THE NIGHT THAT STARTED IT ALL

THE NIGHT THAT STARTED IT ALL

THURSDAY 3/19/2020

Before I get into this entry, it’s important that I document the date and what is currently happening in my life right now. As I write this I’m currently self quarantined. For the record, this isn’t a personal choice. Tuesday morning I texted my boss and described my symptoms. He told me to call my doctor and not to come in to work. Thinking that all I need to do is see the doctor and maybe be absent for one day, it escalated rather quickly in a 24 hour period.

24 hours, 4 phone calls and 1 e-mail later I’m forced to stay home for the rest of the week. I feel guilty across the board. I feel guilty that I’m letting my bosses and co-workers down. But if I went to work, I would feel guilty that I might be getting them sick. Last week I was diagnosed with allergies. By Monday night, my head was warm and my coughing increased quite a bit. I’m fatigued beyond words, my nose is stuffed up, and my throat is sore. I’m unable to be tested right now which puts me in a tough spot when it comes to returning to work. At this moment my HR rep told me to stay home, so that’s what I’m doing. So…it doesn’t matter how serious you take a virus. The powers that be do take it seriously and has complete control over your actions, and personal choices. If they tell you stay home, you stay home.

Now…on with the entry. So my friends have always asked me what was the Horror movie that started it all. Not sure it was one movie. I would say it was an overall experience. The date is real fuzzy, but I would say it was in 1980. My mother was dating a guy named Joe and I was forced at the age of 5 to live in the dreaded Stockton, Ca. One Friday night (I assume it was Firday), Joe and my mother decided to spend the evening at Hammer Lane Drive-In. An outdoor drive in theatre next to a miniature golf course. Could have been a quite evening, but Joe called up his buds, and one car load turned into a convoy of couples and kids.

The movie on the menu: Prom Night starring Jamie Lee Curtis and Leslie Neilson. As the sun disappears and the moon rises, the Horror classic begins. My role was to be asleep in the back seat (get real). Already hooked on movies, I take it upon myself to be sneaky and at least try to watch the movie with one eye open. From what I remember, I wasn’t all that interested in the movie. I’m 5. What the hell do I know about high school and being a teenager. The only scene that blew me away, was when the head rolled down the runway.

So…bored with the movie, I turn around and watch the screen on the other side of the outdoor movie theatre. Catching the tail end of the movie, a line of zombies are walking across the bridge. Completely blown away by that single image, I was dying to find out what movie that was. It was Lucio Fulci’s Zombie. Now I’m hooked. Eventually Prom Night ended and the 2^nd feature begins. Starting off slow, it eventually becomes brutal, violent, and hard to take my eyes off of. That movie was I Spit On Your Grave (Day of the Woman).

So…it wasn’t one movie but a collage of three movies that got me hooked. My love of Horror movies grew rapidly when HBO entered my life. With movies like Carrie, Alien, Poltergeist, Howling, etc. my addiction was being fed on a daily basis. Now as a 45 year old, my blu ray collection has all the movies that made me the blood thirsty fan I am today. With the Coronavirus dismantling everyone’s daily life, including employment, now is a real important time for escapism. To dive into another world for a couple of hours and fall in love with the movies that made my childhood and life in general worth remembering. Hopefully, I can look back on this time and simply remember the movies I was watching during this grim period.

… Stay safe. Only watch the news for information. Don’t get sucked into the fear they live to provoke. Surround yourself with the things that keep you smiling. Day by day…breath by breath.

– G.R.E.E.N.B.A.N.K.