Movies to watch this Halloween - Part 4: The Slashers

I am a child of the '80's, which means I have tight rolled some pants, used hair spray, tried to breakdance, and learned the value of family primarily from sitcoms. It also means that I began watching horror movies during the golden age of the slasher film. I remember scouring through the HBO and Cinemax monthly programming guides looking for horror movies (this movie watching took place in-between having to be a test subject for my brothers wrestling moves). Hated me some "figure four leg locks" but loved me some slasher films.

So, in the fourth installment of "Movies to Watch This Halloween," I bring you five killer slasher films. Since "Halloween" was already on list #1, no need to add it here. But, it is easily the best slasher movie of all-time.

1. Friday the 13th Part 2

While the first Friday the 13th started it all, the 2nd installment is a superior (and much scarier) slasher film. It marks the first starring role for Jason Vorhees, who is such an endearing character that he continues to be in movies 30 years later. Yes, we love Jason, because just like us, he wants to kill naked women, live in a shack, rise from the dead, and wear the same clothes for 3 decades. Right? Just a new mask here or there, maybe allow your face to melt into a blob of goo, and you too can be a movie star. In this horror classic, Jason chooses to wear a sack, which due to some teenage vision issues, requires only one eye hole.

Seriously, this is a scary freakin' movie.

2. Saw

Yes, they may have ruined the impact of this movie by making annual sequels, but the first Saw was a pleasant and groundbreaking surprise. It was intense, dark, gory, and had one hell of a shocking ending. If you have never seen this movie, what in the hell is your problem? Seriously, you've slunk low enough to read the 4th installment of some unknown dude's list of horror movies and you have not seen Saw? THAT ENDING IS THE SHIT.

Jigsaw is a welcome member of the Slasher Hall of Fame.

3. Scream

By the end of the 1980's, the slasher film was as good as dead. Horror movie makers had gotten lazy with an endless supply of silly sequels and filmgoers responded by ignoring the genre completely. Two things helped rescue horror movies - an upswing in the quality of direct-to-DVD genre films and Scream. Who else but Wes Craven to give the horror industry the shot in the arm it needed.

The opening scene with Dew Barrymore had my jaw on the floor - welcome back slasher films! The cast was brilliant (think about all of the stars in this one - I mean, they guy who played Shaggy!), the soundtrack trendy and effective, the Fonz gets gutted, and it's self-aware approach kept it from taking itself too seriously. Do you like scary movies? You bet your Rose Mcgowen's tits in a tight sweater I do.

4. A Nightmare on Elm Street

I remember going to the theatre with my brother Wilmer and my Mom to see this one. I had no idea what it was, I just knew it was a horror movie and that since we were with my Mom, we would get Junior Mints. I left the theatre a terrified 14 year old kid - this after growing up seeing The Shining as a 10 year old, Phantasm as a 9 year old, and all of the Friday the 13th movies to-date. Freddy Krueger blurred the lines of fantasy and reality and opened up a new arena for stalking - your dreams. A burned up child molester comes back to haunt the offspring of his killers while slashing them with a razor glove. A fucking razor glove. HOLY CRAP! A burned up dude is going to avenge the sins of my parents by killing me in my sleep with a razor glove?????

Welcome to your teenage years, Eugene!

5. Sleepaway Camp

While not a technically proficient movie, this one is a lot of fun and has quite a surprise ending. The deaths are original and nothing says "slasher film" more than a campsite setting. Yes, one could make a valid claim that this movie is total crap, but that know-it-all would deserve to be burned by a huge pot of boiling water, or drowned in a lake, or locked in a stall with a swarm of bees, hacked to bits by an axe, or have a curling iron shoved up their hey-nanny-nanny.

Yeah, Sleepaway Camp is cool. AND THAT ENDING!!!

Bruce Springsteen: Hershey Park, PA 5/15/09

To truly know and understand Kidjite, you must know Bruce Springsteen.  To say that Bruce is my favorite artist is like saying that oxygen is what I like to breathe.  When I did a DNA test a while back, they found that I had the "E Street Chromosome."  For the 2nd time on the "Working On A Dream" tour, I saw Bruce Springsteen live, this time in Hershey Park, PA, "the land of candy."

