Friday, October 14, 2011

How I Met Michael, Freddy, and Jason

With Halloween quickly approaching, and everybody (including people who don't watch horror movies) getting into the horror movie mood, I figured this would be a great time to dive into my past a bit and tell you some of the interesting stories on the first time I ever watched "Halloween", "A Nightmare on Elm Street", and a "Friday the 13th" film. I don't really know how interesting these stories will be, but I promised I'd post more this month, about horror movies and dammit, that's what you're getting. So in no particular order...

Halloween
This is probably going to seem very strange to you. But the very first time I seen "Halloween" was in school. In the 4th grade. During music class. I dunno what 2011 teaching standards are like now (Nick?) but I guess back in 1989 things were a bit more relaxed. Plus this is fuckin' East Chicago, Indiana, not the "wrong side" of the tracks in L.A. Although it's funny to imagine Morgan Freeman/Michelle Pfeiffer/Edward James Olmos showing a bunch of kids "Halloween".

But anyway, yes we were sitting in our music class in the 4th grade watching "Halloween", which if you don't know why that's shocking, you need to revisit that movie and watch it as an 8 year old. Hell, there's boobs in the first five minutes. Now you are probably asking yourself "Why did a music teacher do this?" Her (yes HER) whole point was to show how music is important in movies and how anytime Michael Meyers came on screen, the music got all scary and dramatic. It's an interesting point and was one hell of a way to introduce me to this movie. What did I think about it back then? I thought it was awesome. Some people didn't like it but that's people from Indiana for you.

A Nightmare on Elm Street
I think I told this story before but I don't remember so here it is again. Again, I was probably a bit too young to be seeing this movie but alas I was 6 years old. Without getting into a huge giant family history, for a year I had to live with my grandparents and my uncle, who was like 12 or 13 at this point. So one night, "A Nightmare on Elm Street" came on and my grandparents were asleep so it was just me and my uncle watching this. Now I should point out that the year I stayed with them, my uncle would terrorize me like an older brother would a younger. So we're watching the movie and he's being oddly silent. Then the movie ends, my grandmother wakes up and tells us to go to bed. Also, me and my uncle shared a bedroom cause it was a two bedroom house. And we had bunk beds. So I was on the top bunk, he was on the bottom (there was a point in my life when I was skinny. It's been about 20 years but I was fucking skinny) and suddenly, my uncle starts making weird demonic noises and then shines a flashlight on the wall and suddenly he has four steak knives in his hands and he keeps saying he was Freddy. I nervously laughed and said quit it until my grandmother yelled at us. And true story, I didn't get a nightmare. Honestly, I never have nightmares. I have fucked up dreams where like my dick turns into a pair of sunglasses but I never woke up in a cold sweat. But anyway, that was the first time I seen "A Nightmare on Elm Street".

Friday the 13th Part 3
Yeah I didn't even start with the first one, where my namesake came from. It was like 1992 or so and I was over at a friends house and it started getting late. I was probably suppose to be home but then a movie called "Friday the 13th Part 3" came on and my friend said "OOH! Jason! It's Jason! We should watch!" I said "Ok, sure" and we watched and it was unbelieveable. If you need a reminder on what happens in that movie, check this out. Or if you want a smart person's perspective, check out James' review. Anyway, I watched the first two but I think they were out of order, then of course I watched Parts 8, 9, and 10/Jason X right when they came out and then my mom told me where she got my name from and I haven't been the same ever since.

So that's it. I dunno if this was interesting. Maybe? Sure. Anyway, look out for a fuckload of movie reviews from me in the next week or so.
-Jason

3 comments:

Wings1295 said...

Sure, always cool to read horror movie memories! And I can't believe a TEACHER showed you Halloween!

Jason Soto said...

Yeah I know, I can hardly believe it either. I think she forgot about the boobs in the beginning and thought "Well, anytime Michael comes on screen the music changes! That works!" That or her boyfriend/husband dared her to do it. I suddenly miss the 80's.
-Jason

CultPopCult said...

The first time I remember seeing Halloween was when I was 8 years old in 1983. I believe NBC was broadcasting it on a Sunday night and my older brother & father were watching it. I snuck downstairs and saw young Michael kill his sister. It was terrifying and I think I had nightmares for a week.