One Hundred Posts

Wow.

I never thought that my life would ever take this path. As a kid, it was always about the written word. I spent my days huddled in the corner during recess with the newest Goosebump paperback (High Art at this point) in my lap completely oblivious to the world. My nights would be wasted re-writing for all eternity a paragraph for the epic science fiction/comedy/horror story that would never be. I was going to be a writer.

Everything changed one night.

My Dad let me loose one day in Rogers Video store with the usual request of ‘Pick anything you want’ (Between the lines you could read’ Pick anything you want BUT IT MUST be in the Seven Day rental section. We’re not rich you know.’) I wandered the aisles slowly and meticulously like I always did, picked up a tape every now and then, read the writer-up then put it back because it didn’t pass the test. After five minutes, like he always did, my Dad was ready to leave.

‘You haven’t picked anything yet!? You got one minute to pick something or I am!” he threatened. I knew what that meant. We’d get stuck with Ripper: Letters to a Killer’ or the Ron Pearlman Classic ‘The Kings Guards’ again. My brain-cells cried for mercy. I rushed through the aisles to pick ANYTHING. I stopped in the CULT section because an odd case caught my eye. It showed a man getting out of bed, his face completely over-make-up and his eyes sunk deep into his skull. I had read somewhere that this was the sequel to a movie my dad swore by as a kid “Night of the Living dead.” I had seen the original on a crappy public domain DVD but didn’t really get into it (That later changed on a second viewing) but this one was in colour! That means it must be good! I didn’t see anything else in my eye line so I picked it up and handed it to my Dad. He didn’t even give it a second look. Whatever kept his rascallian children at bay.

Two hours passed. I watched the film.

The VHS ended, the credits finished and the screen went black, but I was still staring at the television screen. My father got up with a parting “That was unsettling” and he went to play on the computer. Time passed. I sat rooted to the chair.

Slowly, I unfolded to a standing position and shuffled over to the computer with a dull look in my eye. I sat down and did something that I never saw any need for before: I searched out reviews, I read on what people had to say on Dawn of the Dead, I wanted to know if there were other films in that genre, I wanted MORE! I spent six hours on this mission– till 3 AM in the morning. The next day I lied about my age to rent a copy of the Peter Jackson film Dead-Alive. After watching it, I discovered it was the R rated cut, so the next day I trudged through the rain for two hours to find an UNRATED Copy. I watched it half a dozen times. I showed all my friends. I bought a copy with my five dollar a week allowance. I wanted MORE!

A monster had been born. I hope to create a few more with this website.

Sincerely,

Justin Decloux

***

My younger brother also watched the Dawn of the Dead with me. He had nightmares for three nights straight. You may know him as Film-Junkie extraordinaire P.H.D