The Dog Farm's Best In Show 2013 - Disappearing Drive-Ins & Tykes Watching Terror On The Tube

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and Whatever The Hell Else Might Be Apropos from Movies At Dog Farm!

     I'm a horrible, curmudgeonly old bastard.  As such, one of the many things I simply can not tolerate during the holidays is the compulsion to reflect upon the year that was.  Do we really need to dig that up again?  But that's pretty much been the modus operandi for the entire month, so why switch gears now?

     This fifth and final edition of The Dog Farm's Best In Show 2013 gets meta by looking back upon two posts that look back upon a simpler time.  It's kind of like listening to your grand-dad tell you about the dark days before Pearl Harbor.  The first post, Movies At Dog Farm Remembers . . . The Drive-Ins Of My Misspent Youth, is about the local drive-ins of my childhood, all of which are long since gone.  We still have a few here in Virginia, but I haven't been to one in decades.  The few that remain play family fare and blockbusters, and that's just not what I want to see at the drive-in.  If it ain't skeevy, it ain't a drive-in movie.

     The second post, Movies At Dog Farm Remembers: The Early Scares And Formative Horrors, covers how we old-timers got our genre movies at home back before instant streaming and digital video discs.  Yes, they were "talkies", smartass.


Movies At Dog Farm Remembers . . . The Drive-Ins Of My Misspent Youth

Movies At Dog Farm Remembers: The Early Scares And Formative Horrors


     I hope everyone has enjoyed this month's look back at the Dog Farm's first year, but you should stop reading this now, bookmark it to check the links later, and go spend some time with the people you love.  The Dog Farm remembers that being pretty nifty, too.  I desperately need a nap before Gunnar wakes up and decides it's time to open his presents, but I'll be back in the new year refreshed and ready to get back to work.

     Merry Christmas, everyone, and a Happy New Year!

The Dog Farm's Best In Show 2013 - Fear Based Fandom & The Turning Of The Straights

Forrest J. Ackerman, the original genre fan, circa 1990

     The man pictured at left - as if anyone reading this wouldn't know - is Forrest J. Ackerman (1916-2008), editor of the hugely influential magazine Famous Monsters Of Filmland (1958-1983) and likely the single biggest genre fan the world has ever known.  I never actually met Forry, though I did pass near him in a crowded Dragon Con convention when I was much, much younger.

     I didn't muster up enough courage to approach Uncle Forry, though I'm sure he would have been accommodating if I had.  His reputation preceded him.  Though we didn't meet, I still remember clearly that he had an attractive woman on each arm and a gigantic smile on his face.  He radiated an aura of complete contentment, like a man who was clearly in his element and wouldn't have wanted to be anywhere else. 

     Forry was the original genre fan, and he probably single-handedly did more to create and maintain a community of genre fans like himself than anyone else ever has.  Unfortunately, despite all that Uncle Forry accomplished, it's still not uncommon for genre fans to be condescended to by straights who just don't get it.

     This week's edition of The Dog Farm's Best In Show 2013 features two posts that each examine the nature of genre fandom.  The first, Don't Hate Horror Movie Fans Because We're A Bit Twisted, But Don't Forget That, Either . . . , examines the very community that Forry did so much to foster.  Oddly, this post generated a fair number of hits and only three comments.  Are we all still just a little shy about letting our freak flags fly?

     The second, (Mostly) Effective Tips For Teaching A Straight To Like Horror Movies, was posted just a couple of weeks later and was an almost direct continuation of the first.  Regardless of whether or not we genre fans are looked down upon, we each bear a responsibility to evangelize.  Not everyone finds their way to the nurturing bosom of genre fandom on their own.


Don't Hate Horror Movie Fans Because We're A Bit Twisted, But Don't Forget That, Either . . . 

(Mostly) Effective Tips For Teaching A Straight To Like Horror Movies


     Join me next week for the final installment of The Dog Farm's Best In Show 2013.

The Dog Farm's Best In Show 2013 - One Beastly Boy & An Older Obscurity

The Beast Within (1982) reveals itself.

