LOS ANGELES—Award-winning adult performer Leana Lovings has displayed her vast knowledge and appreciation of the horror genre in an exclusive interview for Dr. Gore’s Movie Reviews.
Gore, a self-described "serious B-movie fan with a leaning toward the sordid and the sleazy," launched in 2005 one of the most popular horror and exploitation movie review sites, a place where many indie filmmakers found the very first review of their work and participated in the comments section.
Gore admitted, "I had let Dr. Gore’s Movie Reviews go idle because I was over-thinking what content to write about and lost sight of having fun with it. The internet doesn't need another review of Spider-Man 3 and even if it did, Dr. Gore doesn't need to do it. It's the smaller horror and exploitation movies that need to find an audience. That’s where Dr. Gore can have the most impact, and be meaningful both to the readers and myself."
Gore met Lovings at July’s Vice is Nice animal rescue charity event in Los Angeles, and credits her with helping revive his passion for sharing genre cinema.
Gore added, "As a veteran movie reviewer, it was refreshing to meet Leana, whose genuine love of all things horror inspired me to reinvigorate the blog. I needed a kick-start, and her vast horror knowledge reminded me that there is a whole audience out there seeking thrills in horror and exploitation that I need to reconnect with."
Published on Sep. 7, "Leana Lovings Loves Horror" has already become the most popular post on the site.
Gore continued, "Leana obviously put a lot of thought into her answers, and I appreciate it. Clearly, other horror fans do too."
In her interview, Lovings cites her seminal, passion-shaping encounters with genre movies, "As a child you might not consciously understand why your parents don’t want you to be awake while they watch a horror movie and your curiosity leads you to take a peek at what they’re viewing. I stood in my hallway, peeking over the corner to see Maximum Overdrive (1986); there is nothing more intensely gripping than watching a killer ghost clown possess a semi-truck for their gory murder spree. My second defining movie was when I was old enough to appreciate my mom’s VHS version of Tales From the Crypt."
Counted among Lovings’ favorites are The Changeling (1980). She said, "Haunted homes are so personal because it invades the space you’re supposed to feel safe in. I love the complex feeling that kind of horror stirs because there is truly nowhere to run."
Another movie is the Cronenbergian body horror, Videodrome. Lovings continued, "Videodrome terrified me and plagued my mind for months after watching."
Other Lovings' favorite gory movies are 30 Days of Night (2007), Terrifier 2 (2022), Jeepers Creepers (2001), A Dark Song (2016), and 2013’s The Conjuring.
Lovings revealed, "A lot of the horror movies in the years preceding [The Conjuring] had felt so modern that they lost the 'feel' of what I wanted: a good old classic possession story. The Conjuring reveled in the 1970s aesthetic, and the presence of Ed and Lorraine Warren blurred what felt 'real' or fake. You wanted to think some of it actually happened."
Confronted with producer Sean S. Cunningham’s famous assessment that the enduring appeal of horror lies in the fear of 'premature death,' Lovings countered, "I think that there is another appeal to horror movies. My favorite appeal is the perseverance at the end through inhuman, almost impossible odds. The enduring appeal is being able to go in movie after movie and see the ending fates. For me, premature death is an aspect, but the people that survive will linger. My mind always sticks on what their life will be like after living through a horror movie. How long until they no longer sleep with the lights on?"
Lovings’ own "personal dream" to be part of a horror-style movie came true earlier this year, in director Ricky Greenwood’s Infection 2, an X-rated cinematic ode to cult horror/sci-fi classics such as Night of the Creeps and The Hidden.
Read "Leana Lovings Loves Horror" can be found at drgorereviews.blogspot.com.
For more information, follow Gore on Twitter @drgoremovie.
Keep up with Lovings on Twitter @LeanaLovings, Instagram @theleanalovings, and OnlyFans. Lovings is represented by Motley Models.
