What Draws Us Into Horror Movies? (Feature)

I have loved everything in the horror genre for as long as I can remember. I have never been one for romance, comedy or action flicks. Basically, I want to see blood, gore and nudity! No, but really, I think I have always had the need to watch a film, which had more terror in it, then my own life had. I grew up in the stereotypical crazy household, much like the family of the film "Devil's Rejects," yeah that is not a joke. When I watched a horror movie, there was always something going on with the characters, that gave you an appreciation for your own life. No matter what would happen in a day in my life, I always knew that someone in a horror film would have a worse day than me. So in the end, my day didn't seem that bad after all. I mean you could have a bad day at work, go through a break-up and embarrass yourself in front of everyone you know. You get home pop in your favorite horror flick and you have to think, well at least I am not in the middle of having sex and getting killed by a guy in a hockey mask. So you then say to yourself, "My day was spectacular!"

The Wicker Man

Also, no matter how awkward or out of place you may feel in your life, it is always nice to know that there are people out there more fucked up than you! Put in any type of horror film and you will come across characters whose odd behaviors and actions make your worst traits look good. After working in mental health for years, guess what folks, there are people like that, somewhere, doing shit just like you see in those films! Those people exist! Aren't you glad you never came across them?! Because I wish I could say that. Many of the stories that horror movies are based off of have some truth to them. Someone just took that person and story and twisted it to the point that you forget "real" people are actually capable of that. This helps us to ignore the real evil out there. I mean think about it, would you in real life, go set outside someone's house and watch them get slayed by a crazed killer for the sake of entertainment?

Well a popular film that comes to mind is Hannibal Lecter, what could be more sick then to kill and eat someone?  That evil lurks all around us. A man by the name of Albert Fish who lived from 1870-1936, was a cannibalistic child killer. He would kidnap, rape, murder and then eat these children who were sometimes as young as four years of age. He often boasted that "he had children in every state" with numbers totaling over 100. In movies over the years, film makers have used this real life story in what you see on the big-screen. You may recognize some of the other names that Albert Fish was known by, which were The Gray Man, The Werewolf of Wysteria, The Brooklyn Vampire, and The Boogey Man.  Psychiatrists testified in his case that he had sexual fetishes which included sadism, coprophilia, urophilia, pedophilia, infibulation, and masochism. In Albert's mind he actually associated his cannibalistic actions with that of communion. The supernatural beings you see in horror movies are based off of our inability to comprehend individuals like Albert Fish, so we make them into these monsters in stories, because there is no way a human being could commit such crimes.

Twilight

But what do we do? Well we glorify these people by making them into teen dreams, like you see in the Twilight films or in True Blood. A person that wants to suck your blood and kill you? Ahhh, that is so dreamy! Look he is a serial killer, who at one time, took the lives of others. But he is sparkly! All of that is forgotten. I mean if someone killed your whole family, drank their blood, and then slapped on some glitter....um, would you let it slide then? Don't get me wrong, I love a good horror flick just like the next, but I think some people completely forget the main premise of the films. They are killers! Not snugly, cute bunnies.

True Blood

And what is up with all of the love triangles? I mean crap it is bad enough you fall in love with one murderous lunatic but two? You have to start looking at the fact that you may have more problems then both the killers combined, if you allow your self to be involved in a love triangle between them. Then the audience is showed some hot sex scenes, some female nudity and boobs, and thus you are brainwashed to forget....HEY, THEIR BLOOD THIRSTY KILLERS!
They show you a sappy love story and play on your emotions to win you over and then all is forgotten again. That is about as romantic as a love triangle between a human, a vampire bat and a piranha. That is about what it would resemble in real life. So people, even though the female breasts can be tantalizing, don't let that draw you away from the context of the film. Monsters need to portrayed as what they are; back when vampire movies weren't glitter and a glorified Ménage à trois. 

Ok, ummmm, What was I saying Again?