Horror Help

Given the time of the year and that Halloween is just around the corner, I believe that this posting might come across as a bit timely. The reason that its timely is because I want to write about horror movies… and horror specifically.

When I was a kid, I watched a few classic horror movies. The first horror movie I remember seeing is the classic George A. Romero movie, “The Night of the Living Dead”. I also saw the original 1958 movie “The Fly” starring Vincent Price. And to round out early horror experiences for me was the original “Amityville Horror”. There were more horror movies that I watched when I was younger, this is but a brief list.

My mom was into horror when I was a kid. I wound up being exposed to a lot of horror because my mom enjoyed it. I didn’t watch any of the slasher films that were the thing in the early to mid-eighties. I was often exposed to more classic horror.

To me, watching horror movies as a child was a normal thing. After all, horror fills a very necessary part of our life. Aside from the thrill seeking aspect, it also can help us feel better about our own lives because our lives are never as bad as those in horror movies. Those are very important things in our lives.

So, I was a bit miffed when someone said to me, “Well, you must be crazy because you watched horror films as a child.”

That’s a statement that bothered me for some time. As well as the fact that no one spoke up for me, other than myself.

I don’t think that I would consider myself crazy. While I didn’t like horror movies when I watched them (except “Night of the Living Dead”), I don’t think it had any form of negative impact. After all, if you’re going to call me crazy, at least make the effort to learn that I was abused for too many years and call me crazy for that. Not because I watched horror movies as a kid.

If anything, that statement tells me more about the person who said it than it does about me.

A love for horror doesn’t make one crazy. If anything, it helps one feel better about themselves and more sane even.

And while I’ve moved on in my horror preferences to enjoy psychological horror, thrillers and horror that also tells a good tale, it doesn’t change that it still helped me even when I needed it most. It helped me when I was beaten and belittled. That’s something that I can never forget and that I am eternally grateful for.