{"id":15039,"date":"2014-10-31T09:28:24","date_gmt":"2014-10-31T09:28:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/?p=15039"},"modified":"2015-05-15T09:36:22","modified_gmt":"2015-05-15T09:36:22","slug":"shocktober-memories","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/2014\/10\/31\/shocktober-memories\/","title":{"rendered":"“Shocktober” Memories"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Before it became the WB, then the CW, now CW PIX 11, once upon a time, channel 11 in New York was called WPIX Channel 11. And it was referred to as New York\u2019s Movie Station. In other words, if you didn\u2019t have cable television to watch uncut movies, then channel 11 was your next best option for watching movies of all kinds. Most of the catalogue from WPIX featured movies from the late seventies and the eighties, and on rare occasions the nineties. My apartment building wasn\u2019t wired for cable television well into October of 1994, so until I was eleven, \u201cNew York\u2019s Movie Station\u201d is where I went to, to watch movies that weren\u2019t in my mom or dad\u2019s VHS collection.<\/p>\n

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In fact if I think really hard, I could tell you the entire catalogue from WPIX\u2019s movie library, because I\u2019d seen then so many times, whenever they were repeated. I had zero standards for cinematic entertainment back then, so I literally watched anything that caught my fancy. Even in the slightest. Yes, I\u2019ve seen \u201cBerry Gordy\u2019s The Last Dragon,\u201d \u201cThe Principal,\u201d and \u201cCobra\u201d more times than I can count, and I\u2019m proud of it damn it. I also changed it up once in a while by watching \u201cExtremities,\u201d or \u201cYoung Sherlock Holmes.\u201d Oddly enough though I avoided \u201cThe Wiz\u201d like the kid in class with pink eye, and two movies I never wanted to see were \u201cAnimal House\u201d and \u201cA Christmas Story.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Oddly enough both were films that became some of my absolute favorite films of all time much later on in my life. In either case, every weekday night at 8pm, they\u2019d play a movie before the 10 o\u2019clock news, and on weekends, it was a marathon of movies that began at 12pm and stopped at 10pm. For many years I learned to love films like \u201cThey Live,\u201d \u201cThe Last Dragon,\u201d \u201cTwilight Zone: The Movie,\u201d the \u201cIndiana Jones\u201d series, and before that I\u2019d watch the Godzilla marathons and Elvis movie marathons. Every October was the best because being a kid and bonafide horror fanatic, and it all led up to Halloween.<\/p>\n

Every year until 1995, WPIX would host their Shocktober horror movie month, which meant a horror movie every weeknight at 8pm, and marathons of horror movies every weekend leading up to Halloween. Surely, it was just re-airings of horror movies from the catalogue that WPIX played every year, but it was a blast. Once you saw that extended promo for Shocktober on WPIX advertising their line up of eighties horror movies, you knew that October was here, and Halloween was right around the corner. I have so many great memories, not just of Shocktober, but of WPIX. I always made a point of carefully seeing what WPIX was playing every day and would avoid certain movies. From childhood I have had a major phobia when it comes to zombie movies, so I always made sure to avoid watching \u201cReturn of the Living Dead,\u201d and \u201cReturn of the Living Dead II.\u201d<\/p>\n

And my mom always forbade us from watching any \u201cFriday the 13th<\/sup>\u201d films oddly enough. I became a hardcore Jason Voorhees fan anyway. Something about the commercial for “Jason Lives” was always so alluring to me. The creepy music, Tommy on the phone warning about how Jason is on the loose, and the eventual shots of Jason wreaking havoc. It all was so tempting to watch, even if I wasn’t allowed. However, I would always tune in to check out \u201cThe Shining.\u201d It was such a hypnotizing movie I never cared that I didn\u2019t really get it. There was also \u201cThe Wraith,\u201d \u201cCreepshow 2,\u201d \u201cCaty\u2019s Eye,\u201d and \u201cInvaders from Mars,\u201d which were my personal favorites. I don\u2019t count \u201cThey Live,\u201d since it\u2019s mostly science fiction action, but whenever it was included in to Shocktober, I always watched with glee and enthusiasm.<\/p>\n

Roddy Piper is still a larger than life presence, even in my thirties. Some of my favorite Halloweens involved sitting down to watch a horror marathon on WPIX, and one of my favorite years of the occasion involved sitting to watch \u201cCreepshow\u201d with my brother, which evidently scared the crap out of us. So to calm us down, my mom turned on \u201cHalloween\u201d for us. An equally scary film, but its slower pace worked for us. That and the year I watched the Horror Awards on TV shortly after trick or treating was great fun for me. A big favorite of mine was \u201cSalem\u2019s Lot,\u201d but for some reason it only played during Thanksgiving or Easter. Go figure.<\/p>\n

These days with everyone being able to afford cable, networks don\u2019t feel the need to fill up air time with so many movies anymore. With Warner buying WPIX in 1995, the format change, and \u201cNew York\u2019s Movie Station\u201d aimed to compete with NBC and FOX with original programming. Plus, I guess it’s less expensive to buy up repeats of a mediocre sitcom than movies. Besides, who wants to really watch a heavily cut version of “Night of the Creeps” anyway? Me. I do. It’s part of the fun! I definitely miss the days of watching primetime movies and marathons during the weekends. When not many could afford cable, WPIX was a sound alternative. Especially for a blossoming movie buff like myself. \u201cShocktober\u201d is a fun memory that was menacing, but exciting every time it rolled around every year. Much like Halloween.<\/p>\n