Sunday, October 27, 2013

What Halloween Means To Me '13 Day 27: Micho Rutare


I have been a big fan of The Asylum for years.  In 2013, the rest of the world caught on when Sharknado became a social media phenomenon and set Syfy ratings records.  I’m not one of these bandwagon jumping horror hipsters either.  My love for Asylum is for real.  Since Pep Squad baby!  Anyway, one of the men responsible for unleashing mockbuster and creature feature gems upon the world is Micho Rutare.  Micho is the head of development for The Asylum.  He’s been involved in the development of modern classics like Mega Shark vs Crocasaurus, 2-Headed Shark Attack, A Haunting in Salem, Zombie Apocalypse, Super Cyclone, Abraham Lincoln vs Zombies (which was WAY better than that crappy Vampire Hunter flick), and my favorite Asylum flick, Nazis at the Center of the Earth (which made my top 10 flicks of 2012 list).  Cthulhu bless you Asylum, and Cthulhu bless you, Micho.  So, what does Halloween mean to you?

“Halloween is the last Pagan holiday; we're allowed, for one day of the year, to revel in darkness and excess. I had a wonderful childhood, but in some ways, it was the worst of all worlds: conservative Christianity kept me away from great music and movies; all that was left of my mom's hippie youth was an aversion to anything processed, unhealthy, and delicious. Except on Halloween, I was allowed to read stories of demons and monsters while mainlining Smarties and Snickers (remember when pillowcases were units of measurement?).

My mom was also responsible for my fondest Halloween memory. When I was about ten, I saw The Three Musketeers at a friend's house (the one with Chris O'Donnell and Kiefer Sutherland). I loved it, mainly because the Musketeers carried swords AND guns, but also because Rebecca De Mornay made me feel a funny tingling. Come Halloween time, I had a brilliant idea: to be a Musketeer! I drafted my three best friends--they were D'Artagnan, Aramis, and Porthos, and I was Athos. My mom volunteered to sew our costumes, and the other moms joined in. They made us exact replicas of the Musketeers outfits, and we made sure to arm ourselves with the best guns and swords Toys R Us had. "All for one, and one for all" was our proud slogan. 

Underneath the spooky trappings of the holiday, there's a real sense of freedom. Freedom to do what you want to do and be who you want to be. This is also the ethos of film--and filmmaking. Once you get a taste of that freedom, you never want to give it up.”

4 more days ‘til Halloween, Halloween, Halloween.  4 more days ‘til Halloween, Silver Shamrock.

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