If You Make Me Jump, I Will Love You

With Scream 4 being released this Friday, this seems like the perfect time to finally (according to some readers) write my love of horror films blog. I feel the need to place a disclaimer before I start though: I promise I'm not really sick and twisted in any other way except for my taste in film and television. :)

Now that that's out of the way, let me begin... My love of horror films started when I was 6 or 7 years old. My Aunt Vicky was babysitting while we were staying at my grandparents house. Aunt Vicky loves horror films probably maybe as much as I do, and she put on a VHS (yes, I'm aware this dates me) of Poltergeist.

From the moment I heard Carol Anne's voice I was hooked. I loved the suspense, the gore that was good for its time, the story telling and, of course, my favorite part: the adrenaline you get right before you jump. It wasn't long after that night that my once musical foddered requests from the video store started being sprinkled with the genre that is still my favorite to this day--horror. Although it was still several years before my parents agreed to let me rent them, I found ways and friends to sneak them in with like any child who is told "no."

Once my parents finally said "yes," I fell in love with Wes Craven and John Carpenter. I could watch Halloween and Nightmare on Elm Street over and over again. This infatuation some times pulled me away from family movie nights. My brothers would inevitably pick out a comedy or action film I wasn't interested in, so I'd stow away in my parents room with which ever VHS I had conned my dad into letting me rent. One of these is scorched into my brain because my baby brother, who at the time was maybe 4, insisted on watching Invasion of the Body Snatchers (circa 1978) with me. (For anyone who's thinking I'm a horrible big sister--1. I covered his eyes during the scary parts; and 2. I may actually be once you read more).

Then high school came along and I felt like I couldn't really be scared anymore; and my sophomore year I saw the release of Scream (I know I really just dated myself with that one!). I fell in love and adoration again with Wes Craven and found a new writing hero through Kevin Williamson (my other Kevin obsession). It was the first horror film that I felt was actually written for MY generation. The characters (especially Randy) said what I thought, being the horror buff geek that I was/am. I topped off my high school years on prom night, luckily with friends that loved me, and had a scare-a-thon with the original Prom Night, Carrie, and--just for giggles--Prom Night 2.

Scream renewed the horror genre and I suddenly had tons of choices in the box office (though few were as clever as Scream). College was much the same thing of not being scared, although the Ring did make me jump. And this is the story where I may just be a horrible big sister. One of my brothers insisted on going with a group of us to see the Ring, needless to say the movie scared him. He wanted his big sister to sleep in his room, and I did on his couch. (Aw! I know!) The next morning this same, sweet, adoring big sister taunted said brother with phone calls ("7 days") and turning the television to static from the other room unseen. This story amuses me; even though I'm not sure he ever really forgave me.

Grad school, I still saw as many horror films as I could get my hands on. My thesis was a horror film that I wrote in homage to the genre (Scream specifically) and to Heathers. But, alas, I met my husband: who does NOT like horror films, especially in theaters. Luckily, he loves me enough to rent them after they come out. There are a few exceptions: Saw and Scream, which means I will be seeing that one with the hubby in theaters.

As strong as my love of horror films is, I'm very critical. I judge the films by several different criteria, but the most important is if I jump or not. I say the most important because if I'm seeing a horror film, I want to be swept up in a story and scared enough to jump. This, for me, made Insidious a very scary movie (I jumped 6 or 7 times; and thanks Cara for going with me!). So, I will let everyone know if Scream 4 can do make me jump or not.