Here in Utah, Halloween is huge. People go all out, and it's easily the most decorated and celebrated holiday outside of Christmas. They have corn mazes and haunted houses galore. There's even a paranormal investigative team that will take you to haunted locations for a fee so you can experience "real" ghosts.
And you can't dispute the profitability of what I'm starting to call really bad movies. These are "found footage" type movies. You know the kind..."Blair Witch Project" created a demand when they made a movie for $50,000 and turned it into $150,000,000. People took notice of that in the movies looking for a way to make huge bucks off of essentially nothing. Why does this work? Because people like to be scared.
Scientifically, fear has a reason. We experience fear as a survival mechanism. In other words, something threatens us and then we connect with an adrenaline rush and hopefully, survive the experience. But I'm kind of baffled as to why we seek this kind of thing out (myself included). Why do I pay to see a scary movie knowing that I'll probably watch it through my fingers?
Check out this account of a person that paid $50.00 to be scared in a haunted house (copied from io9):
Each TV was on, and showing video footage of me walking down the hallway. On the floor of said hallway: condoms, just crap loads of condoms. They were wet. I followed the TVs into the biggest mind fuck room of all. I pulled back a curtain and someone screamed "STAND ON THE X!"
I spied the 'X' and stood there. Behind the curtain was a room covered in condoms and shoes. There's a dirty mattress on the floor, and a dead naked woman lay on her back. In the corner a skinny man stood with his back to me. He turned around, and revealed that he was really not wearing any clothes at all. None. Full dong. Out. It's something. He started walking right towards me. My brain started rattling, I could actually hear my own insides rattling around inside my skull at the sheer confusion of the condom parade naked basement man. He started walking towards me, and horror set in as I realized: He has my shoe.
The Naked Man got closer and pointed to the bed. "Nope!" I said, turning around.
Naked Man said, "get on the bed." I sat on it. He grabbed my feet and pulled them up, so I'm now laying on the bed. He sat at the foot of the bed, holding my shoe while staring down at me. It was dead silent. Then the Dead Naked Girl woke up, and flipped over on top of me. She started screaming, "HELP ME HELP ME HELP ME HELP ME HELP ME!" I screamed back, "IM SORRY, IM SORRY, IM SORRY, IM SORRY, IM SORRY!" The naked man was rubbing his face on my exposed foot the whole time. Finally, after an eternity of nakedness, the Naked Man thrust my shoe onto my chest and yelled "GET OUT." And I got the f*ck out.Why the hell would someone put themselves through this? But this haunted house is really popular according to the article. Do you like to experience fear? How much would you pay to be scared as long as you knew that it was "safe" or that you could have a "safe word" that you could use if it got to be too much? And do you think that fear evolves over time? I've noticed that what scared my mother when she was still a young woman would scare no one today. These days, people seem to want in your face sexuality or the impending threat of being sexually violated as a means to channel fear.
And why do you suppose fear is such a big business?
All you have to do is look at the incredible monetary haul of Resident Evil and Paranormal Activity.
Here's the trailer for Sinister (a horror movie that's getting rave reviews). I think I may be too chicken to go and see it, but I may try really hard! Have a great weekend. I'll be taking Monday off from blogging (it's Columbus Day).
I guess I'm an outlier because I will NOT pay to get scared out of my mind. As for Halloween, they tried to launch the holiday over here in France years ago, but it never really took off, and in the region I live in, no one really celebrates it. I make it a point to carve pumpkins and make costumes for the kids, but there is no real trick or treating here. Kinda sad. We did go bowling in our costumes last year though, and that was fun.
ReplyDelete$10 is about all I'd pay for temporary fear :)
ReplyDeleteYeah, I do think fear evolvs. I've watched some movies as an adult that scared the shiii out of me as a kid. And I think "why was I scared?" But it will still freak me out, no mater how unjustified.
Sinister looks cool. We'll have to virtually go together so I can protect you from the scary scenes. I'm not that easy to scare :)
.........dhole
I'd pay to see a haunted house good or bad but I'll be doubly damned if I'd fork out 5o clams to have a full dong out dude. That would be scary in and of itself.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, if you're into torrents, the original Frankenweenie had real characters and was also done by Tim Burton. I have had it for years on my hard drive.
Cheers.
No way I'd pay for a freak show like that though. That's not scary, just perverted.
ReplyDeleteFear is an adrenaline rush - fight or flight reaction. It jolts us and makes us feel alive. That's why we like the scary movies. Although I've watched so many, I can't remember the last one that had any real scare to it.
I don't think you can call it a haunted house if you don't have ghosts or something paranormal..and that scene was more of perverted freak out.
