Joakim at Mexploitation asks the whole horror blogosphere, “What made you get into horror?”

My answer? Nothing.

Seriously! I don’t ever recall some light switching on in my head that made me think “ah, this horror stuff, I love it, more more more!” The closest thing I can think of is the time I saw my first “real” (read: rated R, non-classic, non-Kubrick, gory) horror movie, Nightbreed, but it still wasn’t one of those “and then I rented my way through the Blockbuster horror section, because I couldn’t get enough” kinda deals. It was just something I came to enjoy and still do.

This after one of the least horror-influenced childhoods imaginable. While I loved Godzilla, King Kong, and the Universal monsters, I was scared to death of modern horror films. I’m not one of those kid who was watching A Nightmare on Elm Street in third grade, no sir. Man, the mixed revulsion, fascination, and fear I felt toward the hideous faces leering off the boxes in the horror section of Video Quest, the local rental shop! My terrified reaction to “Thriller” happened pretty early on, but I pretended to be asleep so I wouldn’t have to watch Poltergeist III at a sleepover as late as sixth or seventh grade, if I recall. But eventually I started reading Stephen King, which softened me up; my first rated-R movie was The Lost Boys; and by high school I’d developed the love of Kubrick’s The Shining that most hip high-schoolers do. But like I said, no watershed moment.

And while I’m answering Joakim’s questions, why not tackle the meme he’s thrown my way?

ONE (1) earliest film-related memory:

Hmmmm…it’s got to be watching Star Wars (taped off of CBS, with the commercials paused out by my dad) in the basement of the first house I lived in.

TWO (2) favourite lines from movies:

Jeez, I guess I don’t think of films in terms of favorite lines (this despite quoting movies morning noon and night) because this is a hard one for me. How about “This cheese is disgusting–get it away from me!” from Flirting with Disaster and “Look what your brother did to the door!” from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre?

THREE (3) jobs you