      This week's edition of The Dog Farm's Best In Show 2013 presents two posts that examine a couple of seldom discussed horror movie gems.  Don't be fooled by appearances, though.  At first blush these posts may appear to be movie reviews.  They're not.  I greatly prefer the term "appreciation".  No self-respecting movie critic would make much of a case for either of these movies, but that doesn't mean that they aren't fun little time wasters.

     The first post, Movies At Dog Farm Retrospective: The Beast Within (1982), tackles an atmospheric and all but forgotten creature feature that I fondly recall seeing for the first time in the waning days of the old Skyline Drive-In.   I'm proud to say that this is my first (and thus far, only) post ever submitted and accepted by IMDB as an external link.  To the best of my knowledge, no one has ever clicked on it.

     The second post, Best Of The Big Lots Bargain Bin - Paul Bartel's Private Parts (1972), sings the praises of one of my all time favorite "finds".  Since I somehow managed to make it to the ripe old age of 40+ without ever hearing a single word about it, I assume it probably slipped beneath a lot of other radars, too.  That's a shame, because its evocation of time and place is spot on.  It also bears a pervy and yet darkly comedic tone that I think perhaps director Bartel strained a bit too hard to achieve in later projects.


Movies At Dog Farm Retrospective: The Beast Within (1982)

Best Of The Big Lots Bargain Bin - Paul Bartel's Private Parts (1972)


     Be sure to check back again next week for more of The Dog Farm's Best In Show 2013.


 

The Dog Farm's Best In Show 2013 - Sordid Slashers & A Shoulda Been Franchise

My Bloody Valentine (1981)

     The second edition of The Dog Farm's Best In Show 2013 presents two posts about the slasher movies that dominated the box office in the early nineteen-eighties.  I was an impressionable young tween then, but even now I'm still especially fond of this maligned sub-genre.  It tickles me that I can still watch slasher movies from this era that I've never seen before.  Slasher movies were so prevalent then that there's now a seemingly endless supply of them.  Some, of course, do rise above their contemporaries.

     The first post, Take Another Little Piece Of My Heart - My Bloody Valentine (1981), was another piece created for Blood Sucking Geek's Ultimate Gore-A-Thon about one of my own favorites.  I've never understood why My Bloody Valentine didn't warrant a sequel or two.  Such a missed opportunity.  It now seems the respectable 2009 remake is destined for the same fate.

     The second post, I Was Raised On The Slashers, Bitch, probably would have benefited from a less crude title.  We all have our moments of weakness.  The post itself is actually a pretty laid back reminiscence about the sub-genre as a whole.  No one ever quite gets the right flavor with the more recent examples, but a few movies come close.  Behind The Mask (2006), Laid To Rest (2009), and even the remake Sorority Row (2009) all deliver giddy thrills.  Nothing beats the real thing, though.


       Take Another Little Piece Of My Heart - My Bloody Valentine (1981)

       I Was Raised On The Slashers, Bitch

 
     The Dog Farm's Best In Show 2013 continues next week with two more of the least bad offerings from the Dog Farm's first year.

The Dog Farm's Best In Show 2013 - Territorial Texans & Chainsaw Family Values

Family portrait  - The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)

     The build-up, release, and subsequent disappointment associated with Texas Chainsaw 3D (2013) happened in roughly the same time frame as the first few months of the Dog Farm's existence.  As such, I spent a disproportionate amount of time in the Dog Farm's earliest days examining Chainsaws that came before . Where better to start my month long celebration of The Dog Farm's Best In Show 2013?

     The first post, Leatherface, U.S. Ambassador, is still one of my personal favorites.  It was also one of the first steps toward my realization that I don't particularly like writing straight reviews.  For the record, feeling obliged to review the heinously awful Texas Chainsaw 3D after promising to do so was another.  I can't bring myself to devote more than the ninety minutes or so I've already wasted watching a bad movie to write about it, too.

