I want to go to sleep, and yet I just don’t feel right if I don’t crank out a thought piece of some sort for the night. Why? I mean… I love horror movies and anything horror/Halloween-related. But why am I driven to do it? Why does it mean a lot to me to where I’m often willing to sacrifice a good night’s sleep just to share something I could easily write the night after?

Well okay, one reason is that there’s not much time left in the month and I do want to do a decent amount of Halloween content to make up for last year, but what lies underneath that? What’s driving me more than that?

I’m not gonna share studies on why people like horror as a whole, y’all can find that sorta’ thing through Google and the like. Nah, what I’m going to do is take it all apart in a way that makes sense to me from my own perspective.

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The first thing I think of when I think horror is that it’s fun. But a certain kind of fun that’s unique in certain types of horror movies. Right now, I’m thinking of movies like Night of the Creeps, Gremlins 2, and Chopping Mall (among other movies with a similar feel). What makes those ones fun?

Honestly, I feel like it’s because the aim of those films is to take admittedly simple, strange, or outrageous concepts and just run wild with gags that come about through whatever scenarios the writers come up with. And the end result is something that knows what it is even if it’s not necessarily self-aware. Not everything has to be self-aware to be fun, some movies can just be very imaginative (easier said than done) or wild & zany. Either way, it’s a type of horror element that I want to see more of in future horror movies.

Then there’s the supernatural stuff. I really like it. Even outside of the horror genre, I love seeing how it plays out. Sure it can be endlessly debunked and probed, but I love it when there’s some kind of element that suggests there is more than what seems. Whether it’s utilized in a cosmic-horror sort of way like in From Beyond, a ghostly fashion as in Poltergeist, or an is-it-psychological-or-not approach like from Donnie Darko, this is something I tend to gravitate towards.

And in real life, I do like to think there is more than what seems. I do feel there’s some kind of mysterious presence that makes me feel there is meaning. It can suggest something I’m unsure or afraid of, but it’s also something that gives me a sense of hope and much more.

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There’s also, of course, the unpredictability. What you don’t see coming can scare you. Whether it’s coming from a mile away or something subtle that’s right near you. Anything can throw anyone off depending on what it is and whether their attention is somewhere else or not. Jump-scares don’t always work on me, but unpredictability as a whole can be scary. And outside of movies, unpredictability did keep me from making some life-changing choices, but in the last year, it has also made me want to push myself into unfamiliar territory. From there, I start to crave the unpredictability. It makes me want to take more risks and see where something will go. This is a big reason why I not only love to discover more horror movies, but also a big reason I want to live a more exciting life.

Then, weirdly enough, there’s the predictable things that I like about horror movies. The classic predictable horror cliches can, with the right mindset, make things like watching slasher films become an event of sorts. It has become a tradition to see ridiculous characters get axed off for being sex-craved and/or stupid, and ultimately watch the final girl endure the last chase before killing off the slasher. It’s a formula full of tropes, yes. And they’re insanely predictable and don’t have much logic, but that’s part of the fun. There’s all sorts of tropes that are fun to watch because you can simply kick back and not have to worry about being thrown off by a shock or two.

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So all that is fun, but there’s still the thought and question of why do I like to share this? Why do I want to share it? 

Honestly, it’s because I never had many friends who liked horror as much as I did when I was in middle & high school. And as I kept watching things like TNT’s Monstervision at the time, it felt like I was retreating into my own little world in which the host Joe Bob Briggs was talking to me about whatever movie(s) he’d be hosting. Then I’d be back at school, feeling pretty distant from the others as I’d be thinking what to watch next while sketching horror-inspired drawings.

Eventually, when I had gotten this blog started, I realized how fun it’d be to tap into that and “host” my own horror-related stuff. And while I haven’t done full-on produced videos yet, it’s still rewarding and I’m proud of what I’ve written. Last year I didn’t do anything since I was job-hunting, so I knew that I wanted to write something this year even if it was a few blog posts. I didn’t expect a pandemic to swoop in and slow down my goal of wanting to make friends, but since I’ve been continuously pushing myself to get in touch and make more friends at work (two in particular who I often chat about horror movies with), I’ve been happier and motivated to do this again. So there’s definitely a personal touch throughout this month, and I feel like that’s going to keep me going even after Halloween. 

In short… escapism, fun, and friendships are the reason I enjoy sharing my love for Halloween and horror. As a kid, the costumes, movies, and TV specials made it memorable; but now, it’s more about a human connection.

Thank you for reading! And if those two friends happen to be reading this, thank you Selina and Ariel. You two are seriously awesome 🙂