My Childhood Favorite Movies

I felt like I was the only fan of this movie when I was a kid. Nobody had heard of it and those that had didn't love it like I did. It was special to me and I longed to live with the characters in it. Full of unique imagery and ideas, Phantasm still managed to be a fun coming of age story about a kid in suburbia. As I grew the rest of the movies in the series grew with me and I hold them as near and dear to my heart as I did the first one.

I was but a 10 year old whippersnapper when the rumor mill informed me of this movie. To a kid in a border town this movie was legendary before it was even seen but when I finally did see it not long after, I finally saw a bridge built between American style and the tropes of Mexican action cinema. I was in love with the movie and, soon after, all the lore that came with its creation.

Being a young kid and watching this on TV was quite the experience. I'd never seen anything like it and it would be one of the movies that would get me hooked on big monsters and pretty dames.

When I was a kid nobody wanted to see movies in black and white. This and King Kong convinced me every kid that said that was a dunce. Hitchcock's camerawork really stood out in my young mind.

One of the mom and pop shops I frequented did their best to stop me from watching hard R movies and the way they did it was by recommending I watch Tremors over and over again. Gladly! Val and Earl alone kept me coming back but the moment you added monsters I was a sucker forever.

I was too young to see this when I did but it blew my mind. It has always been a favorite and it will remain so for the foreseeable future. The movie taught me a lot about how the combination of visuals and music can create rousing results.

This was the first movie I saw unedited and beyond a PG rating. It was also the first movie I saw on VHS. There is NOTHING like a Troma movie and this is the one that made them a big name in the indie scene and with good reason. This was punk rock in film form, this was irreverent yet hilarious, and it was everything a young kid shouldn't of been watching. So bad it's good and still as crazy as it ever was.

The first time I felt like I hadn't really watched a movie but more experienced something harrowing. Gritty and grueling, TCM never lets up and feels real to this day. Darkly comic but sickeningly maddening to the point where you feel a bit of panic slip in as you follow it's protagonist. TCM is a classic for a reason and it changed my perspective on what movies could do as a child. It fostered a gruesome fascination with the movie that constantly made me come back to it.

It's odd to think of it now but this was what was considered a family movie among my relatives. We rented this often and reveled in its grotesque majesty.

Quite possibly the movie that made me decide horror was my thing. Though I already had a profound love for it, Tony Todd's performance, coupled with Philip Glass' score and the visceral imagery made the macabre beautifully artistic. It was at this moment that I began to see beyond the superficial in horror.

The first time I felt completely unnerved at what was going on onscreen. Where TCM seated you in the protagonist's POV and made you feel like you were descending into madness, The Evil Dead made you feel downright disturbed at the events. Boggled my mind.

Carpenter's ode to Nigel Kneale is quite possibly my favorite of his works but back when I first saw it I had no idea who either of those people were. With its mix of science and religion and its dense atmosphere and eerie visuals, Prince of Darkness scard the living daylights out of me as a kid but, boy, did I love it.

This was the second Carpenter flick I saw after I sought more form the man who made Prince of Darkness. Mind officially blown. Fan for life created right then and there.

I must have worn at least 10 VHS copies of this movie out by the time it came out on DVD. Beetlejuice was funny, inventive, visually stunning, and an ode to so many things I'd yet to learn about. It's the gift that keeps on giving in so many ways. As I grew other aspects of humor and the craft of filmmaking became more evident to me. It still excites me to watch.

The movie I used to convince my parents that horror wasn't "so bad". It's whimsical spirit and morality tales sated "the rents" and the macabre, gruesome, and strange sated me. Of course, my appreciation for it grew exponentially when I discovered EC Comics not long after.

My love of musicals and lavish productions later in life would be rooted in this standard. It was a yearly tradition to watch it with my mother and a film I value for a variety of reasons beyond the nostalgic.

I grew up on Temple as my first Indiana Jones movie. Though I recognize that Raiders is the superior film, I still hold that Temple is the second best.

I memorized every line in this movie. Back then it stunned me how thrilling and action packed it was. Now it amazes me how effective it remains despite its small budget and dated look.

The first movie I saw theatrically and one of the biggest sci-fi action spectacles ever made. Needless to say my jaw was on the floor. What made it more special was that it was a sequel to one of my established favorites and it didn't blow.

This is the movie that ushered me from childhood into my teenage years. Even then it looked amateurish as all hell but it was all about these characters that resounded with me and those in my social circle. It was a movie that spoke to a specific brood of people in such a resonating way that it transcended its negative aspects. Though, it's aged terribly compared to the rest of these films, it's still downright hilarious and it takes me back.