ReplyDeleteOne reason people like this stuff is because it's not real, so there is no real danger. When you're reading or watching a character go through a bunch of struggles, it's fun because you can live it through them knowing it's all pretend. If you're a writer, you love writing about conflict. In real life, we hate stress and conflict.
Anyway, I went in a few haunted houses when I was younger, but have long since lost interest. I guess I'm getting old. I used to count the days before going to Cedar Point (an amusement park) and now I don't even want to go anymore. However, there are other places I would like to see. Like Hawaii to start.
I've got no interest in scaring myself, or having others scare me. I like to think that not allowing myself to be desensitized will keep me more alert during the apocalypse to come.
ReplyDeleteI'm thinking ahead.
I don't do haunted houses or hayrides or anything else. I can't make it through an episode of Walking Dead without having zombie nightmares for two days afterward.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite part of Halloween is the bags and bags of candy. Oh, and the swords in the costume aisle.
As a fat guy with borderline high blood pressure it's probably not good for me to get scared too much.
ReplyDeleteIt's pretty sad those Paranormal Activity movies make buttloads of money for basically the same kind of "shit jumping out at you" scares you can get at any haunted house.
Anyway, a lot of the success is probably that dudes want to take their dates to scary movies so they can comfort them and get some action.
I don't mind being scared by a movie but I tend to avoid movies where being scared is all it's about. I guess people are so bored with their mundane lives that anything that gets the adrenaline going is good. Fear can be a cheap thrill.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was a kid, we did a mad scamble on Halloween day to figure out a costume that didn't cost anything. Mostly we painted our faces like Kiss band members. I was always the cat.
ReplyDeleteNow everyone has a store-bought costume. And no one will let me paint a giant star on their face with silver makeup.
As for the movies, I don't get it either, but I love watching scary movies with my older kids. Maybe it's like going up the big hill on the roller coaster - the fear makes it fun.
Halloween and jumping out of airplanes. There's got to be a better way to get that rush and feel alive.
ReplyDeleteI do like the "fun" or "cute" halloween decorations, but they are hard to find.
I definitely went through a horror movie phase. It was a good phase.
ReplyDeleteI don't really like to be scared. That said, I have had a couple of ghostly encounters. One was someone near to me not long after her death. It was comforting. The other was dark and malevolent, and occurred in an antique shop. I never want to experience anything like that darkness that again.
ReplyDeleteI still love Halloween, though :)
Happy Weekend!
I don't do horror. With my imagination, I still get nightmares if I watch that crap. I don't mind a little suspenseful fear, but I don't want men with bloody axes jumping out at me. No way. Not even for Halloween.
ReplyDeleteI have to admit I love being scared. Heh. I still keep water by my bed in case the aliens from SIGNS come.
ReplyDeleteAlthough that horror house you mentioned sounds more disgusting than scary to me. But then again, I'm the girl who laughs at guy's with chainsaws, which I would not recommend.
sfx are superb, the editing helps the 'scary' element...
ReplyDeletei'd get the dvd, before it's replaced by whatever will takes its place... and i have to buy another machine... an idea more scary than any flick! :P
I'm sure it has to do with endorphins and that they are addictive. It's brain candy that your brain makes.
ReplyDeleteHmm.. I have a theory. Just a theory, mind you. We seek out being scared around this time of year because it is a controlled fear. Meaning, we're choosing to be scared rather than having it come flying at us out of the blue. No one wants to deal with fear, whether in daily life issues or whatnot. This is the only time we can control it so to speak. We're choosing to be scared, we KNOW we're going to be scared, people will try their hardest. It's when we don't want to be frightened that we can't handle it.
ReplyDeleteMeh, just a thought.
Ah, fear. A deep post that deserves a deep comment. And if it wasn't Friday and I wasn't in space cadet mode (I'm an idiot Friday nights), I might even be able to come up with one.
ReplyDeleteFear and love. That's all there is.
I don't pay to be scared. Although I should qualify that I don't pay to be horrified which is what I think movies do now. And I do think you're on to something when you talk about how much scary (or horrifying) they are getting. I think we are desensitized in some regards although it could be that we just don't have the brains to be frightened of what we should really be frightened of-- I mean who thought of that haunted house? That doesn't sound scary as much as traumatizing. Being frightened or scared is walking in the dark, worried there is something waiting in the next room. Once you turn the light on then you probably aren't going to be as scared as you are now horrified (assuming it's someone who is going to kill you) Perhaps it might be splitting hairs here but it seems abusive to want to be horrified. Are we a bunch of Masochists at heart?
ReplyDeleteI don't like gory stuff and fake blood creeps me out. Must be why I'm not a doctor! :)
ReplyDeleteI'm not a horror fan (or maybe I should say that most horror movies are dumb gore fests) but I love Halloween.
