I'll Be Right Back...

It's that time of year again! The time of year when families go out, pick a pumpkin, carve it, decorate their houses, and hand out cavity-giving candies to all the little youngsters running around begging complete strangers for more sugar.

That's right, folks. This is Halloween (Halloween, Halloween...). What's this, you might ask? Actually you wouldn't ask that. If you are then you're either an extremist Christian or completely sarcastic, and I'm hoping for the latter because I'm really not one for confrontation. Orrr you're just quoting The Nightmare Before Christmas, in which case we can be the best of friends!

Let me find my train of thought... *choo choooo* Found it!

This evening I attended what is #3 of what is at least 5 times of my visiting Universal Studios for their annual Halloween Horror Nights!! Slightly obsessed? Maybe. But hey I bought the Frequent Fear Pass so I gotta make the money worth it okay?! Anyway as I was walking through the Cabin in the Woods house (which is incredible, fellow HHN-goers), I started thinking back when I started enjoying the horror genre period. And the beginning isn't where you would likely suspect...

Let's go back to the year 2001. I was just turning 15, and for some reason still unbeknownst to me, there was one movie I wanted to see and one movie only. That movie was The Others, the 2001 Nicole Kidman movie in which she did not sing. I don't really remember why exactly I wanted to see this movie. I didn't watch horror movies on TV/AMC's Friday night FearFest until after I saw this movie. I guess the future horror movie buff inside me was screaming "HEY SEE THIS MOVIE" sooo needless to say I listened. As did my sister, Emily, and our cousin, Lauren.

Whaaat about this picture would excite a non-horror movie buff?? I'm still confused.

After the first 10 minutes of Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back (my poor virgin ears), the management entered and profusely apologized. Because you know, which is worse? A classic 40s-era ghost story or a usually hilarious writer-director selling out with a movie starring his most famous couple? (Edit: That was 27-year old Joseph writing that last sentence.) Anyyyway, soon the classic ghost story began, and my life would never be the same.

Those macabre opening credits, the shot immediately after of Nicole Kidman waking up from a nightmare screaming her head off, that creepy blind woman suddenly opening those damn closet doors... I will never forget of those moments. Nor will I forget the extremely obnoxious woman sitting to the left of my cousin. "No, don't go in there. They'll get ya!" or "Omg, they're behind you! THEY'RE BEHIND YOU!" Needless to say Emily and Lauren were traumatized, and I was too. You see, none of us had ever seen a horror movie, especially not one in a crowded movie theater full of both experienced horror movie-goers and young teeny-boppers such as the three of us.

Something that night changed within me though. I LOOOVED the adrenaline rush seeping through my system. Every time the music got quiet, my body somehow knew some loud *BANG* was going to happen soon, and every time it did I screamed and giggled with glee. Emily and Lauren did not. Both were hiding in each other's arms. (Edit: Both have seen the movie since then, and neither have any idea why they were both so scared. HELLO! Because you'd never seen a horror movie before.) But again I LOOOVED it, and I would see The Others again one more time before it finished its theatrical run.

That Halloween season I mostly invested my time watching the aforementioned AMC's Friday night FearFest. Sure most of the movies they aired were the sucky sequels to Halloween, Friday the 13th, and Nightmare on Elm Street, but you gotta start somewhere. The only flick I will say I've never been able to return to is Killer Klowns From Outer Space. Being a horror buff, I know that's one of the classic cult horror-comedies of the 80s, but just imagine being 15 years old. You haven't seen but a handful of horror movies in your entire life, and one day when you're flipping through channels, you come across some frikkin clown luring his latest little munchkin victim out of a fast food joint. Trust me. You'll never wanna watch it again. (Note to self: MAN UP!!!)

Somehow I've managed to move on far beyond the Killer Klowns episode to become quite the horror enthusiast. Every October is a different year. A different year for new horror movies I've never seen before, a different year to check out the recent goings-on at Halloween Horror Nights, and a different year to thoroughly check the apartment after each time I watch the Scream trilogy. Because if there's anything that series taught us, it's no matter how big a horror buff you are, there is still the possibility you will do something stoopid, and you will die.

Now I will admit I'm slightly tipsy off some pumpkin ale sooo if you'll excuse me, I'll be right back...