I used to have a lot of fun with a weekly feature here at Horror Drive-In. In it, I would list the weekly DVD releases of interest to me and the horror/exploitation community. I liked to put on a mock critical spin on nearly everything. It made for some fun conversation.

No more. Not only are DVDs (among other items of physical media) dying, there seems to be no fans of horror and exploitation at the forum anymore.

When I launched this site, my dream was to have a forum where fans could discuss movies and books. With an emphasis on classic drive-in film. Nostalgia is a big part of why I am here.

It was good for a while. I read back over the first pages of the forum and the talk was pretty evenly mixed between book talk, classic horror and sleaze movies, and other stuff. That all seems to have dried up.

I like the idea of book people discussing grindhouse/drive-in/exploitation cinema. Certainly there are no lack of online groups dedicated to the discussion of these type of movies, but I like to think that readers might have a more interesting take on them than non-reader.

My attempts to start threads on classic horror movies have mostly been ignored. Just recently I tried to instigate a discussion about the sexy Hammer Studios vampire movie, Twins of Evil. Nary a reply. Yet a thread about food is currently at one hundred and twenty-eight pages.

And when the visual media is discussed, the threads are often about binge-watching television shows. It almost makes me think I should change the name of the site to Horror Television. But it doesn't have the same ring to it, does it?

I'm not exactly complaining. I am grateful that there is a community here at this website. Message boards are going the way of compact discs and DVD movies. Yet some of us still plow on, regardless of social changes.

Nor am I trying to tell users what to talk about. I've been at this game a long time, and that never works. It's the reason I broke away from the place I got my start in the internet message board business.

No, I'm just woolgathering. Another aging fan mooning about times gone by.

They are not exactly gone yet, but I already miss DVDs. The excitement when they were new. The enthusiastic discussions, the speculation of possible releases. In its own way it was as magical a time as when VHS became commonplace.

My God, I bought so many discs over the years, and I sold so many of them as well. Tight financial times when I was married, and when I was unemployed last year I sold every movie and record that would bring in a couple of bucks.

I can't see getting that excited about streaming movies.

I still obsess over DVDs, though. I hit the thrift stores just about every weekend, and I look at the movies, checking to see what special features they contain. That's one good thing about them going out of vogue. People are getting rid of their previous beloved collections and the junk shops are full of 'em.

I miss the heyday of the DVD. The impassioned discussions, the anticipation of the special features, the joy of letting animated menu screens run on the TV.

There will be a resurgence. Just as there is for VHS and for vinyl records. We tend to throw things away, and then miss them later when it is mostly too late. It will never be the same. I don't care what new technology comes along. We are becoming more jaded all the time, and the collector is as much of a dinosaur as a DVD player.

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