Gen X is the “forgotten generation.” We made our own meals after school and Saturday mornings, we got dirty, played miles away from home with no way to reach us, we told offensive jokes, we built and jumped bike ramps, broke bones and drank from garden hoses, we had three network channels, we didn’t “mediate” with bullies—we kicked their asses, we had land lines, house phones and cordless phones that you could beat someone with, MTV showed music videos, Steven Spielberg and Michael Jackson ruled, we knew who we were gonna call, girls had big hair, guys popped their collars, there were clogs, and penny loafers, you chose Beta or VHS at the video store, high school lunch could be hell, we partied like it was 1999, teachers were off the wall, we had nerds, preps, stoners, burners, geeks, jocks, we drank Malt Duck, White Mountain wine coolers and Mickey’s Big Mouths, we got our permits at 15 and learned to drive on stick shift, the malls were our hangouts. There was no Internet or social media.

And we liked it.

(Oh yeah, we also had AIDS, terrorism, crack, racism, homophobia, subway shootings, cocaine, corrupt politicians, pollution, book banning, political correctness, TV preachers, climate change, stranger danger and Can’t Stop the Music.)

I was a “Monster Kid” and “The Weird Kid, The Horror Movie Kid.” I found out early…horror is always personal.

Now I make horror for a living. It shouldn’t just be WATCHED.Horror should be ENJOYED.

This isn’t some stuffy analysis telling you what’s good or bad. Instead, it’s a tour of the 1930s through the 1980s–a personal account of how the best and worst of this era gave us so many memories and experiences that impacted our own lives. It’s fun…just how horror should always be.

Whether it’s crowds screaming in terror at Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter, Alien, Dawn of the Dead, Sleepaway Camp, and so many more; or audiences laughing out loud at The Amityville Horror, Prophecy, or Jaws The Revenge–my goal is to show how movies on the big screen or late night cable and home video brought us together. I also examine historical context and its importance to a film’s success and why so many reboots and remakes seem to fail.

IF YOU LOVE BEING SCARED IT WILL BE THE READ OF YOUR LIFE!