Why Do People Like Scary Movies?

Do you?

Screaming, peeing your pants, heart palpitations, high Blood Pressure, guzzling down a Xanax with vodka from a flask, squeezing your friends arm so hard you’ve bled and tourniquet-ed them at the same time, gasping for air, choking on popcorn— all for a scary movie.

And then you can’t sleep that night.

Why?

As long as Hollywood makes cashola, blood curdling is here to stay.

But I’m here to argue it’s not entertainment. Chilling not chill. Yet people love watching other people, characters on screen, being terrified then chain sawed into tiny pieces. AND-- years and years of horror movies gave audiences hot 20-year-olds who are really stupid, leaving the doors unlocked and windows open when they know there’s a killer in their neighborhood with a knife the size of Rhode Island. Gratuitous exploitation on top of horror— what a combo! (Credit to Geico for the best commercial ever made parodying this perfectly.)

Finally, women were redeemed when James Cameron cast Sigourney Weaver in Alien. Even so, the smart, tough Ripley stripped to her skivvies toward the end of the movie. (Weaver actually defended this decision as character related.) Hubby, back in 1979, was thrilled by this thriller and rewatched Alien for the skimpy underwear scenes.

I purposely did NOT post the underwear pic. I like the bad ass look.

The Exorcist

I was 9 when my parents took me to see The Exorcist. I guess they couldn’t get a sitter. During the movie, my ma tried to quell my fears. Every time Regan spewed green chunks ma leaned in and said, “Anderson pea soup.” She wanted to demystify the Hollywood tricks, de-scarify the special effect of Regan turning her head 360 degrees. “It’s a magic trick.”

I didn’t sleep that night.

Okay, this looks funny to me now.

Jaws

I saw the movie so I could show up at school the next day, otherwise, you were banned from conversation. In the theatre, people literally jumped out of their seats when Richard Dreyfus was surprised by the severed head underwater!

I couldn’t swim in our pool, the ocean, take a bath until I was 48. I couldn’t even drink out of water glasses that were too big.

So what is it about kids and adults who love horror movies?

I assume they’re the same folks who love a rollercoaster. They take risks without being in danger. Feel fear without death. Except for folks who have a death wish...

Felix Baumgartner actually facing death when he jumped from orbit to earth. That’s a different essay.

Boredom is underrated

I’ll take It’s A Small World over Space Mountain, watching Sleepless in Seattle for the 24^th time instead of The Shining, which I saw when it opened. Peer pressure is fierce. Don’t recommend a spine-chilling book to me. The only Stephen King book I’ve read was On Writing. It was inspiring. The horror, however, are the scary stories of publishing.

Inquiring minds want to know—

1. Do you like a scary movie, ride, book…?

2. What’s the craziest thing you’ve ever done to get a scary thrill?