PC TV

Because of LikeTV.com, I was able to watch an Italian horror flick from 1981 called SEVEN DOORS OF DEATH...

...IN MY ROOM!!!

...ON MY COMPUTER!!!

I know, this is lame to most, but I LIKE NOVELTY!!! If there's something I can't do, then all of a sudden I CAN do it, I'm thrilled! I'm like a big kid, I like gadgets, I like technological advance, and I like being able to do stuff that I previously couldn't do.

PLUS... the movie was a nice piece of research. I don't know a lot about Italian horror flicks -- except that Dario Argento doesn't scare me in the slightest -- except that they influenced a lot of the American horror filmmakers that I love. I get that Argento is a HUGE part of that inspiration, but I've never dropped acid, and so I suspect I will never be as profoundly impacted by these flicks as others have been.

HOWEVER... Having seen SEVEN DOORS OF DEATH -- or, as it's actually titled, E TU VIVRAI NEL TERRORE - L'ALDILA -- I think I'm starting to see the inspiration!

Don't get me wrong, this isn't THE GRUDGE or THE RING (or RINGU), but it's not bad! I mean, it IS BAD, but it's got some really cool stuff in it. First of all, it starts off as a sort of haunted house movie, then evolves into a Satanic Cult movie, then wraps up as a zombie movie! And these different sub-genres are blended pretty naturally into each other!

But the mere fact that 24 years ago someone was BLENDING SUB-GENRES is a revelation!!! Whedon has been doing it with finesse and panache since the mid-90s, but I don't think I've seen such inventiveness BEFORE that! And there is was, on my PC screen! In 1981, we Americans were making AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON, THE FUNHOUSE, HALLOWEEN II, FRIDAY THE 13TH PART 2, THE HOWLING and maybe a few others.

Now, granted, the 2 werewolf movies furthered sfx. HALLOWEEN II and FRIDAY THE 13TH PART 2 showed us the beginnings of Franchise Horror (I'm not saying whethere that's good or bad, I'm just saying it IS). But AMEREICAN WEREWOLF isn't really a horror movie so much as a horror comedy. And THE FUNHOUSE... You only see that on local TV that can't afford to air REAL movies.

Perhaps I'm being too snide here.

My point is that when American horror filmmakers were resting on their laurels, Italian horror filmmakers seem to have been pushing the envelope.

And that makes me happy.

Because now I have a whole sub-genre of horror to explore, and hopefully steal from!

My next PC movie will either be WHEELS ON MEALS -- a Jackie Chan/Sammo Hung/Biao Yuen masterpiece (possibly THE opus for those 3, depending upon who you talk to) that I still haven't gotten a chance to see -- or SANTA CLAUS CONQUERS THE MARTIANS -- a cult classic that I've been dying to see, if for no other reason than the sheer novelty of it.

I mean, COME ON!

SANTA!

MARTIANS!!

SANTA CONQUERING THE MARTIANS!!!

That LikeTV.com really is like TV: It makes you EXCITED about watching movies you otherwise would have ANY desire to see!!!