Halloween night saw me at the girl’s place cooking dinner (FYI: tandoori-style BBQ chicken – and it was amazing) and wondering what we should do. It’s always a bit tricky finding a balance between fun and having to go to bed early due to a certain compulsory 4:45am rise.

I figured we should at least watch something Halloween-y and I saw that ‘Paranorman’ was on. I’m still very much in parent-mode it appears (hence the selection) and as my kids weren’t around, I got bored with it pretty quickly.

Then I had a genius idea. Let’s watch something actually scary!

Netflix on, and The Conjuring selected!

I enjoyed the movie. I didn’t find it remotely scary. Just clever.

But watching this movie introduced another concept. The girl was actually very uncomfortable with (and somewhat scared) by this movie. And from our conversation apparently most, if not all, movies of this genre.

Which got me thinking.

Who gets scared by Horrors? Is it a gender spread? Females more than males or is it pretty equal? Is it an age thing?

And what is it that is scary? Is it graphic violence? Is it spiritual suspense? Is it the audio? (Cue: scratching fingernails down a blackboard). Is it being able to imagine that this could happen and it could happen to you?

There are only two movies that I can recall playing with my mind. Event Horizon (I couldn’t sleep for days) and The Stepfather (just a very dark tale). But these are more thrillers?

And then I’m curious about the idea that people who are scared by these movies, seem to like being scared, and go back for more. Why?

I’m keen to hear your stories and thoughts. Go on, share with the class.