A troubling trend.

Ever since I signed up for the Blockbuster Total Access movie plan, I've felt an extreme pressure to watch movies. When movies come in the mail, I feel like I'm under the gun to pop it in and get the next flick on my queue.

I'm envisioning a crew of Blockbuster employees, watching my every move, and gloating over the fact that I don't watch as many flicks as my plan allows. They're getting one over on me. I know they're all laughing about it right now.

I've had this French slasher flick, High Tension, sitting on top of my television since March, and it's been eating away at my every waking moment. Slasher flicks are tough in my house--my wife hates them, and the kids don't always like seeing someone's throat slit or eyeball gouged out.

So last night, I popped it in. I had to pause a scene where the slasher was getting off on a severed head because my son walked in. But then I hit the fast-forward button by accident.

And I kept going. It's not old-school, squiggly-line fast forward like VHS. I'm not even sure if it's called fast forward in 2008. Needless to say, I watched the whole movie in about 35 minutes, playing parts with dialogue for some reason (It's not like it was My Dinner with Andre).

Maybe it was the guilt of having it so long, or the laughing Blockbuster employees--either way, I didn't feel like I missed out on the flick. That's probably because it was horrible. Their Shyamalan gimmick at the end was simply impossible, and if there's one thing I demand from French slasher flicks, it's believability.

I feel stressed out. If I don't knock out The Muppet's Treasure Island and Juno by Memorial Day, I'll definitely have an ulcer.