Nostalgia and the Dead – My First Horror Movie

I can’t remember exactly when I fell in love with horror movies. When I was young, my brother and I were raised Catholic by our parents. They didn’t let us watch horror movies because they thought we were too young. They didn’t want us exposed to the blood and carnage. However, they made one exception by letting us watch one movie, the original black and white Night of the Living Dead.

I wasn’t too sure what to make of the movie when I first saw it. The only black and white movies I saw as a kid were classic movies.  The fact that a horror movie was black and white confused me.  But once I saw the zombies, I was hooked.  As a kid, I thought all monsters were cool.  I was too young to understand the social issues George A. Romero was trying to point out .  The only thing I took understood was being eaten by zombies was scary.

Years later, I saw the movie again. I was older and more mature. I was able to understand that Romero wanted the audience to learn that society has a tendency to turn on itself.  I was able to appreciate the simple nature of the movie.  There was no over the top special effects, no CGI.  The movie made great use of a small setting which gave it a claustrophobic feel.  Although I’ve seen it many times over the years, I’ll never forget the first time I saw it as a kid. It wasn’t as gory or as scary as I was hoping. But to this day, it remains one of my all time favorites.

What was your first horror? let us know in the comments below!