House of Wax and more

Despite my previous post disavowing a predilection for horror films, I've been watching some of the top 100 horror movie moments as brought to us by Bravo. (Could be a really old list--I don't know. I stumbled onto it watching Silence of the Lambs clips--long story.)

Some I agree with. Some I'd never seen. And one reminds me of the first scary movie I (think) I remember ever seeing.

Let me preface this by saying that many of my most well recollected memories have turned out to be at least partially fictitious. But in my defense, I believe them fully. As I do this memory.

When I was about 5, we lived in a century-old house in North Kansas City, Missouri. (The house wasn't creepy, btw. Nice house.) We walked to a neighbor's house, which I believe was in the same direction as the church we also walked to every Sunday morning, past a tree that rained purple berries that stained the sidewalk that was flanked by a chain link fence. (All this to show you how real these 'memories' are...)

I think we ate dinner at this house, and afterwards, my parents and their friends settled down to watch a movie on tv. This was long before even VHS players in every home, and this movie was black and white. (God, I don't know if their tv was. Different story.)

For years and years, I didn't know the name of it. All I remembered was that this creepy guy (who ended up being Vincent Price), was capturing people and dipping them in wax and putting them in a museum. And I think some lady walked in and recognized her relatives and started screaming or something. Anyway. It was deliciously macabre. At least for this five-year-old. Until we had to walk home in the dark.

So, the first horror movie I ever saw was House of Wax. The real one. And I think it joined the very Grimm fairy tales, the Roald Dahl stories and, eventually, Stephen King, into one dark, dark vein in my brain.

Oh! And considered not horror but "Crime Fiction" with enough horrifying elements to keep you enthralled, check out "Out" by Natsuo Kirino. Great read. One more recommendation? This is years' old now, but if you haven't read any of King's son's work, Joe Hill's Heart-Shaped Box is great fun.