Episode 86: Too Scary For Ya?

"You got me checking my mirror/ you make me feel like I'm on the run/ where'd you hide the gun?/The kitchen knife in your hand/Are you the poison, are you the cure?/I'm not so sure." 

      -Muse, "You Make Me Feel Like It's Halloween"

   I have a strange relationship with horror. For the most part, I like it. Stephen King, the king of horror, is my favorite author, and I have a shelf full of books that are mostly his. I've read a bunch of his books, Misery most recently, and I'm gonna keep reading them. I've also seen a lot of the movie and tv adaptations of his works.

    I also enjoy some horror movies in general, especially slashers like the Halloween movies, and I also really like the Evil Dead movies (the originals, with Bruce Campbell, not the new ones). Except for a few exceptions, notably the aforementioned Evil Dead series, I don't like demon stuff. Demons and the devil are very real evils and I don't like the media trivializing them for entertainment. The Evil Dead movies are a different story to me, though, because the whole point is a man absolutely shredding on demons. Demons are brutally murdered by Ash Williams.

    But here comes the real question: why do I like horror? Why does anyone like horror? What's the appeal of watching something that's made to scare you? Fear is a negative emotion, so why choose to experience it?

   I think part of it is the thrill, the excitement that comes from reading something that scares you. Maybe it awakens the fight or flight response in you, and you like the rush from your body wanting to either fight or flee. Or maybe people have some morbid curiosity to see people being murdered without it actually being real. Or maybe they like it and want it to be real, which, if that's the case for you, seek professional help.

   I remember my mom saying she doesn't like Batman because his villains are scary. And I can see why. Most of Batman's villains are normal people who are just mentally ill or straight up evil, and the reality of that makes them scary. Villains like Joker, Riddler, Penguin, Two-Face, Scarecrow, Black Mask, etc., could actually happen. That makes them scarier because they don't have that veil of "oh, how they have powers, so they can't exist in our world."

  But, my point in writing this episode was examining why I, or anyone for that matter, enjoys horror. Because of the books I read and some of the stuff I watch, I sometimes get scared at night. It's easy to be reading a Stephen King book and then go to bed and hear a small creaking noise or bump and get a little scared. Horror might not be good for my health, but it's just because I need to be more conscious that noises happen sometimes and the horror I consume isn't real.

Anyway, see you next week!