Hey it’s Mike. Anchor Pete is locked away in his fortress of solitude today so I’m filling in. Problem is I don’t know nearly as much about comic books as good ol’ Anchor Pete so I’m going to talk about something else dorky: film. Or movies, or talkies if you like. It’s the Halloween season and it’s time to take in a little gothic art, this is the time of year a lot of people like to watch scary movies, and read scary books and write scary text messages….booooo.

I am a liberal, and the problem I have with a lot of horror films in the last 25 years is how conservative they are. Especially the stuff that was coming out when I grew up. I’m talking about the Freddy’s and Jason’s and Michael Myers movies. They’re all strongly conservative. They involve young people, having premarital sex and doing drugs, and partaking in all other sorts of “sins” only to be punished for them. Well I have premarital sex and I do drugs, and I don’t think anyone should punish me. What’s interesting was that in the 80s Ronny Regan was very against the popular (at the time) “slasher” genre, despite how much the ideology of the films matched his own. Jason, Freddy and Michael Myers all represented the hand of god, purifying the world by eliminating sinners. Alot of b.s. if you ask me.

If you’re like me and don’t like being judged by your horror movies then good news; I’ve got a recommendation for you this year. I want to recommend a great horror film that has a great liberal theme. Revolution. The moving forward of time and evolution toward...something. The thing is revolution is scary, and bloody and painful, so it makes for great horror. The film is called “Shivers” made in 1975 in Canada. This was the first film by writer/director David Cronenberg. It sometimes is referred to by its original American title “they came from with in.” This film tells the story of a doctor living and working in a modern high-rise apartment complex, who is dealing with an outbreak. A mad scientist has created a creepy parasite that crawls up your body and enters you, in any hole it wants (wink). What happens then is the parasite unlocks all your inhibitions. All your darkest desires come out. As the film goes on more and more people in the building get infected. A lot of which by making out with someone and having the parasite crawl into them. By the end of the film shit is nuts, everyone is fucking everyone, there is a scene (I shit you not) that depicts a grown man with two small topless little girls on leashes, walking them around like his little sex pets.

This movie was heavily inspired by the writings of Prof. Marshal McLuhan who’s work on media redefined many peoples understanding of the subject. To simplify it, he saw media (in all forms) as extensions of man. Everything in our world comes from us; “they came from within” was the very message. Here we have a great horror film that not only is un-conservative but it also operating under the assumption there is no god. At least that’s how director Cronenberg saw it. The messages in many of David Cronenberg’s films are that the truly frightening things in our world come from us. I don’t want to give away the ending but by the end of the film you will be both scared and intrigued, it’s the kind of film that not only scares you but also makes you wonder why we fear what we do.