I’ve always loved horror movies. The atmosphere, the music, the suspense, the creative use of kitchen gadgets as murder weapons. From classics like The Thing and Halloween to low-budget thrillers like Phantasm and Evil Dead to smart, fast-paced, and beautifully shot chillers like The Descent and 28 Days Later, I can’t get enough of them. I readily and shamelessly admit it’s an addiction that I have no intention of ever curing. Rather, I hope to spread my love of all things horror-related to a large enough audience that it becomes normalized in the eyes of society and I can stop looking like such a weirdo when I grab coworkers by the collar and shake them senseless while gushing about how fucking COOL It Follows was.

 

If you’re anything like me, you’ve probably had people in your life ask you one or more of the following questions: (1) “Why on EARTH do you waste your time watching those God-awful things?” (2) “What do you find even remotely appealing about them?” (3) “What is wrong with you?” or (4) “Do you think if you hadn’t started watching those kinds of movies when you were younger that you’d still have turned out like this?”

 

I don’t know if I’ve ever had a great answer for these questions and frankly I don’t think I really need one. But in the spirit of trying to share my appreciation for the genre, I would say that horror films are for me one of the purest forms of sublimation – a great way to experience our fears without being consumed by them. Unless your greatest fear is about being consumed, in which case you’re kinda screwed.

 

But when you think about it, life can be downright frightening. Every day we are faced with literally thousands of ways to die. You could get hit by a car. You could get caught in the crossfire of a drive-by shooting. You could get botulism from tainted Beefaroni™. You could drop dead of a heart attack. Hell, you could fall and break your neck in the shower, laying there on the porcelain paralyzed and naked, your lungs filling with water while your cat sits on the toilet seat wondering what those gargling noises you’re making are and why you’re not out in the kitchen topping off her food dish. And those are only some of the more common ways to die. It’s a wonder any of us make it to adulthood, particularly in Australia.

 

So I created Area 52 as a way to share movie reviews with horror film buffs. It’s obviously in its infancy right but I hope to add new reviews at least a few times a month. If you have movies you think would be good to review or ideas to expand the site, please let me know in the Contact section.

 

Enjoy!