I don't really remember too much about being a kid - various obsession do flash by in my memory, but my most notable and still-present love is that for a collection of ultra-violent and notorious movies; The Evil Dead, The Evil Dead 2 and Army of Darkness. Now I didn't begin on those two movies, but they were the first horror movies that I really latched upon and singled out as favourites.
My brother was also an avid horror fan, and encouraged my love for gore and the supernatural. (I was only about eight years old so but my parents let me pretty much have full run of whatever I saw) and see I did. When I was about ten I began writing fan fiction based on the movies - terrible little things with Vampires and other ghoulishness introduced. It wasn't The Evil Dead, but my child's mind didn't know that. Plus I was knee-deep in my first crush - Bruce Campbell, who played the lead character, Ash. I worshipped three movies which were all made before I was born, and I didn't care what anyone else thought. I would get friends to help me re-enact possessions and other demonic goings on in the playground, I would go on to draw an The Evil Dead 2 picture and place it on my year 7 jigsaw for Design Technology class, all the while joyously ignoring the confused glances from my teachers. I now realize that I must've been one weird kid, walking around with my head in whatever film magazine I could find, and a pen to paper writing shitty demonic fan fiction (and let me say my school was a devoutly religious one).
To think back, even when my obsession dissipated and made way for others, it helped me to realize that I shouldn't care what others think, as long as I enjoy something. I stuck up for those movies, they made me feel better, and they helped me to be creative. If anything, I'm a better writer because they encouraged me to branch out into that medium. Later I would finally get into trouble for toting my Preacher comics into class and writing cannibalistic serial killer stories for English assignments; but those are the moments that I liked best about high school.
The Evil Dead taught me that it isn't just a movie, it could always be something more. And you can also be something more than you started out being.
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