Okay, so I am watching this flick the other night; to be exact, it is "Zombie," the European horror flick by Lucio Fulci. It is fantastic and terrifying, with gore beyond belief and zombie make-up you have never seen before. Pick it up if you can find it, or call me and you can borrow it. But back to my vent. So anyway, I watch as a zombie puts its hand through a door and pulls actress Olga Karlatos' face right into a sharp wooden shard from the door. The shard of wood impales itself deep into her eye. There is no cutting, no editing, nothing but special effects. You even see the gruesome effect of her eyeball popping into liquid, blood, and pus. Not only that but moments before in another scene, you see a woman scuba diving in nothing but her panties. God, this is a great film!
As I sat back and enjoyed this delightful horror, I began thinking: you will never find this movie in Blockbuster or Hollywood Video. You might find it in some rag-tag video store somewhere in a dark alley, but never in the mainstream video market. You can, however, find this movie in any video store in Europe. And that just sucks. Why? Because commercial video stores in America are chickening out and screwing you. And let me tell you why.
Blockbuster is the main target of my distaste. First, they no longer offer widescreen editions of any movie. "To much money," they say, and they don't see the point. Widescreen allows you to see everything in the scene; full-screen does not. Because widescreen is not offered, the viewer does not see everything, and is therefore being jipped on the movie rental. Screw you, Blockbuster. Second, commercial video rental companies and film production companies have chickened out and are now going "family." They want to supply nothing but good, wholesome family movies, so they look like they have morals. In other words, so parents will allow their kids to go to the movies. These companies have completely conformed to all the parental groups and bureaucrats, and so have violated everything that makes America and American Cinema what it is. Oh, you want evidence? Dig this:
Rob Zombie wrote and directed a horror movie called "House of 1000 Corpses." It is a good, old-fashioned, rated-R horror flick full of gore, violence, and scares. This movie took two years to find a production house that would put it on the screen. Universal was the first to fund it, but after they refused to air it due to its "non-mainstream appeal and gore factor," Zombie had to buy the rights to get it away from Universal. Then MGM came along. They were all set to put it out when Zombie jokingly said to the press, "Yeah MGM is putting up the money for the movie. MGM has no morals at all." Parental groups went batty, and MGM ditched the movie. They didn't want to look like they were not full of good, ole-fashioned WB and Wal-Mart morals. Luckily, the best independent film company, Lions Gate, picked up the tab, and this great movie is now set for national release on April 11th.
You want more proof? Fine!
Recently, "Darkness Falls" hit movie theaters. It is a slasher film about a being called the "Tooth Fairy," who haunts people and murders them. It is pretty much your typical horror movie. However, it has only a PG-13 rating. Why is this? Let's ask Tom Sherak, a partner at Revolution Studios, the company which produced the movie for its distributor, Sony. This was taken from "Yahoo News:"
"Horror movies typically do well in their first weekend, as fans of the genre turn out in big numbers, but business tends to drop off steeply in subsequent weeks.With a tight $11 million budget, though, 'Darkness Falls' will turn a solid profit," said Tom Sherak. "Like last year's horror hit 'The Ring,' a PG-13 rating might give 'Darkness Falls' more staying power than fright flicks with an R rating," Sherak said. He continues, "PG-13 is a little bit broader than the hard R's." His son, William, made his debut as a producer on "Darkness Falls." "It's the kind of horror movie that people felt safe in bringing younger kids to." ~Yahoo News
What the hell? A horror movie that is safe to bring your kids to? Are you on crack? Now, video rental companies have begun to take "R" flicks from their shelves, and have begun to beef up their family-fluff sections. Blockbuster has been doing it, and Hollywood Video is following suit.
Am I still living in America? Since when do we ban things from view just because parents don't pay attention to their kids? These films are a part of cinematic history; they are pieces of art. And they are being censored. How people can sit by and allow this to happen is amazing to me. Well, I am not standing for it. Blockbuster is now on my crap list. I am going to hold my head up high and watch my gore movies. And I will be damned if I allow some old fruit who thinks he knows what is good for me and the rest of America to decide what we have access to view.
The question now is, what are you thinking, and what are you going to do about it?
Responses:
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Name: John
Comments:
Blockbuster sucks.
Name: Nick
Comments:
I like movies...yeah...movies are good
Name: b.faust
Comments:
Great article, Shaggy. Widescreen versions are the best (Blockbuster's an idiot)!
Name: Shaggy
Comments:
For all those who are looking for rare movies in the horror genre or not, there is this old video store in C-Burg next to the Greyhound Bus Stop and Ticket Office. It has a fantastic selection of rare movies for sale and rent!
