I've always been fascinated by scary things. My mom never actually denied horror movies from me, but as a child I didn't get my hands on any horror flicks so I didn't have a chance to watch them. So I read stories instead. I borrowed all the kids' horror books several times from the local library and I read them again and again.
The Usborne Book of the Haunted World by Caroline Young used to be one of my favorite books.
Grizzly Tales for Gruesome Kids used to be my favorite television show. It's actually quite hilarious!
I wasn't safe from horror movies for long since I have an older brother who would always show me the scariest scenes from the horror movies he was watching. I remember I was never scared, I just laughed. Gosh, that makes me sound so disturbed.
By the time I reached the age of ten I had read pretty much all the books from series like Goosebumps and The Nightmare Room. One of the very first horror movies I saw from the beginning to the end was The Grudge. I was about ten years old when I saw it and, I gotta say, even today that's the movie I'm afraid of the most. The Grudge movies aren't very good movies in general, but at least the first two scared the crap out of me. Maybe it's because I first saw them when I was so young or maybe it's because I instinctively draw back from white ghostly women with long black hair and a nightgown, who knows. However I'm traumatized for life by Mrs. Kayako.
Surely you're waiting for my answer to the question already. I am going to answer, but I just wanted to tell you that my love for horror is not a recent thing. It's more like I was born this way, baby. Actually the truth is that I don't even know myself for sure why I like horror so much. I've been thinking about the reason and I have a couple theories.
1. The adrenaline.
Even though I'm not too shaken by horror movies, I'm still a little bit...on the alert. (Can I say that, is that correct?) I notice that while watching horror movies, and a few hours after, I'm much more sensitive to movements and sounds. I feel like I can see every little flake of dust and hear even the most silent noises. It's a very nice feeling.
2. Interest in movies.
I like movies in general, not just horror movies. However horror is my favorite genre and I figured it's because it's the most difficult one. At least I think it's the most difficult one. I've seen a lot of horror movies, but only a few were actually good. Why? Because it's so damn hard to create a movie that scares the crap out of people, but still holds an interesting and clever plot. Oh so often horror movies only have the other or, sadly even more often, neither. It's like a hunt for the king of horror movies. The feeling of discovering a scary horror movie with a brilliant plot it amazing.
3. Facing your fears.
"Fight your fears and you'll be in battle forever. Face your fears and you'll be free forever." You can never win your fears, they will always be there. Although you can learn to live with your fears and it's easier if you face them first. I'm not so fond of this theory, because I don't think it applies on me. At least I've never thought "well, I'm afraid of dolls, let's watch a horror movie about dolls" just to accept my fear.
What kind of movies you like to watch? Why do you think you prefer that genre? Let me know!
Talk to you soon!
- Sara
