Why do I like Horror?

At some point we've all done it, we've stayed up late, watched a horror movie and scared the crap out of ourselves. Some have done this with friends, some, like me have done this on our own. We know it's dumb, but from time to time, we just can't help ourselves.

So why do we do it?

The reason for me is quite simply, I like it. I like the thrill. I see it as an experience, I want to feel that uncomfortable rush of fear and the hairs on my neck and arms, and anywhere else for that matter to stand to attention. A good horror story, one that is well written and directed is like a perfect storm of terror and I wholeheartedly salute the effort.

Now I'll admit, by this point in my life I'm fairly desensitised, but occasionally things do get to me. The most recent experience of this I had was watching Hereditary. This example I know is very subjective. I know this because I told my brother about it and he looked at me like I was a 10 year old who'd just watched the Goosebumps movie with Jack Black. The film didn't shake him one bit apparently. To me though, I was taken in by the slow burn of the story, and the moody build up to something awful that I knew I didn't want to see, but was going to make myself watch anyway. I love it when the character development in a story is spot on. If I bond with the characters I find I naturally open myself up to their plight and find myself subconsciously facing the danger with them; the movie made me care, and now I must suffer 😂 This is the way all stories, especially horror should be made. The number of crappy horror films I see with 5 - 7 teens who are actually in their mid to late twenties does my head in. The only joy I get, is that they all die horribly if I'm lucky 🍀

No, a good story makes you care. You need people or a person you can relate to. Once that person works in the reader or viewer's imagine, it becomes them, and like a Voodoo doll, anything you do to that character you do to the witness of the story. The Blair Witch Project got to me in the cinema when it first came out in 1999, as did The Exorcist when it was re-released in cinemas in 2001 after a long ban in the UK 🇬🇧

The Blair Witch, I remember was, I think the start of the found footage movies. No one had ever seen anything like it before and I remember thinking that 'I can't take anymore.' I literally thought that! Amazing skill and imaginative storytelling. I didn't want to go through a wooded area for months after that film.

The Exorcist, was the same. I fell into the story hook, line and sinker, allowing it to smother my soul in its all consuming supernatural trauma. The characters were so grounded in reality, they were like real people I'd seen and met. At the time I also believed in God, so I was very susceptible to the concept of Hell and demons. I'd love to watch that film again for the first time, if I could.

I think the reason I like horror so much, is because I like to see what I'm afraid of. I want give someone the chance to scare me like when I heard ghost stories as a child from my older cousin. If some ruins my bedtime to the point where I need to turn the lights on, listen to every creek and bump the house makes, shy away from looking into hallway and bathroom mirrors, or looking into the shadows, then they have my respect. I absolutely love it and that is why I love horror. So when I write, I want to give this feeling to my readers. I want to put them on a ghost train of my own creation and try to freak them out. It's wonderful and a real skill if you can pull off.