Why? Why do we torture ourselves???
Why? For the love of Mike, why do we do things that we know are going to be bad for us in the long run? Nope...I'm not talking about smoking or drinking (too much) or even over eatting (not this post.)
I'm talking about the human's desire to scare one's self nearly to death? To deprive one's self of sleep? To be beasically scared shitless over something as stupid as horror movies. Now I love movies....of all genre. Give me an action flick, a chick flick, something deep and horric (in the fact that this actually happened) such as Hotel Rowanda. I'll take them all. But nothing gets my juices flowing more than a good scary movie.And gore does not have to factor int o the scariness of a movie. You can have all the blood and guts (take the Scream Trilogy for example) and yeah it can be good. (And I love the original Scream). But gore does not equal fright. For the first time in my life, about a year ago...I saw The Exorcist. In my house, in the dark, with my aunt. (My aunt, who mind you fell asleep on me.) And As I sat, frozen, in the middle of my couch in horror, unable to move to change the channel...knew that even though technology and special effects had advanced since the 1970's, that this movie will still be the #1 horror flick in my book. In fact, after watching Exorcist, didn't sleep for a month. Granted, we had squirrles in our attic, so all I kept thinking of was Captain Howdy above...but you catch the drift. I have never watched The Exorcist again, nor the new prequal to it, or any of the follow-ups to it.
Which brings me to last night. Home, and vegging on the couch, with Aunt Ida...my partner in crime. We both love the supernatural, and both love vampire movies. So when we saw (at 8pm) the Blade owuld be going on tv (at 9pm), did the dance of joy. It had been ages since we saw Blade. But this left us with an hour to kill until Blade went on. And what else was hitting the screen at 8:00pm, but Land Of The Dead (w/ Dennis Hopper.) A zombie flick. ZOMBIES! The one horror creature that I can not tolorate. The one horror genre which freaks me out to no end. ZOMBIES! As in eat your brains, tear the flesh from your limbs and feast on you, turning you in to one of them. Let me repeat; Zombies- as in: Night Of The Living Dead, Dawn Of The Dead, Day Of The Dead, 28 Days Later, Shaun Of The Dead. Trust me, if a movie has anything with _____ Of The Dead, in the title, I will not be watching.
This goes back to my childhood. When (and I shit you not) I was about 6 or 7 years old and my Aunt Kay and her daughter babysat me. It was in the dead of the night, at least in my mind, and I had to run home (2 houses down) to my house when my mom got back. But I had just watched zombies terrorize towns....creep out of graves, and crash through morge walls. I was scared! What kid in their right mind wouldn't be? And I carried this fear of Zombie movies with me to my adulthood. Oh Aunt Kay and her daughter was great for the babysitting and making me watch 'awesome' horror flicks. Prom Night, House On Haunted Hill, Ants, Poltergeist....I saw 'good' and 'bad' horror movies with them every time. But Zombies....that just freezes my blood. Freezes my blood to the point that when I go to a cematery I'm on the look out for the undead. Sad but true.
So last night, what do I say to Ida when I see 'Land Of The Dead' about to go on? And I quote (don't you just love the fact that I have no shame sharing this with you all?) 'I know I won't be able to sleep for a week watching this movie....but do ya wanna watch it?" And Ida looks at me and says "Sure. Why not?" And here is the part that I just don't get. I watched it. The whole thing! Jumping, covering my eyes from time to time...screaming at the idiot character of Dennis Hopper for getting chomped on and then blown-up. And after it was over, running (no joke) up the stairs to grab my p.j.'s, brush my teeth, and grabbing my prized stuffed animal, and protector Dakota, only to run back down the stairs. Why? So I could then watch Blade....because Blade (to me) isn't scary.
Ida was shocked when I filled her in on my childhood traumaization, what with zombies. And she was amazed when I told her why I so fear going to funeral homes and cemateries. (Although I did take a real COOL photo of a cemetery in Boston.) And she was great...because even though I made fun of myself for doing this to myself last night...she didn't mock me for sleeping with my stuffed animal/protector Dakota and the two cats Pooka and Cro`i. Pooka and Cro`i, the two world famous zombie killers.
Which brings me back to my question. Why? What is with the human's fascination of torturing and frightening themselves?
I'm talking about the human's desire to scare one's self nearly to death? To deprive one's self of sleep? To be beasically scared shitless over something as stupid as horror movies. Now I love movies....of all genre. Give me an action flick, a chick flick, something deep and horric (in the fact that this actually happened) such as Hotel Rowanda. I'll take them all. But nothing gets my juices flowing more than a good scary movie.And gore does not have to factor int o the scariness of a movie. You can have all the blood and guts (take the Scream Trilogy for example) and yeah it can be good. (And I love the original Scream). But gore does not equal fright. For the first time in my life, about a year ago...I saw The Exorcist. In my house, in the dark, with my aunt. (My aunt, who mind you fell asleep on me.) And As I sat, frozen, in the middle of my couch in horror, unable to move to change the channel...knew that even though technology and special effects had advanced since the 1970's, that this movie will still be the #1 horror flick in my book. In fact, after watching Exorcist, didn't sleep for a month. Granted, we had squirrles in our attic, so all I kept thinking of was Captain Howdy above...but you catch the drift. I have never watched The Exorcist again, nor the new prequal to it, or any of the follow-ups to it.
