Well I know, another blog in such a short time. Hell must have frozen over or something like that, but I shall not keep you in suspense any longer with a topic heading like this.

Tonight was my last horror marathon for us horror geeks in Belgium and the Netherlands. Every month, on a normally gorgeous Saturday, I make the short 30 minute drive to my friend’s house in Belgium. I park across the road infront of the football fields and cross the street to the little one story house where the Bielen family resides. I go inside and I am always greeted by a vibrant little blond in the kitchen (Mrs. Bielen), I then proceed and say helloto a kind faced gentleman (Mr. Bielen) and I go to my friend’s computer where I find him behind the computer burning another copy of a DVD he just down loaded off the internet (Davy). Now Davy is my best friend. He is funny, odd and down right sweet, and an even bigger horror fan then me. His bedroom and the guest room are filled with shelves, boxes and stacks of DVDs, a grand total running in the thousands. Davy is always smiling with his new find and always wanting to talk about it, or the next ambitious project he has in store for us at Hexagore, his little production “company”. Sometimes I am early and have beaten the others, and sometimes I am greeted by Bob (a.k.a Lizzy) who is feeding the fuel to Davy’s madness. Bob is also crazy. I have known these guys for a few years now, having met at my previous employment, they were in a different department but we managed to find each other, crazidar (kind of like gaydar but more accurate, you just have to look at us and you know we are crazy). This is the core of our group, the die hard freaks of sitting in a basement to watch blood and filth and the stuff nightmares are made of.

We have a few other nutters who join us from time to time, so we wait for the others to show. Then we proceed down the stairs underground to the comfy the couch, the chair and the beamer. We always have loads of energy drinks to keep the caffine flowing and the vibes going. Of course you know that crazy and caffine is an interesting combonation. And for Davy and Bob it is even worse. After watching one or two films Mrs Bielen calls us up for dinner. Now this woman can cook. She makes her own pizza that is to die for, a spaghetti sauce that would rival any Italian grandmother and even her own Mayonaisse. After stuffing our bellies full of good food and maybe a glass or two of wine to take the edge off those energy drinks, we go back down to the bowels of horror and stay until about 1:30 am. Then we get in our cars and go our merry little ways back home with visions of artistic kills fresh in our minds.

Tonight was no exception, well kind of. I walk into the house I know so well and was greeted again by Mrs Bielen. She gives me an enormous hug and says it is a shame this is my last marathon and the she will miss me. I try to put that out of my mind since I want to enjoy myself as always. I go a little further but Mr Bielen is away so I do not see him. I go to Davy’s computer room and there he is, downloading as usual. And Jan is there. Another one of the motley crew who was also a great victim in our fake grindhouse trailer we made for a competition. Bob was going to be late, and what is more, he would be bringing his new girlfriend. We started off with a nice Norwegian horror called Rovdyr, a nice survival hardcore gore with great FX. This is just an appetizer for things to come. After a plate of delicious spaghetti, Jan, Davy and I start talking and laughing and wondering when Bob would be there since it is really not like him to be late for a day of death and destruction.

After a few minutes of talking and laughing, Bob and his girlfriend Wendy show up. She is introduced around, put on display as if she was fresh meat, and  we were off to the basement again. Since Wendy was new and not exactly a HUGE fan of horror, we decided to ease the poor girl into it with Dance of the Dead. This was a mix of Army of Darkness, Shaun of the Dead and Prom Night. It was great. After she was initiated we proceeded to Midnight Meat Train. Now that was gore. Clive Barker really needs to see a therapist, but in secret I hope he doesn’t or his stuff might be too soft. And to round off this feast of blood we finished with The Strangers, unrated. This to me was good but not great. A lot of the stuff reminded me of the things they would do at the Robber’s Nest to scare us sans the killing, for obvious reasons.

As the night concluded and since Bob and Wendy had a long drive ahead (she being a little bit further away than us) they got ready to head out. We were standing outside in the cold fall Belgian air when it accurred to me, this really was my last marathon. As Davy and Bob continued being their strange selves, laughing and playing off each other’s wackiness, I started to feel the sadness that will be coming for the next two weeks. I looked around at the football fields, at the woods behind them, at the spot where we attached a fake blood filled condom to my stomach with a firecracker so we could test out a squib effect of being shot, and I thought to myself that we had a great time. And I know that it is never really over and I have the memories (which I will hold dear to me for the rest of my life), but I will miss it, naturally. Bob hugged me good night and left and Jan followed as I started crying in Davy’s arms.

Now, my friends have already threatened to visit me so that is not the problem. I know I will see them, I will talk to them and I know all will be well in the end. But it did hit me, this was my last marathon and the end of a chapter in all our lives. But I know this is not the final chapter…