I don’t know if anyone will ever read this, and those to whom it would have meaning would be few if any, but what the hell, here goes.

I’ve desperately missed Darkcell Productions.

For those of you (I.e. all of you) who have no idea just what in the hell I’m talking about, “Darkcell Productions Presents” was a showcase of independently produced horror films that used to air on public access stations here on the South Coast of Massachusetts. ( Little inside joke, “The South Coast” is where you say you’re from when you’re flirting with a Mattapoisett girl, and don’t want to admit that you live in New Bedford. For you see, as a city, N.B. is a crack and street crime riddled little slice of turd pie.)

However, not to be unfair, my home town does have its strong points. We have one of the finest library systems in the world, tasty Portuguese food is both cheap and abundant, and of course, there’s the occasional kick-ass public access offering.

Like a certain animated Scotsman, I’m a great fan of amateur video. Most people wouldn’t waste five minutes looking at their local PA station, but for me, there’s always been a certain je ne sais quoi about such things. A bunch of guys get together and make movies as a hobby, to blow off steam. They don’t do it for money certainly, and few people would ever actually watch their stuff. They do it because they want to, because they are in love with the concept of the horror film itself.

You can’t really judge such fare the same way you judge a normal old film. These little nuggets are charming because of their shortcomings, not in spite of them. (Although the aforementioned Darkcell output did always impress me with its relative level of sophistication.)

I was in a bit of a funk since the other day, because there’re aren’t really any more horror flicks being showcased on the local station any more. Thankfully, Darkcell is still in operation, as I found out the other day (hence this odd entry). The guys in charge have just been attending college classes, and working on their big time film careers. (I forget sometimes that people have lives. Well, people other than me anyway.) Just in case you’re a big time film distributor (yeah, right), why don’t you check out their stuff. It might just impress you.

So yes, I’m unashamed to say I love public access horror. Are their any more shmoes like me out there who collect this stuff? If there are, why don’t you drop me a line? Maybe would could expand each other’s collections. Oh and, just in case the one in a million chance should occur, and if any of those Darkcell guys should come across this page while Google-ing themselves? (Actually, that sounds a little dirty.) Let me just say that even at their most basic, your films display an astounding level of imagination and creativity. Keep up the good work, and the best of luck in the future.