My Start in Horror

OK, Colleen has inspired me to write about how I became a horror movie fanatic and what actually scares me. Here's the scoop. Right now, the only things that actually scare me are spiders and children, BUT there was a time when really dumb horror movies did make me totally freak out. My mom and dad loved horror movies, so that's where it started.

We used to go camping a lot when I was a kid. We would hear bears wandering around the camp site at night. Try watching the movie "Prophecy" when you are 8, then go camping in the Pacific Northwest. We had Showtime when I was a kid, and when this movie would come on, I would dare myself to watch it. I would start out with my eyes closed and ears plugged. I would first unplug my ears. The sound of the "Mutated Prophecy Bear" would grunt and I would run out the room. If I tried to open my eyes, I would inevitably open them RIGHT as the bear was eating someone or throwing them against a tree. I tried to watch this movie again as an adult, and although I could watch it with no problems, my heart did palpitate during some of the scenes. I DO NOT KNOW WHY. Jim makes fun of me for being scared of this movie as a kid. Asshole.

Then there was "It's Alive". Yes, the monster baby movie. Maybe this is why I am afraid of children. My neighbor friend's brother was watching this movie in his room. We were in her room down the hall, but we all of a sudden heard that horrible shrieking monster-baby-thing growling, and we started screaming. We would crawl up next to her brother's door and try to watch, but we were too scared to actually go into his room.

Also, when I was just a wee little thing, my grandfather scared the living SHIT out of me. Remember that old black and white movie called "The Fly"? Yeah, the totally stupid one. It scared me senseless. THEN, after I went to bed, my grandpa decided to be evil, and he snuck into my room and softly said "Heeeelp Meeeee". I have never totally recovered from that.

So, there you go. What happened to me along the way? I dunno. Brain damage? Did "The Exorcist" scare me? Nope. Did "Friday the 13th" or "Freddy Krueger" scare me? Nope. Do those emails that have scary faces suddenly pop up scare me? Nope. They do startle me sometimes though, but I am wise to them now.

Answer to previous trivia question: "What mask was painted white and used for the original Michael Myers mask in the Halloween movie?" A "William Shatner" mask!