THE HORROR DRUNX MANIFESTO WHAT WE STAND FOR and WHAT WE ARE AGAINST. Every organization worth their salt should stand for something. What will be following below is OUR credo, manifesto, and the Ten Commandments of The Horror Drunx. The Horror genre is important to THE HORROR DRUNX. We take it very seriously, We recognize that to keep the Horror genre and the Horror community strong, we have to take a strong stand on some issues. Part of this is to educate, part of this is to be historians, and part of this is to keep the fun IN and the snobbery OUT of the Horror community. There is a lot of talk about Horror cycles where interest in the genre rises and falls in the public eye. Historically, interest only wanes when the genre becomes weakened by opportunists that are only out to make a fast buck. They weaken the Horror genre because they don't show it the respect that is due, flood the market with a lot of garbage that insults our intelligence, and most importantly don't respect the Horror audience and community. That is part of the old way. WE are part of the new way and we reject those things that make the genre weak. There is no reason why Horror has to just be a "cycle", when it can be an ever evolving and growing constant. The Horror genre has saved many large studios from bankruptcy over the decades. It has been a standby that has always been counted on to keep Hollywood afloat. The money a studio makes from a good Horror film is the money that a studio uses to make its next five Oscar winners, yet Horror itself is almost constantly snubbed by a snobbish Academy Awards. Most of the biggest star names in Hollywood got their start in Horror, and Horror is there when their stardom fades. It is about time Horror got the respect it deserves, from the industry, from the mainstream media, and from the public who has for so many years been fleeced by those who exploit Horror for a quick buck. THE HORROR DRUNX are Horror ACTIVISTS in no uncertain terms. The following is our credo... __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ 1. THE HORROR DRUNX ARE AGAINST REMAKES. As anyone who has ever pitched a movie idea to a studio can tell you, it is the unwritten rule that every meek motion-picture executives job is to say "NO" to any new idea that is brought to them. "NO" means job security to them, because if they say "YES" and the film loses money for the studio they might lose their job. They know however that they DO also need to say "YES" once in a while to keep their jobs. The safest way for them to say "YES" is to green-light a movie that has a name recognition factor to the public. That is the ONLY reason why you see so many remakes of older movies and television shows being made. It is not in any way a creative or artistic decision, it is a decision ultimately made by a) a bean counter that works in the accounting department, or b) someone whose creative well of original new ideas has dried up and they can't get any other idea produced. The bottom line is, they can now make a film that has a familiar (presold) title in the public consciousness and they don't have to spend as much on advertising either. From the beginning, very few producers of remakes even consider it will even do well at the box-office after the opening weekend, so why put any more creative thought into it than is needed to make a quick buck. As far as The Horror Drunx are concerned, remakes are therefore the domain of the "pukers" (those who chew up the original, then upchuck it) and the "puke eaters" (those who are stupid and tasteless enough consume what the pukers produce). That is why we have a hard time discerning which is worse, the makers of a remake, or those who would see a remake. Truthfully, when is the last time that you saw a good remake? There is honestly only perhaps one marginally passable remake made every decade. Remakes of films just don't as a rule do a service to the original. We have been given the argument by the ignorant and uninformed that: "Remakes are good because they bring attention to the original to people who may not know about it". This is bullshit. If a remake is a bad film made by someone just out to make a fast buck, it is not going to lure anyone who didn't already know about the original film to seek it out and see it. More commonly than not they are made by people who are NOT fans of the original. Remakes are done with no respect to the original, other than a jumping off place for the seed of an idea.... That is why you seldom see many of the ingredients that made the original a success, included in a remake. Where the original often had a lower budget so had to find creative and inexpensive ways to make itself work, the makers of a remake often substitute throwing more money and CGI effects at it. The very idea of a remake denotes that the original and all those who made it were somehow not good enough, so it needed to be remade, therefore no respect to the original is shown. They are also usually made by people that have no creative ties to the original film, except for maybe occasionally including someone in a cameo that was in the original. We honestly would have less trouble with remakes if they were titled something completely different, took