A question that I get often is: "where did your love for horror come from?"...it's a perfectly valid question. I know so many people that are absolutely terrified of the genre all together, they don't really give it much of a chance to really change their lives like it did mine.
So let's start at the beginning...I was in kindergarten, and that's my earliest memory of where my love for creepy things really started. I was gifted a collection of Goosebumps books by one of my aunts. When I say collection, it had to be about 50 of them. My favorite was Night of the Living Dummy, because Slappy the dummy had light-up eyes when you pushed his face in on the cover. I used to carry those books EVERYWHERE. I never left the house without one...so naturally, they started coming with me to school. I remember there was one about a zombie camp, where the campers had their entrails falling out and maggots eating away at their clothes and hair; I was loving it, especially because it was one of those cool ones where you got to flip around to find your favorite ending. Remember those?
"To see what happens to Beth, turn to page 49. To see what happens if you take the canoe, turn to page 26." I was enthralled. My parents totally condoned it because it was self-expression for me. I couldn't tell you what it was about it that made me so happy, but I do remember being even more excited that I got weird looks for thinking it was awesome. It made me feel so unique.
Fast forward- Christmas Eve of first grade. Edward Scissorhands was on. I walked into my parents' room, and my mom told me I was going to be too scared of him to watch. I jumped in anyway, and at the end of the movie I looked at her and said "I love him so much."
From then on, I was obsessed with films that had a dark undertone. I was all about Beetlejuice, The Addams Family, and Little Monsters. I used to go to Blockbuster every Saturday (I miss Blockbuster!) and I was allowed to pick out a movie. I always begged to rent IT or The Exorcist, but I was never allowed because I was too young.
It's all stuck with me ever since. I've been fascinated with immersing myself in the supernatural and paranormal. I just love to be scared. I think it's because it reminds me of my entire childhood...except now I'm into the stuff I was never allowed to like as a kid. IT is now one of my favorites of all time (I absolutely LOVE creepy killer clowns), and The Exorcist is classic. Don't even get me started on Hellraiser. I have a tattoo in honor of that one.
But what I love most is the community of people I've become involved with. You'll find me constantly hashtagging #horrorfamily and #horrorgang on Instagram, because you guys have become my family. You all make me feel like as weird as the love is for all of this stuff, there's still a handful of people out there that love it the way I do, and that's why I'm here!
I can't wait to really delve into all the gritty details of the things I do related to horror, and I hope you'll come along for the ride! Until next time, ghosts and ghouls.
Next up: a review of The Babadook!
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