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Horror Fanatics In Stephen King’s article, “Why We Crave Horror Movies” published in Playboy in December 1981, he gives his opinion on why we love it when he scares us to nightmares. King argues that horror films allow a safe release for what would otherwise be expressed as insane or even criminal behavior. Horror films have been around my life for as long as I can remember. By now you would think I would have a reason I love them so much; to be honest I don’t, but there’s just something about them that makes me want to watch them. In King’s article he says, “like the sick joke. . . It deliberately appeals to all that is worst in us” (326). King is basically saying that there is something inside of us that gets excited seeing bad things happen to others. I argue with him on this because I do not feel that way when I watch horror movies, or witness anything bad happening. Why do most people watch horror movies? Are we daring the nightmare? I watch scary movies for the sudden rush of the moment when a pop up happens, or to be proven wrong about a character in the movie that you had nothing but innocent thoughts about. In King’s article he shares, “To show that we can, that we are not afraid, that we can ride this rollercoaster” (324). King is trying to say that people watch horror films to prove that they are brave, and that they are not afraid. I can kind of agree with King on that, but I also watch them for the rush of the moment, and to try to predict what is going to happen before it does. Zombie movies are my favorite horror films. To me they show the true inner person when in the moment of a zombie apocalypse. The Walking Dead, a famous television series on AMC shows the survival of a group of strangers, that don’t even know each other, as they live day by day scavenging for supplies to keep them going. At the same time avoiding obstacles like other violent groups, or of course walkers which is the named used for the zombies. What keeps me watching the series is every episode has something tragic happening or something good. That doesn’t mean that I am rooting for something bad to happen, but simply to see how they survive up to the next day. As King states in his article, “as lifting a trapdoor in the civilization forebrain and throwing a basket of raw meat to the hungry alligators…it keeps them from getting out” (326). He is trying to say that seeing things like that gives us a chance to let our thoughts become realistic knowing that it could never happen in real life. Horror films have been known to give the worst nightmares ever. My father told me when he was younger the movies were scarier, because there was no special effects back in the mid-seventies. So seeing Freddy Krueger coming out from the walls, or tearing open someone’s body was pretty realistic to him and his siblings. Michael Myers has always been my favorite horror series. That was the first horror movie I ever watched, and I remember that because I had nightmares for a week straight. What I love about Michael Myers is the white pale mask that he wears, the feeling you get when the theme song plays just makes the hairs on the back of your neck stand up; and how he can catch anyone by just walking after him. I believe that I will always be a horror fanatic for as long as I live.. There is nothing wrong with loving horror films; I think they help you become a stronger person who doesn’t get scared easily. When I have my own children, I will make sure to show them all of the horror films I watched growing up, and for Mr. King I am not mentally ill nor am I crazy. King, Stephen. “Why We Crave Horror Movies.” Mirror on America: Essays and Images from Popular Culture. Ed, Joan T. Mims and Elizabeth M. Nollen. 5th ed.
Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2012.324-26. Print