us a direction original enough as to appear new and not draw comparisons, and didn't rely on the familiar name value of the original. EXAMPLES: The Fly, The Thing, Dawn Of The Dead, The Hills Have Eyes, etc. People like Rob Zombie (with his HALLOWEEN) have tried to fool the public and lie to them by saying it is a "re-visioning" of the original story, but a remake is still a remake no matter what you call it. The bottom line on remakes as far as The Horror Drunx are concerned is, that story has already been told. Use the time, money and film stock to make a movie with a creative original concept and ideas, not one that degrades our memory of the original. The final argument people have given us is: "You are never going to stop remakes, so you are doomed from the start". Wrong. While there have been secluded pockets of people who have disapproved of remakes in the past, The Horror Drunx is the first organization that has made it their policy. We have 60,000 members and are still growing at a fast rate. If those people, who are the target audience for horror films, BOYCOTT a movie and are vocal enough to educate the general public about their reasons for it, that takes money away from feeding the remake monster. Once we are large enough a segment of the target audience population, that will mean a major loss to the income of remakes at the box-office. As soon as it is no longer financially rewarding to release a remake, they will all but stop. So don't be a weak little puke eater that consumes anything given you... Continue to pay to see remakes, and they will continue to be made. If enough people stop going to see remakes and there will be no reason for anyone to make one. We are the first anti-remake organization. When we first started, all we got were arguments about it, but we didn't give up. Someone had to be first and lead the way taking a stand. Now, years later, have already seen the Horror community begin to change through our education. More and more non-Horror Drunx are picking up the NO REMAKES stance too. We won't stop until there are no more remakes. If that is a lifetime job, so be it, it is what we believe in and what we stand by. This also why we are against Horror publications and websites that promote remakes. It is just a sellout on their part to fill their pages and make a deadline, as well as make advertising money from the producers of remakes. Other people may now be picking up our anti-remake torch, but remember that it was US that first fought in the trenches and made it fashionable for them to. We are proud to have had a big part in changing the world in this respect. Now is the time for everyone else to try and catch up with us.     2. THE HORROR DRUNX ARE AGAINST SEQUELS. While this is a less stringent rule than our anti-remake stance, it is just about as important to us. Truthfully, when is the last time that you saw a Horror sequel that was as good as, or surpassed the original film? We can't readily think of one since THE BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN, and that was a very long time ago. The only reason that Bride worked was because it was made by the same creative team that made the original and they were craftsmen that cared about their jobs. Even Boris Karloff admitted that it was a mistake for him to come back and make a third film as the monster when he made SON OF FRANKENSTEIN. After that, he rightfully left the series refusing to play the monster again, and it was all downhill from there. Historically, any sequel after the third is just a faint echo of what made the first film so great. The Horror Drunx also prescribe to that way of thinking, which is why we so seldom support any sequel after the third in any series. There is no reason there should EVER be a "BAD DREAM ON OAK STREET: Part 8". After about 3 sequels, it is just one too many times to the well and the creative juices have dried up. Also, by that time there are usually very few of the creative people involved that helped make the original a success. The stories turn into just a rehash of the same old story, only with new victims and new scenery. Guy in a mask shows up and kills a new group of people...Or burn victim gives a new bunch of idiot teenagers bad dreams. Etcetera, ad nauseam. These films are only made for the same reason REMAKES are made... Because it is going to make money from a title that the public is already familiar with... And because the studio executive needs to say "YES" to something that will make a little money, in order to keep their job.       3. THE HORROR DRUNX ARE AGAINST RIP-OFFS AND UNORIGINAL IDEAS. This should be the most obvious of our complaints, yet in the motion-picture (and music, and literary, and artistic) communities where everything springs from concepts that are unique intellectual properties, it is the category with the most gray areas. In any community where art and commerce collide, IDEAS are the most important and valuable commodity, and were there is money to be made, the creatively bankrupt swarm to steal the ideas of others. Unfortunately, it is human nature for a person to assume that the first place "they" heard of an idea, is where it originated. They then ignore the facts and