Scary is as Scary Does

Halloween is over and by now most of us are regretting having that extra bit of candy that 'put us over the edge.' Not much can be done about it. No matter what we say, every year, every single holiday that passes, we vow not to eat so much the next time. Invariably, we end up eating just as much if not more. But I digress. I was thinking about it last night since Halloween is the night for scary movies. Probably one of the all-time scary movies on my list is "The Exorcist." I remember it took me a number of years to build up the courage to watch it and even now, though it isn't one of those gore filled slash fests, it is still enough to be scary to me. For most people over the age of twenty or those of whom were fortunate (or unfortunate) enough to see it in the theatres when it first came out, it still stands as one of the scariest movies of all time.

Going back to what I wrote earlier probably gave you all some pause. It isn't gory; so why would it be scary? It seems these days that most people associate gore with horror. If it isn't gory it probably isn't scary. Those were the thoughts that many of the kids in the audience had when my dad, brother and I went to see "The Exorcist" in the theatres when it was re-released a few years ago. I remember being creeped out by the noises and sounds emanating from the newly surround sounded soundtrack. Knowing exactly what would be coming up next was still not enough to keep me from being creeped out. A few seats away, a group of kids, the oldest of whom was probably no more than thirteen, sat with their mother and constantly complained that the movie wasn't scary.

The kids compared how tame it was to movies like "Freddy vs. Jason" and the like. After the movie I thought about it with some regret. I realized that we as a society have become so desensitized to violence or horror that if there isn't blood on the floor, we have nothing to be scared of. Movies like "Jaws" terrified audiences; not because of what we saw, but because of what we didn't see. The mind is more creative than any writer or special effects artist can ever be. My version of a psycho killer may be worse in my mind than the next guy's but the end result is that our imagination is what makes the image scary. In films like "The Exorcist" we end up having our imaginations making things worse than they actually are. I realized then that the kids in the audience were disappointed because they didn't allow their imaginations to create any horror for them; they were waiting for it to be brought out to them.

An imagination is a powerful thing and it can make even the most mundane of things scary. The unknown is what scares a lot of people and knowing that something evil is lurking in the next room is enough to get some of us frightened. Perhaps in a few years some of these same kids will realize the genius in the direction of the old school horror movies. They may realize that gore and cheap shock scares aren't what is scary, nor is a visibly gory looking villain. Perhaps then they'll realize that the biggest horror is within ourselves.