Name: Nick
Comments:
I also find the article distasteful, but as the section manager of Vent, I have to feel that everyone has a right to voice their opinion on any matter. However, in this case, I am very convinced that names need not be mentioned (many that were mentioned could have gone unsaid) and again, if you have an opinion, submit it to me as an article. This feedback forum is not for you to get revenge on student media by destroying what we have built by going around standardized methods. Your feedback has nothing to with the story presented in this article, and therefore either belongs on the bruise board or in a submission form for me to run with the proper methods. I am very upset that Radford Student Media alumni are not a bit more thoughtful of their actions.
Name: Shaun
Year: Grad
Major: English
Comments:
Anonymous Critic, I find your posting this in this article's feedback a bit distasteful. The matter you discuss is a done deal, nothing can be done about it now, and I see no point in bringing it up now. Second, if you feel the need to dig up the past, then please either a: submit this as article (Nick would love you if you did) or b: post in our Bruise Board.
Name: anonymous
Comments:
I graduated from RU last spring, from the media studies department. Before leaving, I had a very interesting conversation with Mr. Kallahan, who used to be the advisor for student media. He told me lots of details as to why he was fired by Dr. Pomerantz, and also admitted he made some mistakes in the way he dealt with students and faculty.
But Mr. K did nothing to justify his removal from office. The truth is that he was fired because of cowards: Sandra Kelley and her sister Debbie Brown, Chelsea Adams, Rachel Thomason and Shaggy Kinback. These five people all felt threatened by Mr. K, who is a very experienced professional and who has an assertive management style. And all five made unproven accusations behind Mr. K’s back. While Kelley and Adams, both faculty advisors, never bothered to approach Mr. K about misunderstandings, Thomason and Kinback simply stabbed him in the back.
As for Debbie Brown, she is an assistant vice president who worked behind the scenes. She tried to get George Mendiola to change his mind about taking money away from ROC-TV. Brown also never approached Mr. K to discuss a single issue. She just took her sister Sandra’s word about matters and proceeded accordingly. Apparently, Brown and Pomerantz are good friends. Another way of putting this is that Pomerantz is controlled by Brown, who has been involved in other irregularities concerning people leaving this campus. For example, she fired Tammi Gardiner, the former director of alumni affairs, for no good reason.
Both Pomerantz and Dean Michael Martis were hypcrites in the matter of Kallahan’s removal. One of the reasons he was hired was to “deal” with the ROC-TV issue, which has hindered the media programs on this campus for some time. As a matter of fact, Martis suggested to Kallahan that ROC be eliminated as an organization on campus, as well as the steering committee for student media. But Mr. K said he wasn’t prepared to pursue such action. However, when Kelley and her band of whining egotists pushed for Kallahan’s removal, Norleen simply rolled over. So did Martis. And RU missed a golden opportunity to have an experienced and talented person improve the student media programs on campus.
Kelley made much of a memo that Mr. K wrote about changing the steering committee. First, he wrote that memo as his own opinion and not the committee’s. Second, he did use the word “we” one single time, when referring to the suggestion that faculty advisors should not sit on the committee because they represented a conflict of interest. Mr. K honestly believed that was how the committee felt. But Kelley used that single reference to “we” to convince the student leaders that the whole memo was supposed to be their collective opinion. Kelley maliciously obscured the truth; rather than speaking to Mr. K for clarification, she decided to vilify him instead. Mr. K told me that not one single student media leader said goodbye to him at the end of the semester – after everything he did for them and their programs. He did not deserve such treatment.
Kelley was an instructor who is no longer on campus. Her journalistic abilities are nothing outstanding and her professional experience doesn’t go beyond Roanoke. As for Chelsea Adams, she is another instructor who is best known for apologizing about eating her lunch at committee meetings. One would think she would get tired of apologizing or start eating her lunch at some other time. How about some of the student media faculty? Mr. K helped Joe Flickinger out with the Radio Free Radford mess, cleaning it up for him. But did Joe ever visit Mr. K to let him know what Sandra Kelley was up to? No. And Dr. Kovarick, bless his heart, is a good man. But he moans and groans too much about freedom of expression for the students, when he should have supported Mr. K’s efforts to raise the level of professionalism at ROC-TV and keep the student media budget in order. As a whole, the media studies faculty is also partly responsible for Mr. K’s removal. They should have done more teaching and less politicking. They are also hypocritical because they really didn’t support an independent channel for ROC-TV. Yet they raised hell when Kallahan changed his mind on the matter.
