Day 6: Hail Satan!

Aptly it’s confession time. There’s a couple of films that have slipped past me that I’m embarrassed to say I haven’t seen. I was shamed during a zoom meet up with a bunch of friends when I admitted I haven’t seen the Neverending Story (1984). For someone who prides himself on watching a fair amount of films in my youth, any cultural touchstones or seminal classics that you just didn’t get to, make you ripe for ridicule. Now, I’m first and foremost a horror fan so this next admission is a painful one and one that I’m not proud of but as this is clearly an autobiographical project of sorts it seems right to be as honest as possible. Ok, here goes…

I’ve never seen Rosemary’s Baby.

Still here? Can we still walk down this road together? It’s a strange stigma that surrounds fandom where admitting that, almost disqualifies one from the conversation. “What!? You haven’t seen…?” is a thing we say, I guess, to illustrate how incredulous we are at there being any likelihood that someone could exist in the world, love film/horror/music/art/etc infinitum, and not have experienced THIS particular qualifying morsel.

Social media tends to be the kind of place where people can casually disregard other folk on the basis of not being amongst the “elite”, but I’m encouraged by horror fandom specifically, because of its general inclusivity. Horror fandom is like some amorphous gelatinous entity that envelops all who might stumble upon it. It wants to be enjoyed and it excels at being a shared experience. Some of the best horror movies I’ve seen have been elevated simply by being watched in a darkened theatre with people who want to be scared and in that shared experience is a communal spirit that thrives and drives horror fandom.

“You NEED to watch…” is the horror way. “Oh my god, you’ll love this…” comes the response from like-minded people who want to share something they love. What an amazing and exciting thing it is to discover some treasure from “classic” horror that you’ve never seen before or, in my case tonight, how thrilling to witness something special that has influenced and determined so many subsequent genre entries since.

When one looks at it like that the road ahead opens up with possibility and with opportunity. My only baggage is a bit of guilt for not finding my feet sooner.