Last night (2/13) at 10 PM, MTV kicked off a seven week movie series, affectionately referred to as “Home is Where the Horror Is,” with the dreadful Paris Hilton vehicle House of Wax. Although kicking off with a terrible remake starring a chlamydia-infested socialite who got famous for being a chlamydia-infested socialite, four of the seven movies on the list are actually movies I would consider taking time out of my day to watch.

The schedule is as follows.

13-Feb   HOUSE OF WAX

20-Feb   THE AMITYVILLE HORROR

27-Feb   LAND OF THE DEAD

6-Mar   THE HILLS HAVE EYES

13-Mar  SLITHER

20-Mar  DEEP BLUE SEA

26-Mar  HOUSE OF THE DEVIL

Working under the presumption that the first two and fourth film are the remakes, the inclusion of Land of the Dead, Slither, Deep Blue Sea, and especially House of the Devil actually make me grin a shifty grin of amusement. I would have expected films like Prom Night, or Sorority Row, to appeal to the base demographic of the channel. Which is fine. They have a job to do and appealing to dyed-in-the-wool horror fans is probably not on their list of things to do. But they threw me for a loop, throwing in a mix of gory remakes, cheesy zombie flicks, comedies, pseudo-cult classics, and a new and incredibly well-received bonafide horror film.

Whether or not the films will be edited to appease the parents of MTV’s core demographic is anyone’s case, though one can easily be led to believe they won’t be, as this promo demonstrates. It features scenes from House of Wax, they’re graphic, and it opens with Paris Hilton gettin’ all stabbed and shit.

Someone at MTV has the right idea. Kudos. Tune in, especially if you haven’t seen House of the Devil. I wasn’t too fond of it, but no self-respecting horror fan should go without seeing it.

MTV, if you’re listening, here are some recommendations for your next horror installment, should you choose to do so. Whether or not you can acquire the rights to air any of these films is none of my concern. Just do it. For the fans. And for me. ‘Cause I asked politely. Kinda.

The Burrowers (review)
Session 9 (review)
[REC]
Pontypool

Just a thought.

This trailer sold me completely on The Signal, which currently stands as one of my favorite horror films. It’s a damn shame it had be taken down due to the unauthorized use of Lou Reed’s “Perfect Day,” covered in by Jon Thomas Hall in a delightfully appropriate rock styling. The Signal also made me realize how awesome an actor AJ Bowen is, and eventually how underutilized he was in House of the Devil, which was, much to the chagrin of most, a very mediocre film. He’s currently filming Hatchet 2 by genre fav Adam Green, and while I don’t have high hopes because Hatchet was pretty terrible, I will shell out too much money for a ticket to see it in the theater because of Bowen.

This trailer is just too fucking excellent, and completely belies the film’s meager $50,000 budget.