The Horror, The Horror!!

It's LONG, I am descriptive what can I say?!

One of my favorite types of movie to watch, for some unknown reason on my part, is HORROR movies. And it really doesn't make ANY sense, considering my first REAL horror movie, I was basically forced into seeing. I was over at my friend Sarah's house and she wanted us to go hang out with some of her fiends, I mean friends, in one of the other condos. And they were watching a Jason movie. Something not allowed in our house, but I didn't want Sarah to think me uncool, even though we were only about 10 at the time, so I didn't say anything. But everytime Jason showed up on the screen I was scared out of my mind. I was sure he was going to jump out of the screen and kill me in my sleep. Of course I'm not the best at secrets of this kind, not when they are bothering me so much I don't want to sleep, so I ended up telling my mom, and she told Sister S. who yelled at her daughter, which just gave Sarah another excuse to be snotty to me, because I was SUCH a baby. Sarah was the kind of girl who was your good friend, until someone cooler was around, then you didn't exist. Also if you crossed her, it wasn't good. Not one of the healthiest friendships from my youth, but I yearned to fit in with my peers from church and Sarah was like the only other girl exactly my age.

Anyway, up to that disastrous first encounter with Jason, the movies that scared me most were The Dark Crystal and Gremlins. Whenever my sisters or I had to go downstairs to use the bathroom at night we were sure gremlins were in the shadows waiting to eat us. And of course, no limb could be over the side of the bed, or they'd attack it and feast on us. So how did one go from that to being a horror junkie? I still ask myself that quite often. Because it's not like they can't still scare the ever loving life out of me. When I was 12 or 13, there was a Jason marathon on tv during the day and my sister Katie and I watched them all (well all there were at that time) and it was like, these are hokey...it helped that it was daylight, and these silly twits running around with no bras also helped, it was like, man she was such a bimbo, she had it coming!! So I got over my fear of Jason.

Although Freddy Kreuger still freaks me out, they can be a lil hokey too, but the glove and his disformities....ehhhh...still get to me. But I will watch them. And then I saw the Halloween movies, one thing that continues to help (because he can still freak me out too) is knowing that the mask they use is Captain Kirk painted white and messing up the hair. I'm serious, it is movie trivia I have learned watching tv programs discussing the horror genre. And one class I took had us watching Alfred Hitchcock movies, like The Birds and Psycho, (which I am a huge fan of the original) and even though they are old, you can see why they were huge for that time. And why they are still spooky. The guy from Psycho still creeps me out, he really owned that role. So I started seeing the "classic" horror movie formula (yes they are now good at ignoring that formula) and more and more movies intrigued me, while scaring me at the same time. Maybe it's that combination that has me hooked. You know you are going to be deliberately spooked, your heart is going to start beating faster and faster...maybe it's the thrill.
I watched many of the Stephen King movies, and they scared me, but the back stories were so good, that I made myself sit through them, because I wanted find out what the big twist would turn out to be. "IT" is actually a favorite of mine, even though I am terrified of clowns, I have found. Jack Nicholson in The Shining, he was good, although I prefer the remake, I think it makes a lot more sense and explains WHY the dad goes CRAZY, and what The Shining really is. Dreamcatcher really ew-ed me out, but the end was phenomenal! And the guy having a whole library for his memory, I just loved that, and their wanting to protect Duddits. I now own most of my favorite Stephen Kings, IT, Firestarter, The Shining remake, etc. So I started being hooked.
And then the commercials began for SCREAM. I HAD to see it!! Sandy was supposed to go and see it with me, because she liked scary movies a little and really wanted to see SCREAM. Unfortunately I was only 15 or 16, so since I wasn't 17 she couldn't go in with me. She had to go with the rest of the fam and see whatever they saw. I saw SCREAM by MYSELF...in a big theatre, that was mostly empty (SO creepy) and AGAIN, all by myself. And it did NOT help when someone came up behind me and touched my arm, I almost jumped through the ceiling! It was my mom, making sure I was okay. I lied kinda, said I was fine, but I was clutching my hands the entire movie. And when it was over, the fam thought it was SO funny, that I kept thinking I saw that mask everytime I turned my head. It wasn't funny though, and even when they realized how freaked I was, they still laughed. It wasn't funny!
Luckily by the time "I Know What You Did Last Summer" was released, Katie agreed to go see it with me. Ohhh, another person helps! When you get scared, you can grab onto someone's arm. And Katie is NOT a horror fan. It scared the crapola out of her, but I proclaimed her my horror movie partner, at least until Sandy could go with me to ones she wanted to see. It certainly wasn't going to be a family affair. We watched Scream on Christmas vacation, and just the opening sequence with Drew Barrymore, scared my Mom so much, she had her eyes closed, and I think she left and took a bath.
So when Scream 2 was out, I dragged Katie, kicking and screaming to see it. See, in the daylight, Scream didn't even scare me that much anymore...just sometimes...I'll explain later. And when I STILL Know What You Did Last Summer was out...the same. Luckily, by Scream 3, Sandy was available, and 17! So we saw it, freaked each other out, but laughed about it too, as we ran for the car, because it was dark out...we didn't want to be killed by a masked maniac!

