I've been a casual reader of Entertainment Weekly for long over a decade now, and in that time, I've come to have a cold disdain for Owen Gleiberman.  Having read his reviews of horror movies over the years, I easily ascertained that here was a guy who not only does not like horror films, but begrudges genre fans as well, as if they're lesser than "real" movie fans.  And now it's finally time to say something about it.

Let's take a look at Owen's recent slap at genre fans in his article regarding the SAW series.  Here's a cuddly section:

 "For decades now, gruesome new horror movies have arrived at the multiplex with big fat roman numerals stuck at the end of their titles. Only the most fanatical droolers of the “horror community” are even still counting. I mean, really, who would seriously bother to keep track of how many interchangeably cruddy Friday the 13th sequels there are? Or how many times Freddy Krueger ever came back from the dead to brutalize a new crop of Elm Street kids? Or how often the Halloween franchise has been scavenged, rebooted, Zombie-fied, and generally flogged to death? Quick, can you name all the Texas Chainsaw movies? How about Hellraiser? Who the hell cares?"

 Well, Mr. Gleiberman, I care.  I love the genre, despite the many sequels that become further drivel with each fat Roman numeral.  I can name all the Hellraisers, all the Texas Chainsaw Massacres, and by the way, all the works of Nathaniel Hawthorne, William Melville, and the complete works of William Shakespeare.  What annoys me about your blanket dis at all fans of horror is that it makes us all the "fanatical droolers" of the "horror community," that you double quoted as if it's grimy place for all of us to be.  You're stereotyping, Owen, giving a set of traits to a legion of fans who are just as diverse as those who love romantic comedies, or westerns, or anime.  I care enough to give rebuttal to your article, and to say that people in your position should not use it to shun entire ethnographies of fans.

You take part of your article to link the reader to your dismal review of SAW VI.  But what were you trying to accomplish by drawing the very readers who love these movies to your review?  Was it to make them feel small?  And what of your positive review of PARANORMAL ACTIVITY, which you gave an A-?  In that review you state:

"With its this-is-really-happening vibe, Paranormal Activity scrapes away 30 years of encrusted nightmare clichés. The fear is real, all right, because the fear is really in you."

So you praise a poorly acted film in which absolutely nothing happens for about 84 minutes.  Were you then disappointed last weekend, when talk of applying one of those big, fat Roman numerals to it arrived?

Owen, it should be obvious to even the most casual observer that you have an attitude toward horror.  This prejudices your reviews of the genre's films.  Perhaps you should step into a horror fan's shoes, and see a few flicks from his point of view.  It may give you the well-rounded perspective you lack.

Feel free to write back here, Mr. Gleiberman, as I'd really like to debate this with you intelligently.

 --Phil Fasso