Horror Movies & Why I Love Them

Posted by Lucas Lynn Henderson Nov 9, 2006

I suppose as I begin working the horror & sci-fi movie beat for Suite101 I should tell you why I love these movies so much. My first blog topic is to welcome you to...me, and tell you just why I love the first half of my beat, horror movies.

It began when I was very young, and I caught a horror film called The Changeling. I am sure almost no one knows this horror movie, a great classic with George C. Scott (yeah...Patton), but it freaked me out. From a person less wheelchair to voices in the dark, watching this tough old man be scared out of his wits did it for me. And I never looked back.

From there horror movies were my air and water. If I was having buttered popcorn, someone better be getting killed on screen.

As I've aged, I've realized why I enjoy it so much. Watching those terrible things happen to other people made me feel more alive than ever. Horror movies elicit a response no other film can. Danger, supernatural horror cannot be replicated in a romance film. Action movies give you excitement, but rarely does the main hero run the chance of being eaten by the end of the movies.

Horror films are like wrapped birthday presents. You don't know what's inside, and you are never sure what might happen when you open that box.

That is why I love the horror film genre, the surprises that are constantly thrown at you. The fear you feel and the helplessness that runs through your blood as you watch the chainsaw wielding maniac attack.

The knowledge that while this is a movie, that same fear follows you in real live. That life is full of surprise and horror, and maybe by getting it all out in the worst way possible in two hours of film makes this world a little brighter.

I hope that as I work this beat and tell you about the current movies, I'll be able to guide you to good horror films, tell you to avoid bad ones, and beg you to see the ones so bad you can't miss them.

And for those of you who love sci-fi, don't worry, my next blog is about my second favorite film genre. To give a preview, the film that got me into sci-fi, Blade Runner.

Until then, keep the lights low.