Since I was a little boy, I knew I needed to do something within the world of horror and the macabre. My goal with Knightmare Industries is to give back to the community in any which way I possibly can. Firstly, I will be writing a weekly blog on whichever topics come to mind or just my random thoughts. If there are any issues or topics you would like to discuss please always feel free to email us. Anyway, my love for the macabre and horror movies began at the age of four/five years old. I remember my first horror movie being Gremlins and I had absolutely loved it. The next movie I was rudely introduced to, was the original made for TV version of IT. I was five years old at the time and stubbornly would not listen to my older brothers warning. The very opening scene when Pennywise is hiding behind the sheet on the clothing line and he comes into frame....I ran for the hills. After that, I spent a couple years of my life terrified of clowns. It wasn't until I turned eight that I had became brave enough to revisit the movie. I was able to get through it and actually had ended up enjoying it. After that, clowns had become my favorite horror character for quite some time and till this day I love clowns. After I had conquered that fear, I fell in love. Not only did my preferred genre of movie change, but so did my preferred genre of music which heavily influenced my life. During those years, I had also begun to read things that were much darker as well. While classmates were still reading Hank the Hound Dog and things of that sort, I had begun to gravitate towards novels such as Frankenstein, Dracula, and The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. These years of my youth really helped forge who I am today. My morbid curiosity and ever growing fascination with horror and the macabre led me down such a wonderful path. My love for Halloween has always been apparent as well. I remember one year where I had wanted to be a Grim Reaper sort of creature for like the 4th year in a row. My dad kept telling me, "Jules pick something else you are always a skeleton or a ninja, I'm not spending money on another skeleton or ninja." I was so hurt I remember, it's such a hilarious story now when I look back at it. But in the end, young Julian won the battle, you see my dad's favorite movie was Tombstone, and I had found the perfect costume that year. It was a skeleton man dressed as an outlaw. Even he had to admit it was pretty damn cool and different. That was a great year. Another very fond Halloween memory I have came from my middle school years, specifically 7th grade. There was probably about fifteen of us in our group that Halloween, and we had all decided to go to school dressed as scary clowns. So there we were, Halloween morning, meeting at my friend Joseph's house all getting our clown suits and make up on. I remember two of us rode into school on monkey bikes while the rest of us all followed along, skipping our way into the front gate of Rivera Middle School. That morning alone, within the first ten minutes of us being there, we had made about seven girls cry. The best part though, is that we had found out one of the campus security guards was deathly afraid of clowns. So as the polite, well mannered, well behaved rascals that we were....we spent the day terrorizing him. We then found out he had worked nights at Little Ceasar's Pizza, where we had just so happened to get for our post trick r' treat meal. The look in his eyes when we pulled up and got off of our friend Brian's moms car was priceless. I have always loved scaring people. After trick r' treating I would sit on my grandma's porch, sitting as still as I could. When people would come up to grab candy I would pop up and chase them out of the yard. My grandma loved it. I later went on to work at Knotts Scary Farm as a Scare Actor. This year, I am unfortunately taking a break from Scare Acting due to time constraints, but I will be back next year! My love for all things spooky has also bled into my professional life, today I currently work as an Apprentice Embalmer. Taking care of the dead is something I see as very honorable. It is something I was always curious about. I grew up surrounded by death, my earliest funeral was at the age of five when my great grandma passed away. I have had to watch friends be buried and many family members as well. Most recently, I lost my Tata in 2015. This one was probably the most significant loss in my life. My Tata was my guiding light in life. When I felt weak, when I felt like the world was caving in on me, it was he who gave me strength. Before he passed away, I was able to say everything I ever wanted to him. I made him promises that I still live to fulfill till this day and beyond. At the time I lost him I had hit rock bottom. I was dealing with depression, drug addiction (prescription pain killers), and I was extremely overweight and doing nothing with my life. Since that day, I have done my absolute best to change my life for the better. Horror and the macabre helped me claw my way out of that hole. To express myself and the pain and darkness I held onto inside my heart in a productive way turned my life around. If there is something I can accomplish with this blog site, it is to create a community for those of you who do have your struggles and your demons. Please always feel free to creatively express yourself here, feel free to always reach out. That is a little about myself and the essence of what this blog is for. Thank you all in advance and welcome to Knightmare Industries.