     The second post, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre Part 2 (1986) Is Better Than You Remember, was prepared for Blood Sucking Geek's Ultimate Gore-A-Thon, the first multi-blog event in which I was ever asked to participate.  It's more like a traditional movie review, though it's title betrays my ongoing effort to find fresh ways to approach the movies that don't depend upon my often uninformed and questionable critical faculties.  I thought that title would be comment bait, too.  I was surprised I didn't hear more dissenting opinions.


     Leatherface, U.S. Ambassador

     The Texas Chainsaw Massacre Part 2 (1986) Is Better Than You Remember    


     There's more to come next week when The Dog Farm's Best In Show 2013 continues.

     (By the way, I'm aware that "best" is an almost completely subjective determination.  How about The Dog Farm's As Good As It Gets 2013?)

The Dog Farm's First Big Milestone Is Not A Tombstone! Even Better - Movies At Dog Farm 2.0 Is Alive! Alive!!

Me and my editor, bathed in the glow of the laptop.

      At the end of its first full year of operation, Movies At Dog Farm is still standing.  It's even reasonably healthy.  When I started the Dog Farm my technical ignorance was exceeded only by my lack of confidence.  I was fortunate that a few  of you chose to pause and inspect the wreckage.  As the old codger hawking wine coolers on television used to say, "Thank you for your support."

      Following are some of the stats illustrating the growth of the Dog Farm over the course of its first twelve months:

* 79 posts

* 21,920 views

* 191 comments

* 77 countries

* 27 followers on Google Connect

* 40 followers in the Google+ Dog Farm Pack circle

* 47 followers on the Movies At Dog Farm Twitter page  
 https://twitter.com/MoviesAtDogFarm

* 30 followers on the Movies At Dog Farm Facebook page 
https://www.facebook.com/MoviesAtDogFarm

* 42 followers on The Incredibly Strange Horror Bloggers Network Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Incredibly-Strange-Horror-Bloggers-Network/169165143236597


     Not bad at all, but I'm anxious to see where the Dog Farm stands at the end of year two.  Of course the real value of this undertaking has been the opportunity to meet so many friendly, like-minded individuals.  Thanks to Carl at The Info Zombie for coming to the aid of the noob in the beginning when I ran afoul of some not-so-friendly "veterans" at Reddit Dreadit.  Thanks to Jeremy at the Horror Blogger Alliance for representing the first association to accept me into its ranks.  Thanks to all the members of The Incredibly Strange Horror Bloggers Network - especially J.D. at Blood Sucking Geek.  J.D. invited me to participate in Blood Sucking Geek's Ultimate Gore-A-Thon, my very first multi-site blogging event. 

     Finally, thanks to every single one of you who's ever visited the Dog Farm.  I know now firsthand how absurdly crowded the blogosphere actually is, and I'm truly appreciative of every single page view.  There's more to come, and it all starts right now . . .

         Welcome, everyone, to the launch of Movies At Dog Farm 2.0! 

Bringing the creature to life - Young Frankenstein (1974)

     This site is a brand-spankin'-new rebuild of the original Dog Farm, which had devolved into an altered, modified, slow loading beast.  I had learned enough from my mistakes on my first go round to spiff things up a little, streamline the experience, and try again.

     First, Movies At Dog Farm is now an honest to goodness custom domain.  The ".blogspot" is gone.  Everything has been ported over from the original site.  Importing all of the posts gave me an opportunity to dig through my archive a bit, and I'll be celebrating our first anniversary by posting links to some of my favorites throughout December.

     Another big update to the new site is the addition of more prominent and easier to use options in the sideboard to follow Movies At Dog Farm.  You can get updates now by email, RSS feed, Google+, Facebook, or Twitter.  You can still follow via Google Friend Connect, too.  Unfortunately, I was unable to migrate my followers to the new site, so if you were previously a member of the Dog Pound, please take a moment to re-up with this site's Google Friend Connect.

     One last note:  Related Posts will return soon.  I ran into some technical difficulties when I switched to the custom domain, and I'd already delayed the site's launch long enough.  I'm at the mercy of customer support for now . . .  

     Thanks again, everyone, for making the Dog Farm's first year a success!