Bill Murray: The Gateway Drug.

Though I had seen other cartoons and various films, the first movie I remember being burned into my brain was a VHS copy of Ghostbusters which I received for my fourth birthday in 1985. I will never forget shaking excitedly when the VCR started humming and clicking, the flash of a notice from the FBI warning me not to charge others to watch it with me, and the intense score of Elmer Bernstein blaring as I caught a glimpse of the New York Public Library lion statue.  With my eyes wide and my jaw dropped, I was ushered into the world of film fandom.  Building on a theme, my parents also gave me a box of Ghostbusters cereal, essentially sugar dipped bits of Styrofoam and marshmallows.  Two bowls was enough, though I held on to the empty box long after the stale bits of ick had been tossed.  Thus began my love affair with film.  I remember having nightmares, as any four year old who saw Sigourney Weaver groped by demons and morphing into a Hell hound should.  The many days without sleep were a small price to pay to feed this strange compulsion to watch this film over and over and over again until the tape was literally wearing thin.  I became an insatiable movie buff before the ripe old age of five.  My parents, who were both film junkies, fed my hunger with the collected works of Jerry Lewis, the complete James Bond (I'm an expert on the entire series), Mel Brooks, John Candy, Doris Day, Peter Sellers, Laurel & Hardy, John Wayne, Alfred Hitchcock, and Jack Lemmon (to name a few).  I was the only middle schooler I knew who could recite all of Some Like It Hot and found W.C. Fields hilarious.  For my Mom; she loved murder mysteries, classic horror, and musicals.  My Dad watched anything that showcased cars; American Graffiti, Grand Prix, LeMans, Bullitt, and Gumball Rally, as well as any Elvis Presley musical or British comedy he could find.  As I matured, so did my taste in film, as I discovered Stanley Kubrick and David Lynch as well as the endless frontier of foreign cinema with Fellini, Kurosawa, Murnau, and Herzog.  These new found gems only added to the layers I had acquired.  My propensity for Cinematic sophistication became balanced when I discovered schlock and exploitation films in college.  I grew to believe Ed Wood was a misunderstood genius, who with proper funding could have been as accomplished as Orson Welles, and Troma's Toxic Avenger sequels are actually better than the first.  This melting pot of ideas has created a functioning addict who hasn’t watched a TV series regularly since the late 90s because to me, a TV functions as a means to watch movies.  My collection, which married into my wife’s own pile of DVDs 7 years ago, numbers in the 800s.  They all sit on two long shelves placed flush together.  It is one of the first things people see when they walk into our home, and it never goes unnoticed.  My family still speaks in our own language of movie quotes.  So when Mr. Rathbone ran his proposal for this blog by me, I was more than eager to contribute.  The following should prove I am more than qualified:

1. I believe that Russ Meyer's Supervixens is a better film than Citizen Kane.
2. I believe the best anime Japan produced was Robot Carnival.
3. I have seen at least four Alejandro Jodorowsky films: Holy Mountain (my favorite) El Topo, Fando Y Lis, and Sante Sangre. 
4. I have seen Roger Corman's Fantastic Four as well as the Captain America crapfest from 1990.
5. and Finally, I own two Cook and Moore films; Bedazzled and Hound of the Baskervilles.  

I hope to share some of my passion and knowledge acquired over the years by bringing you titles you may not have known existed.  As a side note, I still get that rush when I see the Columbia Pictures lady with her torch and hear the eerie score at the beginning of Ghostbusters.  The nightmares subsided but I’m still tasting that cereal (shudder).