the timeline of where the creative idea really did originate. The thieves know this all too well, which is yet another reason why the theft of intellectual property is so hard to keep in check. Volumes have been written about thievery within the Horror genre. About Rob Zombie stealing a mix of THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE, THE HILLS HAVE EYES, MOTHER'S DAY, and The Manson Family, for his first two movies. About George A. Romero's blatant and admitted steal of Vincent Price's THE LAST MAN ON EARTH (based on the book I AM LEGEND) for his film NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD. There's a true tale about a writer who was assigned to write a screenplay at a major studio and created a story only to have the studio give it to another writer in the development process, then the story didn't get produced so the second writer brought it to another studio and adapted the first writers work as THE CROW (a comic book that had no linear story) making a mint off two movies and a TV series. Giving the original writer no credit. There is another writer who had a producer option his original screenplay for basically peanuts at a major studio. The producer then asked that the writer delete entire sections of the story and rewrite them. Those scenes then ended up uncredited in another movie the producer was making starring a big contract star at the same studio. Of course, the producer then let the young writers option lapse and quickly got rid of him and his screenplay. He had basically had his story optioned to keep it off the market and have parts of it stolen legally. The stories of blatant premeditated thievery in Hollywood are endless. If thieves who steal intellectual property, put as much time and thought into being creative as they do thinking up ways to steal, covering their tracks, fabricating lies, and making sure they have legal loopholes to protect themselves, we could all benefit by some amazing original entertainment. Instead, we all have to settle for the 1% gold and the 99% of crap you have to wade through to find the gold. All we demand as Horror Drunx is that the stealing end and that we get to see some original creations. Is that really too much to ask? But if we DON'T get what we ask for, as soon as we spot a borrow, or a swipe, or an outright robbery of intellectual property, we will be the first ones to provide a forum to tell the world of the theft and publicize a Boycott of the offending subject.   4. THE HORROR DRUNX ARE AGAINST COLORIZATION OF BLACK AND WHITE MOVIES. You would not walk into one of the many great art galleries of the world and paint over the masterpiece of an artist just because the color (or lack of it) didn't suit you. That is graffiti and vandalism. Anyone who would do this could only expect to be arrested, convicted, fined, and/or do a long amount of prison time. It is a CRIMINAL offense. Motion pictures are an art form to us. They sprung from an artistic vision and were painstakingly created and crafted by the film maker to reflect their vision. Those films, good or bad, are subject to critics, but the art was created to stand on its own merits. For someone who is not the film maker, but is only rights holder, it is a criminal act to change that vision. Just because you have the rights, you don't have the right. When films are colorized, first a lower-grade washed out print is made of the original, then color is added over that inferior image. So the argument can not even be made that it restores the film to any pristine state. Another argument has been made that if the viewer still wishes to watch the film in black and white on a color television monitor, all they need to do is turn down the color. All that this does is remove the color from an inferior lower-grade washed out print with no true blacks and degraded less rich gray tones. When plans were made to colorize the great cinematic masterpiece CITIZEN KANE the studio was stopped from doing so because the films maker, Orson Wells, had the foresight to sign a contract which gave him artistic control over any future changes being made to his work. He was a man with vision. But not all film makers are protected from unscrupulous film distributors that only want to make a buck off of their vandalized work. EXAMPLE: At a screening of the Ed Wood film PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE that was held (at the Vista Theater in Hollywood, California) as a fund raising benefit for the Maila Nurmi Memorial Fund, the audience was met with a COLORIZED digital projection print. Neither the theater or the shows promoter even saw fit to mention or warn the public in their advertising that it was to be a colorized print. The company that colorized it showed so little respect for the film makers original work and so much arrogance in their own importance, that in several scenes in the film they also had matted in other things that had never been in the original film, including photos hanging on the walls that we can only imagine were photographs of the colorizers family. For this to be shown at a screening that was meant as a tribute and benefit to Maila Nurmi, is a final post mortem insult. Knowing the belief system and strong