15 years later ... and giving thanks

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Darth Tanner
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15 years later ... and giving thanks

Post by Darth Tanner »

This may be slightly off-topic but I thought it was appropriate given the time of year so here goes:

While updating my viewing log and browsing the archives recently, it suddenly dawned on me that I've been with this group for 15 years now. That is certainly a long time to be with a group online and it is amazing how things have changed during that time. When I first joined the group back in 1997, I was just a young newbie running wild with "piss and vinegar" and really getting into the Euro-horror scene. I was spending what little money I had on VHS bootlegs of those hard-to-find films and supporting such great companies as Blackest Heart and Creature Features. I was even lucky enough to trade a few times with some members of this group (and it was a pretty good group back then). As a result I got turned on to some awesome movies I may never have seen. Little did I know then now much DVD (then in its infancy) would changed the genre as we know it in the next few years. Small companies like Anchor Bay and Synapse began putting out awesome editions of films that were previously unavailable commerically and gave them wider exposure to the public. As a result bootlegging quickly became a thing of the past and virtually all of them closed up shop (although I often wonder what became of the one doofus that was spamming alt.horror selling those copies of SCREAM that flashed "light to dark") :)

The group itself was also different back then. There were some lively discussions over the best places to get tapes from and what versions of films were actually "uncut". Who can forget the days when we boasted about finding obscure VHS tapes in the bargain bins of video stores? We were also dismayed at how the new trend of "teen horror" was ruining the genre and kept the focus on more obscure stuff. Of course there were also some pretty colorful arguments but after a few years things somewhat friendlier. Along the way some people left for their own reasons or due to personal tragedies (Tim Watson is still dearly missed by me), but the small group of die-hards still stuck together through it all and I'm glad I stayed with the group. I'm hoping someday some of the old-timers like Terry Luster and Griff will find their way back.

Now 15 years later, I have to look back and say that things have greatly improved since then. Whereas in the past we were all excited about the new DVD format, now I'm excited to see my favorite films make the leap to Blu-Ray. It is also great to see the Eurohorror classics of Jean Rollin and Mario Bava available for streaming on Netflix. I'm also relieved that the whole "teen horror" fad finally died away after five years (unless anyone considers the "Twilight" saga to be part of that trend). Even though discussions here aren't as frequent as back in the day, I still like browsing the archives if I ever need info regarding a certain film that was discussed back then.

To wrap it up, I want to say thanks to our wonderful host for keeping this board active all these years (especially now in an age when social networking has dominated the internet). Also thanks to our resident reviewer Remo for keeping up with everything cinematically. Although there may not be as many replies to your reviews as in the past, the viewing counter next to each review should assure you that they are at least being read. I plan to stay with the group as long as its running.

I should also be thankful to Amazon since my Criterion Blu-Ray set of Pasolini's "Trilogy of Life" (which I preordered a few months ago) arrived in the mail today. Can't wait to find time this week to sit down and watch it.

Hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving.
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Chris Slack
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Re: 15 years later ... and giving thanks

Post by Chris Slack »

Cheers to you Chuck and everyone else! If you are feeling particularly nostalgic there's a ton of old Horrornews material at viewforum.php?f=36
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gothbat
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Re: 15 years later ... and giving thanks

Post by gothbat »

Years back, I tried to come to this board after a long absence only to get a placeholder page for the DNS. I'd been using shadows.com to access the site and thought the site was just gone forever but fortunately I remembered that there was also mortado.com a few days later. Even though I never have much to say and don't post here much, I was kind of sad to think it was gone after all those years. This was the first horror forum I ever joined, I was 12 at the time, had always been a horror fan, and it really opened up a whole world of horror, exploitation, and sleaze movies that I never knew existed, one that I am still obsessively exploring through this very day. Back then, before I'd gotten a few of them under my belt, it almost seemed impossible that the movies you guys were talking about even existed (hearing about movies like Cannibal Holocaust, Salò, Aftermath, the “Guinea Pig” series, etc... for the first time...); like you say, it's crazy how times have changed from the days of hunting down nth gen dubs of these titles from sell/trade lists to being about to get this stuff so readily available and looking good.
Anyway, much thanks to Chris for keeping the board going all these years and I hope that everyone had a good Thanksgiving!
Darth Tanner wrote:There were some lively discussions over the best places to get tapes from and what versions of films were actually "uncut".
I think of these discussions every time that I'm going crazy searching online, trying to find out whether the edition of some movie I'm buying is uncut or some alternate, cut version. It's probably these discussions that caused me to obsess in the first place... :]
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Darth Tanner
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Re: 15 years later ... and giving thanks

Post by Darth Tanner »

Shit gothbat, I didn't realize you were that much younger than the rest of us:) Yeah, I remember when the site still had the shadows.com domain (back when the message board was still in the "flat" format). I'm not sure when the domain name changed but I guess it was roughly 10 years ago. I think for awhile there was a page directing people to the new mortado.com site, but I had updated my bookmark to directly go to the new site. I'm sure people like you who had been gone for awhile and tried to visit shadows.com probably thought the site was gone unless they knew about mortado.com. I guess that might explain why we lost a lot of the old-timers :) Aside from me, you and Chris I think that Remo and Kimberly are the only ones from back then who still regularly post on this board (although Scott pops in once in a while). I think Facebook is where a lot of people do their socializing nowadays, but I still come here to discuss my interests with the handful of people that actually share them instead of the whole world.

