Meet the Horror Bloggers: Literal Remains

Many fans of horror, amateur and professional alike, have devoted themselves to blogging about the thrills, chills, and no-frills side of the genre as seen in cinema and print. In this ongoing series that highlights the writers behind the blogs, we meet the unique personalities and talents that make the online horror scene so engaging. Up close and personal.

In this installment, John Robinson of Literal Remains gives us the literal truth of his horror past and present.

"...let's face it... the Devil is a hell of a lot more interesting!"- The Fisher King

I was five years old when I remember seeing my first horror movie. My brother and two cousins (all older) were watching John Carpenter's The Fog on NBC, if I remember correctly. I was suffocating in a sleeping bag, hiding my face, because it was scaring the tee-total bejesus out of me. My brother and cousins didn't ridicule me, though, they just continued to watch, ignoring my pleas for them to switch the channel. I could have left the room, but I was five and wanted to hang out with the big kids. One other thing they did, for which I'm thankful, is they reinforced the fact that it was only a movie. Reluctantly, I peeked from my cotton fortress and watched what I could of it. I was addicted then- hook, line, and sinker. After nearly an almost twenty-eight year romance, me and Horror are still pretty tight. Almost every day is a honeymoon.

From the humble beginnings of The Fog, I gradually nerved myself for bigger, more graphic fare. I had sought out the classics, Dracula, Frankenstein, The Wolf Man. I had read "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" (loved Disney's animated version as well) and The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde; both are still favorites. Having consumed all those, I made a move into the big leagues. A cousin from Georgia who spent Summers with us always brought up his VHS horrors. I finally watched Dawn of the Dead and Day of the Dead. I nearly puked. I had to sleep with a little Bible under my pillow to ward off bad dreams. And I left the light on.

As I was growing up, feeding off of Jason's, Freddy's, and Michael's murderous behaviors, I laughed along with them and Ash. But it was when I was freshly a teen that things changed for me. That was when I watched Hellraiser for the first time, and I discovered Clive Barker. With Friday the 13th and A Nightmare On Elm Street, I could laugh along with the jokes and silliness, jump at the boo moments, drool over the kills, ogle the boobies. Hellraiser just about fried my mind. The sex wasn't snicker inducing. There were no wisecracks. It was brutal. It was practically blunt force trauma to my mainstream chiller sensibilities. It was more than different, it was erotic, it spoke to me in a way I really didn't understand at the time. It revealed for me that Horror can be more than mindless violence and puns and one-liners.

I went straight way to the book store and began reading every book of Clive Barker's I could get my trembling hands on. He went places Stephen King didn't venture, he asked questions I, myself, had asked, he wrote things I had thought and imagined. It was Mr. Barker who set me on the road to William S. Burroughs, Anthony Burgess, and changing ideas of Horror's nature. Day to day life is filled with drama, mystery, fantasy, romance, horror, adventure. It was Barker's works that made me first want to pick up a pen and put it to paper, to express my own ideas. Horror is a multifaceted thing for me. It's not always a guy in a hockey mask with razor fingers brandishing a chainsaw and chasing someone through dark woods or midnight streets. Sometimes it's our own thoughts in our head. Sometimes it's the hearts we break in our youth, or the words we spoke when we should have held our breath.

More than one person over the years has asked me why I like Horror. It is difficult to explain. I was always more interested in learning about demons or the crucifixion when I went to church than hearing about the miracles. It's like Mr. Barker said, "Fear is a place where you just tell the truth." At Literal Remains, we want to have fun and entertain. We also want to share and search for some of that truth with everyone. When you tell someone what scares you, it is honesty and vulnerability. I guess it's like going to Confession. In the end, I think true Horror is life affirming, it should make us want to live, with warts and all. And if we learn something about ourselves, all the better.

John Robinson, the_novacula