There is one person on Earth that I know for a fact understands what Bruce means to me, and that is my big brother, David.  David and I have been to a bunch of Bruce shows over the years, beginning with a pilgrimage to Miami in 1985 for the "Born in the USA" tour.  For more than two decades, The Brothers Johnson have congregated for a rock and roll baptism led by the house-rocking, pants-dropping, brain-shocking, earth-quaking, booty-shaking, Viagra-taking, lovemaking, sexifying, electrifying E Street Band! So, it is only fitting that I attended this show with David.

  (David outside Charlottesville show)

Almost immediately upon arrival, it was obvious that this was not going to be an ordinary Springsteen show.  First of all, the setting was remarkable, almost surreal.  Getting to Hershey Park around 5:30 meant that while Bruce disciples were just starting to get antsy with anticipation, the adjacent amusement park was winding down for the day.  Balding, pudgy, young-at-heart fanatics heading one way and exhausted families toting leftover cotton candy and queezy stomachs slinking the other.  The show was, of course, sold out, which meant that a crowd of 30,000+ would be on-hand to see the first outdoor concert of the tour.

(see how excited I was?)

Hershey Park Stadium is an odd place, built in the 1950's and serves mostly as a high-school football stadium.  The facility itself is uh....shitty....with horrible bathrooms, narrow entrances, and only bleachers in the stands and folding chairs on the field.  But as Bruce proclaimed during the middle of "Working On A Dream," their mission was to "take desperate times and build them into a house of love...use the bad news and make it good news," so as soon as the house lights went off and the band walked on stage to chants of "Bruuuuuuce," that facility was incidental.

Tonight was Jay Weinberg's 2nd full show as the E Street drummer and just like his Dad, he brought the thunder.  In fact, the 18 year old (who bears a striking resemblance to Animal from Sesame Street) brought a level of energy and enthusiasm that you could tell even Bruce appreciated.  Jay's performance was impressive and provided yet another "sideshow" in this carnival of rock.  Patty was once again absent (cheers from some) from the band, but the addition of two background singers more than cover for her.  Clarence, sometimes sitting in a throne off to the side, was his usual awesome, especially during his whistling solo.

Bruce and the band played for nearly 3 hours and 27 songs, starting with the stadium anthem "Badlands" and finishing with a heartfelt "Bobby Jean."  Highlights included "Twist and Shout" (crowd request), "Trapped", "Rosalita," "Thunder Road", and of course "Born to Run."  As is becoming a live staple, Nils Lofgren wowed the crowd with a strong guitar solo during "The Ghost of Tom Joad," spinning, twisting, and squeezing every ounce of rock from his guitar.  Several times I felt that spine tingling, nearly tearful wave of emotion that I only feel with Bruce on stage and my brother nearby.  Two moments that get me every time: when "Thunder Road" breaks into the line "what else can we do now, except roll down the window and let the wind blow back your hair" and the anticipatory pause in "Born to Run" before Bruce screams "the highway's jammed with broken heroes on a last chance power-drive."  

It's hard to believe that Bruce is nearly 60 years old.  His energy would shame the youngest of rock bands.  Shit, its hard to believe I am 38 and David is 40.  But once again, my faith in the healing powers of music, brought to us by my longtime hero, rejuvenated my spirits and rocked my face off.

Now, about that horrible gas that David had on the way home.....

Setlist:

Badlands
Spirit In The Night
Outlaw Pete
Radio Nowhere
Out In The Street
Twist & Shout
Working On A Dream
Seeds
Johnny 99
The Ghost Of Tom Joad
Raise Your Hand
Give The Girl A Kiss
Trapped
Waiting On A Sunny Day
The Promised Land
Backstreets
Kingdom Of Days
Lonesome Day
The Rising
Born To Run

Hard Times
Thunder Road
Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out
Land Of Hope And Dreams
American Land
Rosalita
Bobby Jean

Video from the show:

Outlaw Pete

Trapped

Thunder Road

Born To Run

The shirt I paid too much money for: