BOO! I feel like horror as a genre is pretty divisive. People either love horror movies, books, TV shows, etc., or they HATE THEM. Some of us like to be scared, while some of us do not. I’m a weird case, because I absolutely love the horror genre to death, but I do NOT enjoy being scared. I don’t like being startled, specifically. I’m a very jumpy person, so jump scares/being startled send me into cardiac arrest 99% of the time, no matter how minor the scare is. I will never forget walking through the Walking Dead haunted house thing at Universal Studios in LA with my family and being the only one who sobbed through the entire thing. Everyone thought it was hilarious, and, looking back, it WAS funny, just not for me!! Despite all of that, I do really love horror–movies in particular. Horror is a distinctive genre because a lot of horror media is BAD. There are definitely some really incredible horror movies out there–The Thing (1982), Black Christmas (1974), The Blair Witch Project (1999), Martyrs (2015), Saw (2004) and the list goes on.
I really respect it as a genre, but there is no denying that a lot of the movies that get made with the intention of being scary are just not that scary, and end up being really cheesy instead. Many would view this as a bad thing, but I actually love and appreciate this phenomenon. “Bad” horror movies are often really funny–bad acting, poor writing, cheesy sfx, all of it can contribute to a very entertaining 90-minute experience. Another important facet of horror is gore. Now, I can handle fantasy gore, or anything that isn’t very realistic, but as SOON as that stuff starts entering the realm of possibility, I check out. You know Grey’s Anatomy? The hospital drama that middle-aged women love more than their husbands? Yeah, that is like the scariest show I have ever seen in my life, and I’ve only seen brief clips of it. Any type of surgical ANYTHING is terrifying. So, if someone is a big fan of Grey’s, but claims that they don’t like horror movies, they have NO IDEA what they’re talking about. Horror movies are also a very good bonding experience for the friend group–going to the movies to see the latest horror film is always a fun time, if there aren’t any scaredy-cats in the group, that is. I feel like the horror movies that have been coming out this year have actually been pretty good! In like, a campy sort of way.
Are you a horror fan, or are you toooooo scared??