'Life of movie critic isn't always boffo,' Sept. 15, 1989

"The Critic"

"Outtakes" movie column

By DONALD PORTER
Standard-Examiner

"You must enjoy the trash of so many movies you can't recognize wholesome entertainment when you see it. ... I don't place much value on your reviews."

That letter arrived after I panned a relentlessly bad film aimed at family audiences called "On Our Own." These kinds of letters come in the mail every so often. The other kind, the ones in which people say they appreciate what you write, pass my way about as often as Halley's comet. It comes with the territory, I suppose. When you write opinions in a business concerned primarily with facts, you're bound to take lumps.

Misconceptions abound concerning the business of journalism -- a broad enough word, I think, to cover movie criticism. No matter what, people will always believe reporters are biased, left-wing Commie sympathizers. They also assume we'll go for the sensational over the mundane at every opportunity.

"Gore Galore" ("Outtakes" movie column), Oct. 30, 1987

Photo illustration taken at the Cinedome Theater in Riverdale.

Time was when a horror movie opened, people lined up at the box office -- then went back again the next week for more. They just couldn't get enough.

It all began in the 1930s, really, with "Frankenstein" and "Dracula." And it's continued right up to today. The latest love affair with shockers was kicked off by "The Exorcist" in 1973, but began to die out in 1985 with "Friday the 13th Part V: A New Beginning."

After all, a discerning public will take only so much.

The numbers of horror films being produced may have declined, but the fact remains that people love them. Or, rather, people love to be frightened by them. Horror movies present an undeniable attraction: If it's a good one, you'll be terrified -- the ultimate movie-going experience.


It's one thing to be moved by a love story, challenged to think by a whodunnit, or stirred to cheers by a sports movie. But to be scared out of your seat -- well, that's where it's at, man. It doesn't get any better than that.