Recently my best friend contacted me about having a guys’ night out. He said he wanted to go see the new horror film It: Chapter 2. I agreed to go, even though I’m not into scary movies.
Occasionally, I’ll watch one just to see what all the hype is about. As I write this post It is the number one movie in America. Horror movies rank sixth in popularity over the last twenty-nine years raking in $11,596,900,357. Horror films are divided into three subcategories according to Robert McKee:
- “The uncanny: the source for horror is astounding but subject to ‘rational’ explanation (i.e. beings from outer space.)
- Supernatural: the source of horror is ‘irrational’ phenomenon like something from the spirit realm.
- The super-uncanny: where the audience is guessing between the other two possibilities.”[i]
Knowing this, I decided to ask some of my other friends if they had seen it and what they thought. Almost all of them said the same thing; they hadn’t seen it yet because it didn’t look that scary to them. I guess we all have different types of fears.
Horror?
To be honest, I hadn’t planned on writing about this genre, but my friends’ comments got me thinking about my own fears. While movies are visual by nature and often use bloody or shocking scenes to scare us, I am more scared by what I don’t see.
It’s what I don’t know that scares me the most: what’s underneath the bed breathing hard? What’s that scratching sound in the closet late at night? What will happen if I don’t lock the doors at night? I’m sure each of us can think of our own “what if” scenario that strikes fear into our heart. I did a little research and below are a couple of common fears.
- Coulrophobia: an irrational fear of clowns.
- Agoraphobia: fear of open spaces.
- Claustrophobia: fear of closed spaces.
- Acrophobia: fear of heights.
- Aerophobia: fear of flying.
Regardless of your fears, Hollywood has been playing on them for over a century. In this ever-changing world, there’s always something new for people to be afraid of. It seems like an ever-growing list of options.
Options?
My father was notorious for being a practical joker. He was always coming up with new ways to scare or just embarrass me. Ironically, we can find humor in scaring people. Maybe that’s why it is so popular and everyone is looking for the best costume option.
But, to me is not what’s on the outside that scares me; it’s not knowing who or what is on the inside. Those are the kind of movies from my childhood that scared me the most. Below are some of my favorite classics while growing up
I
have plans one day to write an inspirational horror film called The Monsters
Within. Because I believe it’s what we don’t know that is the scariest. We
never know what the future holds and that’s what scares me.
Martin Johnson survived a severe car accident with a (T.B.I.) Traumatic brain injury which left him legally blind and partially paralyzed on the left side. He is an award-winning Christian screenwriter who has recently finished his first Christian nonfiction book. Martin has spent the last nine years volunteering as an ambassador and promoter for Promise Keepers ministries. While speaking to local men’s ministries he shares his testimony. He explains The Jesus Paradigm and how following Jesus changes what matters most in our lives. Martin lives in a Georgia and connects with readers at Spiritual Perspectives of Da Single Guy and on Twitter at mtjohnson51.
[i] [i] McKee R. (1997). Story: Substance, Structure, Style, And The Principle of Screenwriting (Kindle edition) pgs 19-80.
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