Come Play with Us, Danny

When I was about ten years old (much too young) I saw part of "The Shining" on TV. These twins scared the SHIT out of me. I couldn't even finish watching it. But I couldn't forget how it felt to be that scared.

The next year this girl I knew was reading this book called "Carrie," and in the beginning of the book, Carrie gets her period. This sort of thing fascinated me, as this was before I had to endure such things. And it was about a girl who had psychic powers, another thing that I was into.

My mom took me to this bookstore called "The Paperback Book Palace," and this place is one of my best childhood memories. The horror section was located way in the back, and you had to make a couple of twists and turns to get there. I will never forget it, the smell of the used books and the sight of all those books all the way up to the ceiling. Scary, horrifying books. I found "Carrie" there. I read it. The next time we went, I saw this book called, "The Shining," and I had to have it. It was by the same author, Stephen King, of course. I bought the book and I was hooked. I was a Stephen King junkie, to the dismay of my parents, for the next several years. I devoured his books. Ate them up like crazy, read them over and over again. I was impressed that the words that somebody wrote could make me feel that way, that a book called "Christine" could make me feel very uncomfortable in a parking lot full of cars.

I never did get into many other horror writers, but I have always been a horror movie freak. And "The Shining" is one of my favorites. Those girls still creep me out. At a pretty young age my brother and I used to watch scary movies on USA every Saturday morning (I know, weird). That's where I first saw all of the "Nightmare on Elm Street," "Halloween" and "Friday the 13th" movies. Edited for TV, of course. I still feel affection for those cheesy '80s horror flicks.

Nowadays, I crave the feeling I got when I was a kid and everything was so awesome and scary. I want to watch something that makes me feel afraid to walk upstairs alone in the dark. Very few movies can deliver. I am in search of something awesomely horrific, not just blood and gore and all that but freakiness. I like old movies, new movies, whatever. If you have any good suggestions, drop me a comment or email. This month I am really in the mood because Halloween is coming soon. I am working on a list of movies to watch this month, but I'm not sure if I will get time to watch many. My kids are always around and I don't want them watching these.

I am not feeling so hot right now so I am going to go lie on the couch and watch "The Kite Runner," which is not a horror movie.