Class, Meet my BFF Horror!

I have had a very long relationship with Horror. We met back in my wee lad days while I was spending the night at grangran's house. She would let me stay up late at night watching either cartoons or Zorro (ahhhhhhhhhhh Zorro!!!!!!!!!!!!! sorry about that). However this particular October night a show called, "Tales of The Crypt" came on. As I watched with my innocent little eyes such horrifying, thrilling, gory, with a dash of comedy here and there to keep it fresh. When we met, I was truly thrilled. It was Horror at it's core! Little did I know the movie, Cape Fear, came out in the same time which reminded me of that good ole fashion Horror that I grew up knowing and loving. I was also delighted to be Carroll's case study when she was diving into why people are drawn to Horror, but I personally think I'm an adrenaline junkie and that instant fear gives me a thrill.

Cape Fear was a movie about an innocent convicted felon of rape and murder served 14 years in jail due to his defense attorney bury evidence.  While serving his time Robert De Niro learned to read, law, and ended up getting a law degree in jail. When he got out his plot of revenge began by finding his defense attorney. His plot and plan was to get revenge and make him suffer like Job did in the bible. Robert De Niro's character slowly exposed his old attorney's affair, stole the piano string which was a murder weapon, killed the attorney's cop friend and made him and his family flee the scene of the crime. De Niro rode under the car as they moved the their next location Cape Fear. While getting settled in their new boat-home, De Niro springs into action and tried to take out the family. The attorney wins the struggle, the boat crashes and the family is saved. The fear and horror at play here is almost like a fear of Karma and past actions.

Watching Cape Fear reminded me of Aristotle's take on tragedy where we don't want to experience the terror but just observe from a safe distance. Almost to feel empathetic to the experience. What drew me in even more was the fact that I have aspirations on being an attorney and I've thought about some of the consequences which is making enemies. I don't plan on sabotaging my moral code to tamper with my cases as such. That has bad Karma written all over it. Things such as ghosts, ghouls, and goblins don't scare me but what does scare me is what I learned from Scooby-Doo; the person behind the mask is what you need to fear. Carroll brings up in the article the point about why people are drawn to horror is the unknown but the thrill is when the unknown is reaching out to you and you are not in control; which is fear. It has been something that puzzles mankind each day. The unknown is a huge source of fear. Whether its the fear of the unknown under the bed, in the closet, waiting on you in the backseat of your car, or even right behind you; Horror and thriller movies capture this an taunt us to put a face to this unknown horror and steer others from it.

Horror! I hope you paid everyone a healthy visit this week and opened their mind to a good scare!