An interesting new development in the gigantic AFI horror snub–there’s some backlash starting up.

You might remember my own venom-filled screed about this, too, but now, fellow site horror-movies.ca is joining the fray and they’re joining it on my side. They agree with me, somehow, that Romantic Comedy and Courtroom Drama are NOT actual genres of film, but rather, subgenres of actual genres that the AFI padded to boost their so-called listings.

The rage at horror-movies.ca is downright palpable, and includes choice advice like “get stuffed” and “pull the poker out of your bum”. Indeed, sentiments I share, including this choice bit of wit:

I don’t understand why they would diss the genre, I mean none of the greatest filmmakers started out with horror and they never dabbled in it and no movie about a transvestite-sexual serial killer would ever get Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress…never in a million years. Horror is just something for sick and twisted mental patients who have never seen the light of day.

Indeed, this is so much crockery as even they describe–Steven Spielberg got a start with Jaws, a matched pair of legends did dabble in the case of Stanley Kubrick and Kenneth Branagh with The Shining and Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein respectfully and, natcherly, The Silence of the Lambs was that huge Oscar-winning behemoth about the transsexual serial killer.

I too find myself sick of people looking at me like I just crawled out of a sewer grate for confession to an enjoyment of–indeed, an expertise in–horror films. I’ve lost count of the number of cinematic dread-fests that have crawled their messy way across the screens of various televisions I have owned, and I’ve reached one important conclusion: horror films are just like any films–they’re just another art form.

Oh, sure…we’ve had our share of problems–schlockmeisters eager to exploit the genre and its enthusiasts for a quick buck. Uwe Boll. Ulli Lommel. Joe Castro. Roger Corman. Charles Band. Eli Roth. The litany of exploitationalists and sensationalists–criminals of the genre–goes on and on. We have our shames, we have our crosses to bear. But truly…can any other genre not say the same?

Comedy buffs–can you look at Police Academy Six without feeling ashamed?

Drama fans–are you yet able to live down Gigli? Or perhaps Mariah Carey’s Glitter?

Sci-fi fans, you’re not immune either–how’s Star Trek: Nemesis sitting?

Suspense / thriller buffs…four words: Lady. In. The. Water. What a twist! It sucks!

There’s high and low to all genres, but it’s high time that horror fans got a little better than low respect. And to prove we know from where we sit, try the horror movie trivia on Kwanzoo. See our greats…and our shames.

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