One of the Biggest Mistakes of My Life?

This afternoon, mere seconds before I entered the Citrus Park area MovieStop store, a young woman entered ahead of me.

She had a heavily tattooed left arm, straight, sholder length black hair, and wore a black Sailor Moon t-shirt. As I entered and moved straight to the store’s selection of used anime DVDs, she asked the cashier for recommendations on 80’s style gory zombie movies. The cashier immediately suggested Diary of the Dead (while I silently cringed inside). After he paused to consider other suggestions, I stepped forward and suggested Lucio Fulci’s horror films. Neither the young woman nor the cashier were familiar with the name “Lucio Fulci” or titles including The Beyond, City of the Living Dead, House By the Cemetary, and Zombie. The young woman pulled out a note pad and jotted down the name “Fulci.” She then mentioned House of the Devil. The MovieStop clerk wondered if she was referring to the M. Night Shyamalan produced film Devil. I clarified that she was referring to writer/director Ti West’s 2009 thriller and agreed with her that it was an excellent film. The young lady asked if I had any other recommendations. I first stated that just last night I’d watched Splinter and found it an excellent horror reminiscent of Re-Animator (due to its practical effects work). Her eyes lit up and she cooed, “Oh, a creature feature?” In my mind I noticed that she used the very specific genre categorization “creature feature.” She then asked me what type of horror I preferred. She said that she liked 80’s horror. I said that I had a friend who was a big fan of 40s & 50s horror, but I gravitated toward 70’s & 80’s horror. I then pointed out Stake Land. When I called it a “vampire movie,” she shrunk a bit, but then I explained that it was stylistically like a serious, humorless version of Zombieland, with feral, in her words, “rip you apart” vampires. She added a copy of the DVD to the stack of discs she was holding. A moment later she asked me for my take on Bruno Mattei’s “nun horror” movie The Other Hell. I replied that I hadn’t seen the film but had seen other Mattei movies and considered Mattei a terrible director. She then moved down the ailse to continue browsing, and I went the other direction, shortly later, quietly leaving the store. On the way out, I noticed that her car had a “no phone zone” bumper sticker. (I also don’t own a cel phone.)

Shortly later I mentally kicked myself, thinking, “Why didn’t I ask her out for lunch?” She may have refused. She may already be in a relationship. Or I may have missed opportunity to make a lovely friend and companion to introduce to underground splatter horror like Lucio Fulci and Olaf Ittenbach, and share a mutual love of anime with. I post this in case anyone reading this knows her and can possibly help me reverse my bone-headed, socially inept decision not to engage in further conversation.