We here at Horror Drive-In are always recommending books, movies to you. And I like to think we're genuinely honest in our praise. Some of the genre books are breathtaking works of fiction. Some are less than that, but are fun and enjoyable. Once in a while a book will come along that is more than good, or excellent. It's seldom, maybe a handful of occasions in a lifetime, a novel will be more than a good book. More than an excellent piece of literature. Sometimes, rarely, a book can be a spiritual experience.
David Lozell Martin is a hell of a writer that has had his hands in many types of books. Thrillers, literary, comic and epic adventure. But one novel stands above them all and it is back in print in an affordable trade paperback. It's called, of course, Crazy Love.
If you think Crazy Love might be a romantic story, you'd be right. If you let that scare you off, you'd be a fool. It's like the snobs that won't read horror and thereby miss out on Peter Straub or John Farris. Or the people that don't like SF and miss out on Norman Spinrad or Theodore Sturgeon. Crazy Love is the story of an unlikely romance. Two people that couldn't be less compatible, at least by outward appearances. But they discover love for each other. But it's more than just that. Crazy Love deals with the land, with the love we all should have for animals, and how fragile even the strongest relationships can be. As well as how fragile our lives are.
I can't express how beautiful and profound this book is. I can't compare it with any other. Maybe if I say that the only other book that even came close to moving me is McCammon's Boy's Life. Maybe that will convince you.
There are, thankfully, several books by the remarkable David Lozell Martin currently in print and I recommend them all. His astonishing memoirs, Losing Everything. The bawdy and hard-hitting Pelikan. The wise and passionate The Crying Heart Tattoo. The sweeping epic, Our American King. But it is Crazy Love that I give the very highest recommendation that I will ever give a book.
Buy it. Buy it and read it. Or re-read it. Read it, cherish it and then give it to a loved one.
Torture Porn
Sunday, January 11, 2009
The term, Torture Porn, is one that is mostly used by those that are not fans of the genre. Or at least they aren't fans of the kind of up-close violence that movies like the Saw films, Hostel, Wolf Creek, Captivity and certain others are infamous for. Savvy fans of the genre decry the title, saying that it isn't descriptive of the the attraction at all. Because no one is actually sexually aroused by these movies. Are they?
I don't know. I would be surprised, in this day and age, if there weren't a few unfortunate individuals that do get erotic kicks out of scenes of torture in movies.
It makes me wonder how far it will all go.
Don't worry, I'm not going to go all Roger Ebert or Harlan Ellison on you and claim that these movies signify the end of human culture. Not quite.
The last film I sat down and watched was called Eden Lake. It's one of the Dimension Extreme titles and the movie has graphic depictions of violence and sadism that could turn almost anyone's stomach. Yet Eden Lake is a very well made movie. I think it made some pretty valid statements about the effect certain parents and society have on children. It's mean-spirited, ugly and deeply unsettling. For those that care for this sort of thing, I recommend it.
Where did it all start? Audiences were shocked at the brutality in the torture scene in Reservoir Dogs, but most of them hadn't seen Bloodsucking Freaks. Or even Last House on the Left. Not to mention harrowing Italian films like House on the Edge of the Park or those cannibal movies that seem so real.
Horror fiction fans had read The Girl Next Door long before this current trend surfaced.
When I was a young man, the older generation derided us for watching trash like the Friday the 13th and Halloween movies. Them and all of their offspring. That was a big part of the fun. These movies pissed off the older generation. I laughed my head off at Siskel and Ebert's show denouncing slasher movies. While I still liked the guys, I felt that they were out of touch. Same with Ellison, in one of his An Edge in My Voice essays, where he accused those that liked slasher films of being insane. Hell, that was no news. We knew we were crazy.
But as generations passed, it was no longer shocking or satisfying to see a throat slit or garroted. A simple decapitation wasn't enough. It had to be slow and as agonizing as possible for the victim. The ironic thing is, for the most part, these so-called Torture Porn films are better made than the average slasher movie of the early 80's. Few can touch a masterpiece like John Carpenter's Halloween, but most of them are technically sound productions.
And I like some of them. People hate me for it, but I love the Hostel movies. I like Alexandre Aja a lot, despite the mediocre Mirrors. Wolf Creek was decent and Eden Lake is damned good. The Saw series leaves me flat and cold. I quit watching them after the third one.
It's one thing for underground sickos to watch atrocities like the Guinea Pig movies, but this stuff is coming to the multiplexes. Where will it end? Dremel Tools slowly going into genitals? Babies fed into meatgrinders and made into sausage?
A New Year and New Hope
Saturday, January 03, 2009
And to think that 2008 started out so good...
I made decisions to better my life early last year. I made changes in my personal life, quitting some bad habits and taking on good new ones. Things were looking very good in many ways, but other aspects of my life continued to deteriorate. My marriage, already rocky, got worse and worse and finally in November of 2008, it exploded and my wife left, taking the children with her.
Those first couple of weeks were bad. I was more than a little bit insane and I went back to some bad habits and I let the good ones slide. For at least a week I couldn't sleep or work. I didn't want to even continue on.
But pain eases with time. I kicked those bad habits back to the curb and picked back up on the good ones. Still, my life felt empty and I had no energy or ambition to do anything. I hadn't been reading or reviewing. I sort-of watched movies, but it was more like having them in the background than serious viewing.
And money, always an issue to a humble guy like me, became more of an problem. Handling the house payment and other bills is a lot more challenging.
Then came the holidays. I often think that the species would be a lot better off if we had none of them. They put poor people in serious financial binds and the unhappiness of lonely people is compounded. Add to that some health difficulties I had been going through and I was feeling despair about a lot of things.
And it was time to pay up for another year of hosting for Horror Drive-In. Already sweating bills and other essentials to survival, I didn't see a way to keep this site alive. I made the announcement that I was closing the Drive-In.
I should have known. The good people here would not allow that to happen. They came through with support and now the future of Horror Drive-In is certain. For at least another year.
I want to prove that the faith and generosity of the HD-I users is not in vain. Improvements are coming to this site. More reviews, for one thing. And also some new features. I don't want to talk about them too much, at least until things are definite. But I think you'll like what we're planning.
As for me, those that have known me for a long time are aware that I'm essentially a forum rat. It's what I've been doing for the last decade. I guess I'm good at it. My main focus will be keeping the forum active. I'm taking on some help with some other areas and I'm grateful for the backup.
I feel better today. The health issues are fading and things seem a lot brighter. I always say that in troubled times, despair is the enemy. It's not always easy to take my own advice. Who knows that 2009 will bring? Hopefully we'll all remain employed, or those that have no jobs will find gainful employment. I'm sure good books and movies will be coming out, just as I'm sure that poor ones will. I mainly hope that all of us, and our loved ones, will be here to enjoy it and discuss it with the common decency that we've all come to expect from the community here at Horror Drive-In.
Thank you all so very much and let's make 2009 a good one. We all need it.