scruples of Nurmi, who in life also happened to be a close friend and confidant of CITIZEN KANE's Orson Wells and who often professed a love of black and while films as well as a hatred of colorization, one can only imagine at how horrified, humiliated, and insulted she would be at seeing her Vampira character colorized. EXAMPLE: One of the things that set the mood and added to the feel of the film NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD is that it was filmed in a gritty black and white style that gave it an all to real News Reel quality. When the film was colorized, this was lost. The examples that could be listed here are many. Simply put, Black and White movies and films in general are an art form and should be treated with the respect of any other piece of art. If an audience is unable to appreciate a film shown in its original format, then they are not the kind of people who are going to appreciate it any more after it is colorized. So don't do it, don't patronize it, don't accept it, and BOYCOTT it.   5. THE HORROR DRUNX ARE AGAINST ANIMAL CRUELTY IN MOTION PICTURES AND ART. Simulated violence is accepted if it makes a viable story point. However, any real violence caused on the set against any living, breathing, feeling creature, will not be tolerated. Injury or death willfully caused against any animals as an excuse for art still falls under Animal Cruelty and other laws. Exhibition of such films will be reported and the offending theaters will picketed and boycotted by The Horror Drunx. Films to cite as examples of this include the original MANIAC (1934), CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST, CANNIBAL FEROX, NEKROMANTIK and many others. Some changes are being made within the industry, but these laws need to be more stringent internationally. This includes a need for films containing animal cruelty to not be imported over international borders, regardless of if those scenes in the original version of the film have then been edited from the imported prints or not. Criminal film makers who have willfully injured or killed animals or have included such scenes in their films, should not profit. Changes in this topic are happening, but all too slowly. To their credit, on a DVD release of the film CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST, its manufacturer GRINDHOUSE RELEASING has included an extra that gives the viewer the option to view a CRUELTY FREE version of the film with the offending scenes removed. This is a start and it is a minor victory, but it is too little too late. The director of this film instructed actors to kill animals, then filmed those scenes for release in a film he intended to make money from. This is not artistic film making, this is murder for commerce done by an untalented film maker who could think of no other way to shock an audience. His claims that they then ate the animals they killed do not excuse this. The Horror Drunx will not rest until ALL scenes and films including animal cruelty are ended forever. The Horror Drunx will BOYCOTT all such films, protest their release and distribution, and negatively publicize their existence.   6. THE HORROR DRUNX ARE AGAINST SNOBBERY, ELITISM, COMPLACENCY AND GREED IN THE HORROR COMMUNITY. What is in a name? We chose our name for a reason, because it doesn't smack of any lofty or elite connotations. It puts us at an accessible level. We know the horror genre, we know our horror history, and we have nothing to prove. If there is something we don't know, we are happy to admit it and learn. We don't play knowledge is power games here. We share what we know freely. And if it is just the name "THE HORROR DRUNX" that you can't get past, then you are too uptight or prejudiced. That makes you the loser, not us, because we don't need you or your friendship that much. The love of horror movies is for everyone. Our horror community has its doors open to anyone that enjoys the genre and has a willingness to learn more on the subject, and get along with us and our beliefs. We take a page from the book of the great Forry Ackerman (a fan since the silent movie days and founder of Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine) who for decades has opened his home to anyone that wanted to visit and talk about the genre that he loves and see his marvelous collection... Be they children or seniors, male or female, tattooed in a T-shirt or fresh scrubbed in a business suit, of any shade of the rainbow or of any belief system, drunk or sober... We are all family of the same blood. What we have is meant to be shared with the world of the horror community, whether it is just knowledge, or a conversation. Our collections are not treasures to be hoarded away from sight, they are ours to share and show to the world and give them the same pleasure it gives us. Being a complacent fanboy or fangirl (we refer to them as FANnys, another word for asses) has no place for an active member of The Horror Drunx. Accepting something that is wrong just because it will lose you your shallow fake fan friends, not get you something you want for your collection, or maybe upset some horror film celebrity or sceenster, has no place in The Horror Drunx either. Also, gladly going to see a film that departs from our credo and accepting it because it was the only bone Hollywood threw you at your local movie theater (or DVD store) that week, won't be welcome here either. If someone is the type who sees wrong doing and turns a blind or accepting eye to it, we don't want you. Of course we realize there are certain levels of acceptance or rejection depending on the individual.   