Like father like son! Must’ve been some interesting dinner table discussions in that household…
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Thanks! I’m fully aware that the writing isn’t great, but it has been an excellent tool for keeping on track with my sobriety, and it’s definitely the reason that I have been more successful this time than any previous attempt. I mean, I can’t really write a blog called Sober Horror Fan if I’m not sober can I?
It’s weird and kind of sad though–of all the reasons I have, and always have had, to stay sober: my health, my family, etc., the thing that has actually managed to help me stay committed is a dumb blog about horror movies… 
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Not dumb at all! All those other things fulfill certain needs in your life, they are equally important even if you don’t see it. Because after all, you didn’t get sober TO write a horror blog, you write a horror blog TO help you maintain sobriety. Because at the end of the day your health, family, finances all benefit! Whatever works man, I’ve seen people take up all kinds of other things, good and bad to stay sober. I’m happy you are writing the blog! It brings joy to other folks too. I know I’m really grateful to have you here. I rarely get to nerd out about horror with someone else without their face glazing over or twisting up like “wtf is this guy talking about”
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Thanks man–I really appreciate that.
I really enjoyed the first two Conjuring movies and the fist Annabelle one, but after that they really lost me. I thought The Nun was just awful. As the saying goes: “A horror fan cannot live by jump-scares alone!”
…Having said that, last night I watched the 1977 cannibal movie Jungle Holocaust, so I have absolutely no right to criticize anything.
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I agree with Dylan. Maybe you are feeding a passion inside yourself that keeps the fire burning for your sobriety… Whatever works. Maybe you needed exactly this!
I like your writing, don’t be down on it 
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I must have watched thatv about twenty years ago. Can’t remember it…
The new conjuring and nun were fairly poor to be fare 
I loved the first two and the first Annabelle movie aswell the rest are just rubbish
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Thanks for the very kind words.
I’ve written about this on another thread in this forum, so I apologize for being repetitive, but the reason I started the blog was that my mindset had become such that I pretty much couldn’t enjoy anything without a drink—even things that I have loved since I was a little kid, like music and movies—including horror movies.
That really highlighted for me how alcohol can suck the genuine pleasure out of things and make itself the main focus. The pleasure of listening to music, watching a movie, or even spending time with friends had somehow become secondary to the fact that I would be drinking while doing these things. It would be the drinking that I would really be looking forward to.
When I admitted that to myself, it made me feel kind of angry, sad, and somewhat disgusted with myself, so I decided to make it a mission to get back to the pure enjoyment of all the things that I could appreciate before alcohol encroached on my life, and I chose to use horror movies as a kind of benchmark for that. I decided to make a conscious effort to watch and enjoy them sober—not while getting drunk, as had become the norm for me. My goal is to return to being the kind of genuinely appreciative, enthusiastic person that I was as a kid—the real me. And I’m doing that through the power of horror movies!
The blog is a like journal to help keep me focused and committed. So far, it’s working really well, and I think anyone could do something like that to help them stay on track.
Sorry for the long ramble.
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I must have watched that about twenty years ago. Can’t remember it…
^^^Probably for the better!
I have watched a few of those old Italian cannibal movies recently. They are outrageous—and kind of indefensible. It’s so weird that those films were—to some extent at least—in vogue in Italy for a time in the late 70s/early 80s.
I can only wonder what was going through the mind of the average Italian when walking out of a movie theater after having watched one of those movies back in 1979 or whenever. 
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Did these movies even get into the theatre, or are we assuming straight to Beta Max 
Well, in the UK at least, Jungle Holocaust was was one of the films that was banned as a “video nasty” in the early 1980s, so it may well have had its day on Betamax. 
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The day before yesterday, I watched Dark Places, a British “haunted house” movie from 1973 that had Christopher Lee, Joan Collins, and Jane Birkin in it, and it was directed by Don Sharp who directed a bunch of good horror movies in the 70s, including a few classic Hammer films. With those credentials it should have been great, but it fell a bit flat. Not terrible, but not that great either.
Then last night (my 70th day sober—ten whole weeks, whoo-hoo!), I watched Mike Flanagan’s Ouija: Origin of Evil (2016). I had read lots of good things about it and his earlier film Oculus (2013), and I managed to pick up cheap ex-rental discs of both of them.
I enjoyed the first hour-or-so of Ouija: Origin of Evil. I really liked the 60s period setting and the acting was good—especially the young girl at the center of the story. Nice, slow build-up of creepiness too. But then, as is so often the case with mainstream horror flicks, they threw it all under a bus in the last half hour by being waaaay too heavy-handed with everything. Shame.
I’m feeling a bit less enthusiastic about Oculus now, but I’ll give it a fair shake.
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Anyone seen RENFIELD. Addiction, AA and vampirism all in one movie! NIC cage! I really enjoyed it, light hearted and fun!
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Yes! But not the sawed-off fingers etc. Only came across old school The Wickerman from ‘70. Bizarre! And Midsommar is recommended
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I just watched the original EXORCIST. Probably 5th time. Had no idea there was a remake. The original is still the best still thought-provoking and creepy.
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Anyone seen RENFIELD. Addiction, AA and vampirism all in one movie! NIC cage! I really enjoyed it, light hearted and fun!
Haven’t seen it yet but will. I didn’t know there was an addiction angle to it–that’s interesting.
Nicolas Cage is great when he is in a good movie (and not the straight-to-video garbage that seems to comprise 90% of his output these days).
From what I gather Renfield has gotten pretty widely panned, but plenty of people hate Mandy and it’s one of my all-time favorite movies.
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The 1973 Wicker Man is an absolute peerless classic. I would recommend checking out the extended director’s cut, as it is significantly better than the shorter theatrical release–much more of the excellent songs and music. Midsommar really owes a lot to the The Wicker Man.
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It’s so good, I have only seen it once so I should rewatch it.
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This weekend I watched:
Cold Light of Day (1989), a film based on the British serial killer Dennis Nilson. It was just terrible. I was curious about it because it is sometimes likened to a British version of Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer, and because it was released by Arrow Video, who put out a lot of great stuff, but I just thought it was awful. It was made by a 21-year-old acting student, and it shows. Hard to see the reason for its existence. No real insight or commentary provided about its grim subject at all.
The Haunting (1963). A film that appears on nearly every single horror movie top ten list, but has somehow eluded me until now. Given its reputation for being truly scary, I thought I was going to be blown away. On viewing, though, I just thought it was OK. It was not nearly as affecting as I expected. This is probably yet another case of my own too-high expectations diminishing my enjoyment of the actual movie, though.
Slave of the Cannibal God (1978). Yep, I did it again. This one actually had Ursula Andress in it! 
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