Horror and Halloween

As Halloween quickly approaches, I have been thinking about the horror genre of books and movies. Mostly because my son has recently become interested in scary movies, and even thinks he wants to go to a haunted house (this from a kid who didn’t want to sleep by himself after watching the cartoon “Monster House!”) It got me to thinking about how I used to love the horror genre.

I went through several phases – the Stephen King phase, Dean Koontz phase, Anne Rice phase. Now, not all of their books are strictly horror, but they do contain those spooky, supernatural elements. I also loved watching horror movies. Back then, they didn’t have all the special effects and computer technology, and the movies seemed more real somehow. I think I liked them because they sparked strong emotions, in this case fear or sadness when a main character was killed. I think I liked that I didn’t have to “think” about these movies and books – I could just sit back and enjoy the ride. Even now I prefer books and movies that actually make me “feel” something. But I particularly liked that adrenaline rush that you get from being scared. I can remember staying up until 2 or 3 o’clock in the morning with a Stephen King book because I just couldn’t put it down until the bad guy had been defeated. And then still being too scared to go to sleep.  And as lame as many people find it, Blair Witch Project scared me more than any thing else I’ve seen in a very long time. Probably because it was set in the woods, and looked very much like where I grew up. There are all sorts of scary noises in the woods at night.

 It is interesting, however, that since my son has been born I can’t watch or read all those things any more. I don’t know why, but I just can’t bring myself to do it. I don’t know if it is the sight of the blood and guts, or something about the scariness of it, or what the deal is, but I just can’t stomach the horror genre any more. And I’ve talked to several other women who are the same way. Women who loved being “scared” until they had kids. I wonder if it is maturity that has caused this shift, or if it is just something about having children – maybe some anti-horror hormone is released along with all the other “motherly” hormones. I wonder if there has ever been a study done on this. Scientists study everything else, so why not this? Just a thought. Anybody else out there have this experience? Did you ever get to where you could start enjoying horror again?