My viewing of Corman films was sporadic during the years I was in Junior High and High School. I saw The Haunted Palace, X- the Man with the X-Ray Eyes and The Wild Angels theatrically. This was augmented with television viewings of other Corman films. I felt a bit uneasy about my compulsion to see films that lacked the lofty aspirations of Stanley Kramer or Fred Zinnemann. I was a child of highbrow parents seeking lowbrow entertainment.

Coming to study film at NYU was liberating because I was freed from guilt about my filmic interests. In December of my Freshman year, the film students occupied school facilities to protest some unfair policies at NYU. Part of the night was spent watching movies. Following a screening of Little Shop of Horrors many of up were chirpping "Feed Me" in our best imitations of the man-eating plant, Audrey, Jr.

Almost a year later, I had the opportunity to interview Corman in conjunction with a retrospective that was held at the Kips Bay Theater. I no longer have a copy of the interview. What little I recall is Corman relating how Vincent Price was baffled by the lines "The house lives . . . the house breathes" when filming Fall of the House of Usher. My contact at American International was generous in allowing me a pass to virtually all of the retrospective. I was not only able to see Corman's evolution as a director beginning with his westerns, but note in the Poe series how the same shot of lightning was used in every film, and how Corman's art director Daniel Haller would build upon the sets used in previous films.

While I ended up concentrating on film criticism and history, some of the people I knew in my first two years at NYU ended up working for Corman at the early part of their careers.

I continue to watch Corman films, especially vintage Corman films when available on DVD. When I went to Los Angeles to appear on "Ultimate Film Fanatic", it made perfect sense that I would stay at the Beverly Garland Holiday Inn. Corman and Garland made five films together and one could get mini posters of It Conquered the World at the hotel gift shop.

Since I am trying to keep my DVD collection manageable, I currently have just Pit and the Pendulum and Tomb of Ligeia. Of the handful of Corman directed films I have yet to see, the ones highest on that list are Carnival Rock, Rock All Night, I, Mobster and Machine Gun Kelly. Corman has remade several of his films, and while Not of the Earth with Traci Lords is actually pretty good, most pale in spite of bigger budgets and more professional crews. My dream is to see a remake of X - the Man with the X-Ray Eyes directed by Darren Aronofsky. All of Aronofsky's themes from previous films are there: drug addiction, quasi-religious obsession and the search for an unknowable truth. A new version of X could take advantage of of the special effects that didn't exist forty years ago.

I'll conclude by wishing Mr. Corman a happy Eightieth birthday. And Roger, don't cheap out on that birthday cake. We know how little you spent shooting The Terror!.