Entry #2: Three Movies on This Weekend's List

‘Get ready for the Violence of the Lambs!’ ("Black Sheep" 2007) – I love it!

Fall has come (and gone?) in Nebraska. I have moved about 5 tons of dirt – the old fashioned way with good boots, gloves, a shovel and a wheelbarrow – the gutters are clean, and the bushes trimmed. This leaves a chunk of the coming weekend, my birthday weekend, open for exploring some ‘new’ territory “Black Sheep” (2007), and introducing a sister-in-law to a couple of old favorites, “Phantasm” (1979), and “The Beast Within” (1982).

A few weeks ago I played the trailer for “Black Sheep” for my wife’s younger sister. She has been bugging me to watch the movie ever since. That’s awesome!! This weekend we will check that flick out which will be the first viewing for both of us. It will also be the first time we watch a horror flick together so we’ll see how that goes. Maybe my wife will sit in as well, but likely not.

I am also going to take advantage of having free time to throw in two films that are sentimental favorites for me. “Phantasm” came out while I was in Jr. High and, while I don’t recall which viewing was my first, I vividly recall seeing the trailer on the magic TV box thing. I was around 13 when I first saw that creepy silver ball…flying at some guy’s head (WTF??!! Who said you could use one of those things?!!)…and then in the film when the drill comes out (seriously NOT cool!)… Oh, and the scene where the kid wakes up and sees Angus Scrimm standing at the head of the bed…and then the arms reach up and grab him…THIS is bullshit!! I can’t wait!

“The Beast Within” is a particularly nostalgic film; a film I absolutely fell in love with the first time I saw it, and I barely even saw it. One of those ‘memories of a girl’ moments that are so common with the jump-scare stuff.

So here’s that story:

My best friend at the time, who was also the best man at my wedding, and is the Godfather to my son, had been dating a girl for awhile who had a close friend who was beautiful, smart, funny, had great legs and happened to be single at the time. She also happened to be babysitting down the street :-P. A no-brainer.

She was one of those people who the mere idea of spending time around, with the possibly of garnering a whiff of her attention, really made things intense…kind of like that smell in the air marking the onset of Fall...anyone?

“The Beast Within” was playing on TV and we had a freakin’ blast! We watched the movie, the girls got really scared, they screamed, we laughed…things went pretty good I'd say. She and I ended up dating for about 2 years after that night. I finally actually watched the film several years after that upon discovering I had not actually seen the whole film.

To be clear, nothing physical was really happening, I was just kind of under that spell or whatever. The drive-in was another story. Another story for another time.