I was talking with a kindred spirit the other day, someone with a love of Horror, a passions for vampires and old genre movies. (I was wearing my Vampira T-shirt at the time, which is what led to me meeting this kindred spirit—“Rad shirt, dude!”—and our subsequent discussion. (Hi, Kevin!) The guy, younger than me by several years (*cough* decades *cough*), was obviously raised right. Just how uncommon is he, though? After our talk, I’m worried about the answer to that question.
Kevin related to me how he had been likewise engaged in a conversation due to someone spotting a T-shirt he was wearing (THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE, I believe he said). He and this lady got into a discussion of all things Horror and he mentioned Bela Lugosi. “Who’s that?” the lady asked. She literally didn’t know. Kevin was taken aback. I was taken aback, hearing about it. “What did you say to her?” I asked Kevin. “I said, ‘And you say you’re a fan?’” he replied. He admitted that, after her initial comment, her admission of ignorance, he’d stopped paying attention to anything she said. I can’t blame him, even if she was kinda hot, as he said. I once had a conversation with a Hooters waitress who was smokin’ hot but was so unabashedly, unashamedly, and unapologetically dumb that *I* lost a couple of IQ points just from being in her general vicinity. (Note: I am not implying that all Hooters waitresses are dumb, or that all hot girls are dumb. I’m just saying *this* one was. Also, Hi, Tara!)
How can any fan of the Horror genre, and even more specifically any vampire enthusiast, not know who Bela Lugosi is? It’s like somebody being a practicing Christian and not having ever heard of Saint Paul. It’s ridiculous.
I guarantee you, though, if Kevin had asked hot-but-stupid girl to describe what Dracula looked like—she would have described Lugosi.