Which brings me to last night. Home, and vegging on the couch, with Aunt Ida...my partner in crime. We both love the supernatural, and both love vampire movies. So when we saw (at 8pm) the Blade owuld be going on tv (at 9pm), did the dance of joy. It had been ages since we saw Blade. But this left us with an hour to kill until Blade went on. And what else was hitting the screen at 8:00pm, but Land Of The Dead (w/ Dennis Hopper.) A zombie flick. ZOMBIES! The one horror creature that I can not tolorate. The one horror genre which freaks me out to no end. ZOMBIES! As in eat your brains, tear the flesh from your limbs and feast on you, turning you in to one of them. Let me repeat; Zombies- as in: Night Of The Living Dead, Dawn Of The Dead, Day Of The Dead, 28 Days Later, Shaun Of The Dead. Trust me, if a movie has anything with _____ Of The Dead, in the title, I will not be watching.
This goes back to my childhood. When (and I shit you not) I was about 6 or 7 years old and my Aunt Kay and her daughter babysat me. It was in the dead of the night, at least in my mind, and I had to run home (2 houses down) to my house when my mom got back. But I had just watched zombies terrorize towns....creep out of graves, and crash through morge walls. I was scared! What kid in their right mind wouldn't be? And I carried this fear of Zombie movies with me to my adulthood. Oh Aunt Kay and her daughter was great for the babysitting and making me watch 'awesome' horror flicks. Prom Night, House On Haunted Hill, Ants, Poltergeist....I saw 'good' and 'bad' horror movies with them every time. But Zombies....that just freezes my blood. Freezes my blood to the point that when I go to a cematery I'm on the look out for the undead. Sad but true.
So last night, what do I say to Ida when I see 'Land Of The Dead' about to go on? And I quote (don't you just love the fact that I have no shame sharing this with you all?) 'I know I won't be able to sleep for a week watching this movie....but do ya wanna watch it?" And Ida looks at me and says "Sure. Why not?" And here is the part that I just don't get. I watched it. The whole thing! Jumping, covering my eyes from time to time...screaming at the idiot character of Dennis Hopper for getting chomped on and then blown-up. And after it was over, running (no joke) up the stairs to grab my p.j.'s, brush my teeth, and grabbing my prized stuffed animal, and protector Dakota, only to run back down the stairs. Why? So I could then watch Blade....because Blade (to me) isn't scary.
Ida was shocked when I filled her in on my childhood traumaization, what with zombies. And she was amazed when I told her why I so fear going to funeral homes and cemateries. (Although I did take a real COOL photo of a cemetery in Boston.) And she was great...because even though I made fun of myself for doing this to myself last night...she didn't mock me for sleeping with my stuffed animal/protector Dakota and the two cats Pooka and Cro`i. Pooka and Cro`i, the two world famous zombie killers.
Which brings me back to my question. Why? What is with the human's fascination of torturing and frightening themselves?
posted by Orelinde_03 @ 3:30 PM
5 Comments:
At 8:29 PM ,
Piccu said...
I find I am more freaked out over ghostly movies or movies with human madmen killing because they seem more "real." The Exorcist is very creepy, but I found The Exorcist 3 to be even more creepy. You must watch it, it will freak you out, especially two parts.
If you like spooky stuff and you get The Travel Channel, then I recommend checking out Most Haunted Fridays at 9PM Eastern. I think that is the time. It is a group of English people searching 1000 year old castles and the like for proof of ghosts. Some of that stuff will creep you out late at night. They have cameras and mics and they hold seances and always have a spirtual medium with them.
The reason I like ghostly stuff is because there is a ghost in my home. I don't know who it is/was or how long it has been here, but it is here.
At 6:56 AM ,
Orelinde_03 said...
See I knew we had tons in common!!! Yes, some realistic 'horror' flicks freak me out too. Just recently watched 'House Of Wax', the one with Paris Hilton in it. Granted the movie was what it was....but the killers of it freaked me out, because I wonder if people out there could be wacked enough to try something like this. It takes all kinds. Ya know?
*Shakes head in negative*, sorry I am going to have to pass on Exorcist 3...just can't do it. I supposedly have gone to the Amityville Horror house when I was a little kid because my mother wanted to see it to see if she got any 'vibes'. Amityville is roughly a half hour from me.
Yes! I have watched the show you're talking about. It is a great show. I was supposed to go to Virginia next month for a long weekend. But (Aunt) Ida and I are going to Salem, MA instead.
At 2:27 PM ,
Piccu said...
House of Wax didn't freak me out, it was almost like a comedy for us. We cheered when Paris got skewered.
My friends and family get together every year around Halloween and we rent 4 or 5 horror flicks and have a marathon. Last year we did it in South Carolina and it appears we are going back. Sometimes we have two or three of them in one Halloween season. Most of the time we watch a couple of new ones and then pick a classic or two, most always one is Halloween, my personal fave. John Carpenter is from my area of Kentucky and some of the city names in the movies are just a half hour's drive from me.
At 10:04 PM ,
Orelinde_03 said...
That sounds groovy. I wish I had friends that would do stuff like that. Ida is in to horror flicks. I would like to go to Salem, MA for Halloween.
At 9:32 AM ,
claire said...
sorry, kiddo. no scary movies for me.
I just can't handle it. am too chicken-shit.
:)
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