My Respect for (and Fear of) Horror Movies: A Henry’s Movie Guide Essay

My Respect for (and Fear of) Horror Movies: A Henry’s Movie Guide Essay

Some people find it exciting when movies are scary. They get a kick out of the adrenaline rush that comes with the feeling of fear. I figured out pretty quickly that I’m not really one of those people. I’ve never, ever liked being scared and I’m not exactly what is thought of as “thrill-seeking.” I’m fifteen years old and there are still plenty of things that I get uneasy at the idea of: long empty hallways, the deep ocean and what goes on down there, and being alone in the dark. I’m not a wimp, but my hyperactive imagination is sometimes more of a curse than a blessing when it comes to handling being creeped out. Even still, I’ve indulged myself in the genre of horror for basically as long as I can remember. I grew up reading the Goosebumps book series, which laid out the foundation for the admiration of horror I have today. I loved the watered-down, PG-rated horror of movies like Frankenweenie and The Nightmare Before Christmas as a little kid. When I was maybe seven or eight years old I watched Monster House at a daycare and basically it mentally scarred me; that film genuinely bothered me all those years ago. Around that same time I saw part of Beetlejuice on television and when I saw Geena Davis’s character hang herself in a closet and rip her face off, I remember finding it so disturbing that I could barely bring myself to open up my closet later that evening. That was when I first started to get the idea that maybe I didn’t appreciate being scared very much. Years later when I started to become interested in film as I started middle school, I approached the whole horror genre with caution. I didn’t want to be scared. I knew that horror had its positives, I just didn’t understand why anybody would want to watch something that was supposed to make them afraid. When I started to give horror movies a try, I took it pretty slowly at first, watching relatively tamer films like Poltergeist, Carrie (1976), and Arachnophobia. Around eighth grade I got into slasher movies and saw Halloween (1978), the first few Friday the 13th, Scream and A Nightmare on Elm Street movies, I Know What You Did Last Summer, and Urban Legend, among others. Now that I’m in high school I’m a lot more open to watching horror movies, especially those made before the mid-00’s or so (more on that later). The other day I was watching The Blair Witch Project for the first time. There had been a few creepy moments throughout the movie but I wasn’t ever really scared. I got to the last scene in the movie, where they find the cabin in the middle of the woods, suspecting the Blair Witch herself might be inside. As the characters were running around the house, I had a realization: I wanted to feel scared. I actually wanted the movie to make me uncomfortable. That realization is why I am writing this think piece. 

Horror is a special and unique genre, both in film and in other creative mediums, because it preys upon our worst fears about our own lives. Think about things that you would never want to happen to you. Whatever we’re afraid of, there are probably horror movies out there that exploit that fear. Even concepts as simple as not knowing if you can trust your friends or not being able to forget bad memories can be, and have been, turned into effective horror films. Horror, when done right, takes our subconscious and plays with it. Thus, horror movies are some of the most powerful films out there. I have a lot of respect for the horror genre as a whole because of how timeless its themes are. Even though horror does move along with societal topics (movies like Unfriended and The Ring, for example, use technology as part of their premises), many horror themes won’t ever really become obsolete. We’ll always be scared of the unknown; we’ll always be scared of feeling defenseless. Great horror films throughout the years have exploited these feelings that are rooted deep down inside of us. 

I recognize that horror is a very valuable genre and, when done right, can be extremely effective as a form of film. I have nothing against horror movies as a whole. However, sometime in the mid-00’s horror movies took a turn in a direction I don’t personally like whatsoever. Ever since the release of Saw in 2004 I feel like there has been an overabundance of what I call “bad vibes horror movies.” These are the types of movies that are more focused on being violent and graphically disturbing than psychologically gripping. Obviously plenty of horror films from back in the day had this sort of mentality too; Friday the 13th and Final Destination aren’t trying to be especially thought-provoking. But the difference between those movies and films from the last decade such as Sinister and Annabelle is that the older movies have a sense of fun to them. There’s nothing fun about watching something hyper-realistic looking, like in the newer wave of violent horror movies. I guess better effects are partially to blame, but for the most part I just can’t stand watching more “modern” horror. The exceptions to this are the newer horror films that actually do focus more on being more intellectual, like A Quiet Place and Get Out. But I am a little biased against newer horror; when I say I like horror movies, that means I mostly like films from before the turn of the century. The newer stuff is mostly just too unpleasant for me to really get into. I understand that horror is supposed to shock the audience; I’m on board with that idea. But being endlessly grossed out and startled with jump scares every five minutes isn’t my idea of great cinema. 

So maybe I do like horror movies to be a little scary; that’s what makes them interesting. I just don’t enjoy being grossed out or disturbed too much. Of course violence is going to be an inescapable factor in a large amount of horror films – I’m fine with that. I can definitely handle watching a few people get killed in movies. But don’t expect me to enjoy watching the extreme brutality of the more modern-day horror. I like being unsettled just enough to where I can still enjoy watching the movie and it leaves me thinking. What I don’t like is the awful hysteria and nonstop jump-scares of films like It or The Conjuring. Those movies are just bad vibes. I’m not saying modern horror can’t be good; that’s not my point at all. I’m simply wondering where the element of fun is. Horror, by definition, isn’t supposed to be fun. But it can be. That’s why people like it. That’s why I like horror. It’s fun to be on the edge of your seat watching a film, something effective horror movies typically pull off. And to some degree, it is fun to be a little scared. I’m just now starting to realize that.