“It Is Finished”: Brian Collins Retires Horror Movie A Day
Horor Movie A Day is no more. Back in 2007 Brian Collins decided, for his own amusement, to try and watch one horror movie a day. Every day. And he did it for six solid years, missing only one day along the way. Brian's dedication to his horror movies was impressive - I have traveled to Comic Con with him and seen how he has to plan the 90 minutes to squeeze in that horror movie, no matter what - especially in the face of how bad most of the movies he watched were. I don't know if Brian just ran out of good movies to watch early on or if he is impossibly drawn to the worst of the worst, but half the fun of Horror Movie A Day over the years has been reading Brian's reviews of films that shouldn't exist, let alone be watched.
I've known Brian a long time. I first met him on a hipster message board almost a decade ago, when he was going under the name jgreyland. At first I didn't like him very much; I thought he was kind of a jackass who was doing a weird schtick. But there's no schtick - Brian is just Brian, and that's what makes him so great. Brian, without irony, actually likes Lifehouse and every other terrible alt-rock band from the late 90s. That's not a put-on, that's really him.
Anyway, after I got over my initial bad read of Brian and understood what a great human being he is, I had the honor of becoming his friend. Brian Collins, I learned, is a funny guy and a solid friend and as loyal and generous as a human being could be. And always, every day, he was watching a horror movie. Those qualities were exactly what I wanted to have in contributors at this site, and so when Badass Digest was just in the idea stage I cornered Brian at the New Beverly and asked him if he wanted to do a weekly column for me. I knew he had a wife and a job and a HMAD and even, sometimes, a social life, but I had to have him on board.
Now HMAD is coming to an end. After 2500 reviews Brian is retiring, and today is his first day without a horror movie. I'll admit I'm sad to see the experiment come to an end, but I'm also impressed by the almost superhuman dedication it required to get that done. Brian's perserverance and discipline in keeping HMAD going for so many years is an incredible acheivement. The level of obsession required to have made HMAD a success is exactly what makes Brian Collins one of the truest film fans I know.
With HMAD coming to a conclusion, I'm hoping we can rope Brian in for even more stuff here at BAD. But until then, join me in congratulating Brian on a feat of endurance that hopefully nobody else has to match.
Congratulations, Brian!
Click here to visit HMAD and to begin delving into the incredible archive of reviews. Or start right here with Cathy's Curse, one of Brian's great discoveries.