And so I rented more and more. Some were so horrible, I just want my brain scrubbed of them, no nudity is NOT a prerequisite, nor are really stupid endings. And the ones with nakedness/sexuality started to really bother me, so I became more discerning, I checked WHY they were Rated the way they were. And while that has not stopped me from seeing some really LAME horror flicks, or some boobies, they barely consider that note-worthy anymore ( I just glance away, I have them, don't need to see them ).

And then dang it all, Sandy was no longer into scary movies. So who was going to see them with me? Well certainly not my pal Weezie, she went with Katie and I to see Idle Hands...Katie had toleave to drive her home the poor thing!! So who? And then I found out, my Mom used to watch scary movies when she was pregnant ALL the time, And she was like HECK NO! But during a Christmas break, we got her to watch all 3 Scream movies. Sure it was during daylight, and she worked on a project(going through ALL our photos and putting them into folders, like one for me, one for Kat,etc.). But I was wearing her down. And though she says she hates it. Who do you think I saw The Grudge with (we both hated it), The Eye with, etc. And sometimes we manage to drag my Dad too. They were both there when we saw Darkness Falls about the tooth fairy, not one for lil kids to see, not unless the Tooth Fairy being a homicidal maniac is what you want them to think. It was clever though and I LOVED it, I own it now. So my Mom is my unwilling horror buddy. When they remade When A Stranger Calls, who was the one who called who when I waitressed for a few months and asked if I wanted to go see it? MY MOM! And Weezie went too, I was SO proud of her, She was almost climbing up my arm at some points, but she made it through the whole thing and actually said it was pretty good for a scary movie! Yay Weeze!

And I really AM discerning. Ones that look too freaky or have mutated families that torture people, I avoid. I have NOT seen any of The Hills Have Eyes movies or the Chainsaw Massacre remake. One of the originals taught me that Leatherhead freaks me out too much. High Tension, where a whole family is slaughtered while one girl hides? Skipped it. And some I wait for the dvd, so I can fast forward the REALLY scary parts. That's how I learned I wanted to own The Hitcher. Some my mother actually has not minded, Joy Ride and Deep Blue Sea, she actually semi-likes. She likes to go "Candyyyy Cane, it's Rusty Nails", once in awhile. And we both do the freaky Grudge noise, it's like this arrrrrr noise from the back of your throat, to scare one another. And after seeing THE VILLAGE (only a lil bit horror, mostly suspense), my mom tortured me by finding some fake red berries and brushing it against my cheek so when I turned and saw it, I BLOODY jumped!! So while it takes a LOT of cajoling, the ones I really WANT to see, I usually see with her. It was even her idea to go and see Dead Silence in Florida...I was clutching HER hand the entire movie, because it was DOLLS, something that I have had nightmares about, especially after the CHUCKY series, and had a CLOWN DOLL!! That freaked the crap out of me! We even, when we are both home, do Scary Saturdays, where we watch a horror or suspense movie. We both are scared of Pet Semetary, but we watched it together. I usually save the really good ones for a Scary Saturday. My Mom loved Awake, with Jessica Alba and Hayden Christiansen (more suspensey), we both loathed Doomsday (we hate the new "thing" in horror, making movies that don't make sense after having watched them). The unknown movies I see in the video store, that I look at the backs of and still want to see, I usually have to watch alone. Usually late at night with Maxie cuddled to my side for protection. LOL. But if they end up being really good, I'll have my mom see them. She loved The Deaths of Ian Stone (knew she would, the only one of this years "8 Films to Die For" that was good), and she definitely needs to see The Ruins, that was freaky but good! I couldn't step on any plant for days afterward!!LMAO! And Dad and Katie (she jumps when anything jumps out in ANY movie...Jurassic Park, she practically levitated!) actually stuck around when Mom and I watched Rogue, about a killer crocodile in Australia, that is like the size of a semi-truck. It was good...yes the doggie did end up biting it, but at the end and to save his owner!! Good doggie!!