out anyway. I stood in the living room, stooped down behind the window sill, watching the whole thing. When confronted by my grandmother, the trembling nut job merely turned back around and wandered down the incline of our steep driveway, and into the arms of a few nurses who had parked on the edge of our property in a state hospital station wagon. Apparently the guy had gotten out of his wing and jumped through a plate glass window in a lobby and no one had noticed until my grandmother called.

Anyway, "The Boy Who Cried Werewolf" was one of my favorite features that I'd see with some regularity around that period. After searching for a VHS of the film for a while, I was told that it was actually never put out on tape. Truly a shame. But you can watch it on YouTube, thanks to Jeff1969z, who also put up the "Rock Devil Rock" episode of "CHiPs," starring Donnie Most!