Yes, Mr. K is the one who first championed a new channel for ROC, despite the objections from Kelley, Adams and others. But he changed his mind when the budget crunch came, and saw how screwed up the ROC leadership was. Kallahan’s point of view was simple: cut through the petty politics and focus on what’s important – a healthy budget, efficient operations, and improved professional values. For this attitude, he got canned by people whose egos were more important than anything else. For example, Rachel Thomason screamed about how Mr. K didn’t “consult” her about taking $10,000 for a ROC channel and spending it on the production lab instead. Even after Mr. K reversed his decision and apologized for the action, she went ahead and sent a very nasty memo to half the campus. And she kept moaning about how she wasn’t “consulted” to anyone who would listen. Get a clue, Thomason – Mr. K didn’t have to consult you on budgetary matters! Rachel did a good job with Whim magazine, but she is also a very malicious and vindictive person who helped destroy Mr. K’s career here because of her own conceit.
What lesson should this campus learn from Mr. K’s firing? It should learn that petty politics, mostly centered around ROC, continues to hinder the professional growth of student media programs at RU. We also should learn that Debbie Brown has a lot of authority on campus concerning personnel, and that Norleen Pomerantz is under her thumb. If I were writing for The Tartan, I would try to find out more about how Brown operates and why she has so much power as an assistant vice president. Rumor has it that she has so much “dirt” on other administrators that they are afraid to cross her path. You will have a hard time finding someone on campus who actually likes Debbie Brown!
Even Dr. Covington and his assistant, Carrie McTeer, were hypocrite in this matter. Mr. K tried to arrange a taped interview with Covington for ROC’s doocumentary project. McTeer cancelled Covington’s scheduled interview four separate times before finally telling Mr. K that Covington “doesn’t trust ROC-TV.” But where was the president when Brown and Kelley were calling for Kallahan’s removal? It is obvious that Brown doesn’t have to consult with the university president on matters of personnel. I wonder if he feels embarrassed by that situation.
I work in the field of media and I can more than appreciate what Mr. K was trying to do for the student media programs. Yes, budgets do matter. Yes, productivity does matter. And, yes, professional attitudes do matter. ROC-TV is a joke and will continue to embarrass the campus. All you have to do is go down the road to Virginia Tech to see how a real student-operated television station works. Shaggy has his good points, but he is simply too immature and self-centered to lead ROC into a new era of responsibility and production work that is journalism and not misguided efforts by a group of “Saturday Night Live wannabes.” I hear that ROC is doing a movie these days. OMG….I can hardly wait to miss it! I’m sure it will be a substandard effort, and I’m also sure it will embarrass RU.
To everyone who played a role in getting Mr. K fired…do you feel like more decent people? You cowards waited for Kallahan to go on vacation to make your big push with lots of email and accusations. Mr. K never saw any of the email, the accusations were never specified to him, and he wasn’t even given a chance to defend himself. Kelley and her band of cowards put pressure on Pomerantz, Debbie Brown put pressure on Pomerantz, and Pomerantz caved in with Dean Martis there to help “justify” her action. Mr, K deserved better. He had done a lot for student media during his short stay, and he would have done a lot more. But he needed support from the administration and he needed the faculty advisors to stop playing politics. This didn’t happen, and RU blew a real opportunity. Mr. K genuinely cared about the student media programs and did what he could to remove petty politics from the equation. Yes, he made some mistakes but nothing to justify his firing. In the end, he was dismissed because a small group of hateful cowards felt threatened by him. They need to ask themselves what motivated their actions.
As for me, I will remain anonymous for obvious reasons. Working in the field of media, I can tell you that I behaved the way Kinback and Thomason behaved toward Mr. K, I would be fired immediately. Too bad Mr. K couldn’t have fired several student media leaders and faculty advisors for their conceit and ineptitude. Believe me, the university would have been much better off.
Sincerely, The Anonymous Critic
Name: Shaggy
Comments:
God Bless those rag-tag video rental outlets. God bless them.
Name: Christina
Comments:
While I don't go for horror flicks myself, this is a perfect example of why consumers should embrace those "rag-tag video stores in dark alleys," and not let the mega stores (of any kind) run the little guys out of business and become dictators of cultual taste.
Name: Nick
Comments:
"Are you on Crack?" Ha!! I love it, keep up the good writing Shaggy, thanks for a great article!
Name: Greg Woodruff
Comments:
Blockbuster's denial of wide screen versions is probably because most customers don't want it. I worked at Movie Gallery (Video Update) and people would complain about wide screen versions. I don't think they get it, but still BB shouldn't be limited to full screen movies.
Yeah, I saw screw the family. I'm sick of all the family movies, too. This country is so sick and pathetic.
Name: Greg Woodruff
Comments:
Blockbuster's denial of wide screen versions is probably because most customers don't want it. I worked at Movie Gallery (Video Update) and people would complain about wide screen versions. I don't think they get it, but still BB shouldn't be limited to full screen movies.
Yeah, I saw screw the family. I'm sick of all the family movies, too. This country is so sick and pathetic.
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