When I was a child, I spent a great deal of time in the book store pouring through copies of Leonard Maltin's TV MOVIE AND VIDEO GUIDE. This was years away from the internet, long before IMDB and the Maltin book was an indispensable, essential tool for any film geek.

I can remember bringing my first copy home and the hours, upon days, upon months I spent absorbing each and every capsule review; memorizing running times, dates, alternate titles, getting excited when a good review of a film I loved vindicated me, and irate when a picture I dug got saddled with Maltin's dreaded bomb rating.

In fact, by default that's how I got to be an authority of horror films. I discovered that when Maltin gave a film like ZOMBIE, THE BROOD or C.H.U.D. a bomb rating—well, then that would mean that the film in question was going to be loaded with grimy, grotty, visceral cheap thrills.

I addressed this ratings scale with Maltin recently when I had the honor of having a lengthy phone chat with him. It was a surreal moment, having this man, who was in fact my first and maybe most relevant film teacher call me at my home. And our conversation, which covered the remarkable way he became what he would become, his disdain for certain horror films, the way cult films and future classics can’t be evaluated properly upon first release, the plague of the internet and how it has cheapened the "art" of film criticism and even the passing of director Tony Scott.

I'm excited to share that interview with you here.

Be sure to support print and the long running legacy of Maltin's iconic book by picking up your own copy of the 2013 MOVIE GUIDE, when it hits bookshelves on August 29th.

And for more on Maltin, visit his official site.

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MOVIES/TV - Fearful Features