How old were you when you saw your first scary movie? I was about 5 years old. It was an old movie on one of those late-night scary movie sites. I was scared and suddenly in love with being scared. Movies like Frankenstein, The Wolfman and The Mummy were my favorites. I would get so scared that I made a fake body in my upper bunk bed, just in case one of them broke in and tried to kill me.
I didn’t have cable or satellite to get my horror fix, so I always scanned the newspaper TV schedule for scary movies. Over time, I saw a lot of B-movies in black and white. It took a while to get to one of the most iconic horror movies: Night of the Living Dead. It was much more than just a B-movie. There were so many nuances and a built-in message that were important, if you looked beyond the gore.
As I got older, I got to go to sci-fi movies in color! Planet of the Apes was a good example. The effects were great for the time period. Finally, true horror movies in living color became more mainstream.
Enter The Exorcist. By then, I was married and I had to drag my husband to horror movies. By the head-spinning scene, he was really uncomfortable. I should have known when he almost broke my hand when the car door scene from Sssssss had a snake jump out at you from the screen. Obviously, this marriage wasn’t going to work.
After The Exorcist made horror mainstream, there was a flood of great and bad horror movies. It was a smorgasbord of horror and blood. I was in heaven. I still watched B-movies until a blockbuster scary movie called Alien came along. The concept was excellent and the special effects were great for its time.
How do you top aliens popping out of someone’s chest? Once a movie gives you that, it’s hard to scare you as much. And that is the problem.
If you are a horror lover, you are always looking to be scared. It isn’t about the violence or even the gore. I go to horror movies for a good story, but also for the surprise. Do you find yourself able to anticipate what will happen in a horror movie, or any movie? I am constantly searching for that next great horror movie that makes me uncomfortable or even just surprised. We have gotten to the point that movies are made about scary movies. Scream accurately touted the rules.
Now we have horror in our TVs. I love The Walking Dead because it surprises me and occasionally makes me uncomfortable or sad. I will be sad when it is gone. I’ve been to Walker Stalker multiple times to meet many of these actors. It adds a new aspect to the show, itself. I make outfits to wear and makeup. It’s like being inside the show, in a way.
I hope this gives you some insight into my journey. I don’t always agree with a guy’s take on horror. Women have been the damsel in distress in the past, but women are becoming the the heroes in more and more horror movies. I want to bring out aspects of these movies that these women represent. Oh, and if I didn’t mention some of your favorite and iconic horror movies, it isn’t that I don’t like them. This is hoping you will want to come back and see me again.