What Being a Woman Horror Fan Means to Me

I don’t know exactly what it was that drew me into the horror genre but it was something I knew I could never stay away from. At a very young age I was into anything that may scare me.. whether it be books, movies or telling scary stories, I wanted to be a part of it. My hobby when I was a child was checking the TV guide in the newspaper for when a horror movie would be playing, and I would pull out a handy VHS tape and record it when it aired. My father loved Stephen King books and movies, which was what sparked my interest in him. Since my reading skills weren’t exactly up to par at that age for his books, I rented as many Stephen King movies as I could from good ol’ Blockbuster. As I grew older, my love for the genre never died, and I was always excited to watch something new.

Some of my friends throughout life shared my interest with horror films, but most did not. These days it seems, most women I meet stray away from horror movies– just simply stating “oh well I hate the gore.” Trying to explain to them that not all horror movies include gore always felt like a waste of time since their minds already were so made up. I could feel the judgement people were giving me when I said how much I loved scary movies. They look at me like I’m crazy or perhaps I have something wrong with me since I am not swooning over the latest Nicholas Sparks movie like everyone else. Funny thing is, I like chick flicks too! I’ve had my days of watching Lifetime movie marathons and often read romance novels in my spare time. Yet I find that I enjoy discussing things horror related much more.

I learned to not care anymore what people may think of me, and have just simply given up trying to appease them. I wish I could tell them how awesome I think it is to watch a movie, and feel the emotion of fear.. To evoke that emotion in some one is a sign of great filmmaking, well in my opinion at least. A movie can easily make some one feel happy or sad, but fear I think is harder to come by, harder to make. Sure, some people can get scared rather easily but due to the high amount of horror I have seen, very few movies really scare the crap out of me.

I think my love of horror films makes me different and unique.. Not crazy. People need to learn to not be so guarded, and to see things with an open mind. I am so grateful to have found people on the internet whom share my same interests that I can have a meaningful conversion or debate with. And I hope to one day meet more of them in person.