Are You Scared?

Now that October is here, I'm feeling that creepy feeling again. And I mean creepy in a Halloweenie sense. For some reason, every year, when the air gets cooler and trees start to look barer, I'm more interested in spooky things. Our satellite television also starts to show more horror movies. It seems a dozen or more channels are running Hitchcock marathons. That's fine with me since I do not usually watch horror films, but I love Hitchcock movies. Along with Hitchcock films, I can choose from one of the Nightmare on Elm Street, Halloween, or Friday the 13th sequels. If you add up all of the movies in those three series I think you come up with seventy-three or so. Or maybe it just seems like that many.

Anyway, it's a great time to catch up on horror classics as well. Nosferatu is a great silent vampire film. Plus, any movie with Bela Lugosi or Boris Karloff is worth trying out. I also like the cheesy vampire movies from the seventies. The Captain Kronos, vampire hunter, series is campy enough for all. As you can see, I don't require actual fright when choosing my horror films. I like suspense and old castles. And I can even live without the suspense, as long a film has a crumbling, ancient, dusty, castle on a cliff with constant lightning in the background. Some creepy 'Phantom of the Opera' organ music is a must too. I am not a big fan of slasher movies. I don't care much for the gore, torture or rape. I'm pretty sure that I will never watch Saw. That is why I watch more of the older films. The first Halloween movie now seems tame enough for me after twenty plus years.

I am also drawn to reading more horror stories in October. There is nothing better than reading the Tell-Tale Heart by Poe on a chilly, drizzly day. Again, I like the classics better than more modern tales. Among my favorites are Frankenstein by Shelly, because it has a castle in it, and The Halloween Tree by Bradbury. Ray Bradbury has a whole list of good October stories. I usually lean more toward stories with bleak, depressing settings to match the weather. I just seem to get more out of them. This fall I decided to re-read Bram Stoker's Dracula. (Wow! Another rocking castle) I'm reading it slowly this time to really get into it.

This is the only time of year that I feel this way. I don't seem to enjoy spookiness (or castles) as much during the rest of the year. Once October is over, I have to start looking forward to Thanksgiving and then on to Christmas. By then, all of the macabre has left me. So now is the time get your Halloween fix, before the 'Happy' holidays start. Put out your pumpkins and 'bring out yer dead'.