ReplyDeleteThat "haunted house" sounded like just weird pervert stuff. Now a real haunted house with ghosts and witches and curses would be supercool to me, probably because it would bring back my childhood and the delicious (innocent?) kind of scary -- no gross-out gore or violence.
ReplyDeleteHere in Colorado Halloween is really big too; people even decorate their houses weeks in advance, just like for Christmas. Funny thing is, I'm starting to like the Halloween decorations more than the Christmas ones.
I'm too much of a chicken to even watch the preview of Sinister. I used to love scary movies as a teenager but I find the older I get, the less I enjoy them.
ReplyDeleteI can't read books that are too scary either any more, because they give me nightmares.
*waves* Hey pal! I am sorry I have not gotten by sooner. it takes me about an hour to sign into my blog since the hacking. (Great Halloween term) I have a few promised posts for October and then I am deleting the blog and moving to WordPress. *sigh* Since there is no customer service, there is not help when a blog has been hacked.
ReplyDeleteI would not pay 50.00 bucks to get scared out of my mind. Especially this particular one. It sounds warped.
Have a super weekend.
I used to like getting frightened as a teenager, but I outgrew it real soon when I started living on my own. Real life is scary enough.
ReplyDeleteFear is certainly a business back in Dutchess County New York,(our previous home). There is a huge Haunted Mansion and the entrance ticket has been going up every year, but even in this economy it is always sold out.
ReplyDeleteI'm more a fan of survival horror, but I remember The Grudge really got under my skin. At the theater, we were all laughing at how stupid it was. But then I got home. Alone. In the dark. And I kept seeing--
ReplyDeleteHalloween is HUGE here in Utah!!! And I love it... Haunted houses, corn mazes, the whole thing. Which is funny, because I'm not a fan of scary movies :)
ReplyDeleteI love Halloween and I love to find scary things. That haunted house sounds crazy. I don't know of anything like that around here. I'm looking forward to see Sinister and V/H/S. It's all good fun.
ReplyDeleteI'd guess for the same reason people ride rollercoasters and perform other stunts; adrenaline and whatever other chemicals are circulating in the brain when a person's in a threatening situation.
ReplyDeleteGood question, man. I think it taps into some primordial questions. Mankind has always been fascinated with the unknown and fear is a byproduct of that. Death is the greatest unknown and whatever steers people towards it (suicidal folks, murderers, etc.) is object of fascination. At least my fascination!
ReplyDeleteI'm way more scared about paranormal things (ie: ghosts) than i am of people threatening to harm me. It's just the way i'm wired.
ReplyDeleteHave had enough real life trauma in my life that the last thing I want is to think of "fear" as entertainment. Won't even watch movies.
ReplyDeleteBut, you ask an interesting question. Fear seems to permeate every aspect of our lives, whether we realize it or no. Look at the political ads -- they play to people's fears. The military does too. Parents even put it out with kids. I don't want to live my life that way. And, I don't think entertainment that features fear is sending a good message.
Whoa, that io9 thing was super scary! For real. Why do we like to be scared? Adrenalin rush! Wake up call! The thrill of being on the edge and then being pulled back to safety. A mini-experience of the other side. To experience the wonderful flood of relief when it's all over?
ReplyDeleteBTW, there's the BEST Halloween fun house ever at the old Eastern State Penitentiary in downtown Philadelphia that opens every Halloween week.
That is one messed up haunted house. No, I would not pay $ for that. I'm not a big fan of horror movies. I'm pretty wimpy.
ReplyDeleteMichael,
ReplyDeleteFirst, Sinister looks like it may be actually scary, which would be great, lol.
My idea of fear seems to be different than some. Most horror movies leave me shaking my head. The Woman In Black was decent, but could have been a lot scarier.
Paying to be scared in a haunted house, I guess so. But what is described in your post - no way. I don't get the sexual fear craves - don't know just wrong.
Great post.
I think it's just the emotional rush we get from fear that draws people to it. It's a fun exciting feeling that can be really addicting.
ReplyDeleteI live in the Bible Belt. Halloween is so controversial here. One woman asked how I could let my children worship Satan. I told her I had no clue what she was talking about. In today's society it is a fun holiday to get dressed up and get candy. I don't think she liked my answer. :)
ReplyDeleteI don't know if it so much about fear only. I mean horror movies are out all year long, I think its about scary movies and this specific time of year. Like Christmas movies are kind of the best during Christmas when everyone is in a winter wonderland kind of mood. There is something about this time, when the weather is just starting to get a bit cooler, leaves are falling, and it gets darker sooner. All of it screams horror to me,
ReplyDelete