Chris thanks for sharing that link. That is the exact "archive" I was referring to in my above post and I still lurk in there from time to time. I was actually just looking at a thread from 2004 where a discussion about BLADE: TRINITY turned into a hilarious argument between Shawn and a newbie. Reading Shawn's rants still give me a chuckle and it makes me miss having him around even more. That thread serves as a perfect example of how crazy things got here in the good-old days. Anyone wanting to check it out directly can find it here:

http://www.mortado.com/phpbb3/viewtopic ... 36&t=27927
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Griff [Mola]
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Re: 15 years later ... and giving thanks

Post by Griff [Mola] »

Darth Tanner wrote:I'm hoping someday some of the old-timers like Terry Luster and Griff will find their way back.
Oooh, my ears are burning!

I still drop in occassionally and read Remo D's reviews. I don't comment because a) I forgot my password (now rectified) and b) cos I've got nothing to fucking say! That is, I don't usually catch up with most of these flicks till much later (if at all).

I also spend a lot of time at an Australian-specific horror site where our viewing habits are much more in sync and you can call each other "cunt", as we Aussies like to do, without anyone taking offense. Jon is over there, too, as is I Am 138 - having turned Antipodean a few years back.

But, yeah, 15 years, aye? Who woulda thought that a quick search for Anna Falchi nudie pics on my first PC woulda led to such a crazy hang out. I definitely miss the old days where anything went and usually did, thanks to Chris' fantastic "hands off" moderation policy.

Anyway, its been fun to reminisce. Cheers, cunts!
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Kimberly
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Re: 15 years later ... and giving thanks

Post by Kimberly »

Has it been that long?! /hugs to you all! :D
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Remo D
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Re: 15 years later ... and giving thanks

Post by Remo D »

I'm sorry I haven't chimed in to this thread earlier... I joined this board (again, it had to be fifteen years ago) thanks to an invitation from one "Dark Knight" who was familiar with my posts on alt.horror and wanted me to be a part of what was then known as an "asshole-free zone!"

I've enjoyed sharing over the years and I always look forward the most to the year-end wrap up. Yes, you stalwarts have joined me over on Facebook, etc., but there must always be a Mortado's... and Mortado's gets the good stuff first!

Your humble servant,
Remo D.
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Scott
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Re: 15 years later ... and giving thanks

Post by Scott »

I honestly don't frequent the forums much as I once did, but coming across this thread, I looked and saw it's been 15+ years since I joined. At the time, I was a freshman in college (was a film major at the time), always had grown up with horror films, but it was during that time that I discovered and got into subgenres such as giallo, Italian cannibalism, and other gems from Europe. I can remember getting ordering a VHS copy (and it was average quality at best) of Cannibal Holocaust from an old website since long then long gone called www.filmwizards.com. I remember how difficult some of those films were to find. I had an old video store (had to be the last mom and pop store in town) next to my college campus that had a copy of Cannibal Ferox. A lot has changed, some for the better. It's great to see companies like Blue Underground and Anchor Bay digging up the classics and making them available on Blu Ray and DVD. Just the other night I popped in Deep Red. After finishing it, I got to thinking that "golden age" is slowly getting more distant. The past few years have seen the likes of Jess Franco, Bruno Mattei, Joe D'Amato, and Sylvia Kristel pass on to the next life while the likes of Dario Argento (who needs to retire) and Ruggero Deodato aren't getting any younger. I cannot find the link but I thought I read somewhere about three months ago that Umberto Lenzi was suffering from dementia.

Last summer I ran into a former student of mine who's now a freshman in college. She asked me if I'd ever heard of a film called Zombie. At first I thought she meant Zombieland. No, she said Zombie and specifically mentioned the Fulci film. We had a nice conversation. Afterwards, I got to thinking there is hope for the next generation after all.

Chris, sorry if you've been asked this question before, but, have you ever considered starting a Mortado Facebook page?
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Darth Tanner
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Re: 15 years later ... and giving thanks

Post by Darth Tanner »

Scott wrote: Chris, sorry if you've been asked this question before, but, have you ever considered starting a Mortado Facebook page?
Sorry for the late response but I just noticed this. Scott, Chris did set up a Horrornews group on Facebook. However it is a secret group by invitation only. Hopefully if you know someone from here on FB they could send you an invite. But the group is mainly just a way for members to connect as nothing is really discussed there.

I have to agree also with what you said about the "golden age" becoming more distant as the cinematic landscape is changing. In the years since I've joined this this group I have seen my favorite genre icons such as Jess Franco, Joe D'Amato, Lucio Fulci, and Russ Meyer all pass on to the afterlife. The ones who are still with us aren't faring much better. John Waters hasn't made a movie in 10 years and it's doubtful at this point that he'll make another. John Carpenter, Tobe Hooper, Wes Craven and George Romero have gone from making classic films to forgettable crap that hardly anybody sees.

As for your comment about Dario Argento needed to retire.....well, see my recent post about his DRACULA film.
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