7. THE HORROR DRUNX ARE FOR THE PROTECTION OF THE CREATIVE ARTIST. We are anti bootlegging, be it music, film, the written word, artwork, or ideas. If you want something, don't steal it, pay the artist that created it so that they can afford to live and create another day. Give credit where it is due. Anything worth having is worth paying the artist what they think it is worth. If it is too expensive, or is unavailable, don't steal it, just move on. If you do steal it, don't get buttsore when The Horror Drunx point their finger at you and tell the world.   8. THE HORROR DRUNX ARE FOR PRESERVING THE HISTORY OF THE HORROR GENRE. There are many in the ranks of The Horror Drunx who are film historians, preservationists and authors as well as horror buffs. We realize that we are all only temporary safekeepers of items and information that should be passed on to future generations so that the rich history of the horror genre can be rediscovered an enjoyed for all time. So we guard and take care of what we have now, for the future. What we can collect now we don't look at as a monetary investment that will pay off when we sell it someday, we collect what we do because we love it, the true goal of our investment is an investment in making the genre strong now and in the future. It is hard to believe that so many films no longer exist or are not available. This doesn't just include the lost silent classics of Lon Chaney, sadly this also includes films as recent as the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s that perhaps only one (or in some cases NO) prints exist of. We are all about preserving the places, things and knowledge of the past and present, so that it will be available now and in the future. We can all do this, or help contribute to those who can make a difference.   9. THE HORROR DRUNX ARE FOR HONORING THOSE WHO HAVE LEFT A POSITIVE MARK IN THE HORROR COMMUNITY. Sure, The Horror Drunx have come under fire for the few of us that have been photographed drinking a toast at the graves of the great horror personalities of the past. We are 100% guilty of that. Our question is, why aren't our critics guilty of it also? If they really were fans of the history of the genre, they would be. There are worse crimes than drinking a toast and remembering someone who died 10 or 20 or 50 or more years ago. May you be so lucky as to be honored that way. However, that is only a small part of what we are about. The Horror Drunx have spearheaded, helped establish, and contributed heavily financially toward individuals that have given us enjoyment and helped make us who we are with their marks in the horror genre. Those actors, actresses, directors, writers, musicians and other personalities that have fallen on hard times through old age, sickness, injury, or other bad turns in their lives can always count on us to help give back and support them. This includes our helping pay for everything from their rent and getting them personal items, to medical bills, to their graves after they are gone. We will do our best and whatever we can to give back to those who have meant the world to us and our love for the genre.   10. THE HORROR DRUNX ARE FOR THE EDUCATION OF THE PUBLIC. This means more than just history, factoids and trivia, this also includes things that are wrong and slights that have been made within the world of the horror genre. If someone steals, we educate the public. If someone lies, we inform the public that they have been lied to. If someone is out to fool the public into giving them a fast buck for something shoddy, we tell the world. If someone make a premeditated decision to slight someone else just for their own gain, we educate the community about their lack of morals and scruples. If you burn us or anyone involved with the horror community, you weaken and hurt the entire horror community. We will expose you, shun you, boycott you, verbally beat you bloody to the point that you will never fully recover, then turn our backs on you. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ IN CLOSING: In the classic use of the word, "Drunks" can be your best friend in the world, or your worst enemy, all depending on their whims. They are known to come in many types from the happy, fun loving and agreeable, to the nostalgic the heartfelt and the bittersweet, to the angry and combative that are looking for a fight. There are also many other types in between. The one thing that they all have in common is they drink. That is what we have in common and that is where any similarity ends. We are "Drunx", which is a completely different word. The only substance which we ALL agree that we regularly crave, ingest, and sometimes consume too much of, is the genre of HORROR. We are The Horror Drunx. (last edit and update 5-20-2008)   (last edit and update 5-20-2008)