in the dark recesses of imagination
i have always loved being scared. it is invigorating. your body tenses as you prepare to react to the impending threat. all of your senses are heightened, and your skin contracts, preserving body heat. your heart beats faster, causing all of your body's functions to be quickened. your body is at full alert.
when i was a kid, my mom would let me sometimes stay up to watch the late movie with her. my excitement would increase if the movie involved some monsters or occult themes. when the kids my age were reading "encyclopedia brown" or judy bloom's works, i was reading and re-reading stephen king's entire works...and laughing my way through them.
the most scared i recall experiencing during a movie was while watching "the exorcist." sure, other movies will startle me or cause me to look behind me a few times; but, this one still gives me the creeps for a long time. the fact that it is loosely based on "true" events only adds to its power to frighten me.
i have noticed that my scareability quotient has been reduced to almost nil in the past 25 years. on occasion, i will go to a movie with the anticipation produced by marketing. "the scariest movie since ______" is a common superlative given to these pretenders. the most disappointing of these was "the blair witch project." you may have also lain down 7 or 8 dollars to watch this blather. sorry. the film was mostly shot with a hand-held video camera with the stability function not functioning. as a result, watching the movie gave me the sensation of spinning in circles while on the deck of a small boat in high seas. i really thought i was going to be ill in the theater, but i couldn't allow myself to leave because this thing was going to get scary. at least that was what i was led to believe. the college-age son of one of my friends had been afraid to walk home to his dormroom after watching the "blair witch project," so i knew there was something for which to wait. when the movie was over without producing anything worth writing about, i was sorely disappointed. it seems the only scary proposition that night was that of me worrying over whether i would get home before vomiting. i had to pull over.
the scariest experience i remember was one of my own creation. i had driven to austin for a basketball game just after my return from my mission. i had gone by myself and stayed for the end of the last game of the night. just after crossing over the bridge on jacob's well road, my car died. it was extremely cold and dark outside, and i had no recourse. these were the days before cell phones, and no one was going to come down that road at midnight, so i lifted my tired ,wet body out of the car and started to walk. me walking home was no big change of experience, i have walked all over wimberley at one time or another...but tonight was different. it was much shorter to take an old abandoned road through the woods, than to stay on the main roadway. i have always been a firm believer in the magic of taking the shortest route to accomplish a task, so my decision was already made. the moon was new, so it was unusually dark out that night. i was very cold and tried to coax my meager wind breaker into doing something miraculous, but it didn't help me much. in the dead of night, dark, cold, and possessing a mind full of frightening images and stories; i was in for a long walk. about 3 or 4 miles of pretending not to hear any creaking, or footsteps, or groaning is enough to whittle away the wits of a twenty-one year old boy from the woods. i couldn't get home fast enough, but i wouldn't allow myself to run...partially from pride and machismo, partially from being too tired from playing hoop all night, but i also didn't want to compel any ghoul in the forest to have to chase me. that would really have freaked me out. it was exhilarating.
i got a new book for christmas that is a modern-day telling of the dracula story. i remember learning about vlad "the impaler" dracula in high school and being fascinated with his ferocity, inhumanity, and unquenchable cruelty. he was a perfect model for the most famous of all horrors. the fact that a real person lived who performed these incalculable acts of depravity was scarier to me than any story about a guy who wanted to bite the necks of pretty young girls. shoot, at the time, i wouldn't have minded doing some of that myself.
so far i haven't gotten very scared reading this new book, although am really enjoying it. the work is also a history and geography book, as the protagonist couple are traversing europe in the search of the tomb of vlad dracula. fortunately, we all know what i should do in case it does start to frighten me - get under the blanket and not allow any part of myself to be uncovered. everyone knows the bogey man is only allowed to attack body parts exposed to the world.
when i was a kid, my mom would let me sometimes stay up to watch the late movie with her. my excitement would increase if the movie involved some monsters or occult themes. when the kids my age were reading "encyclopedia brown" or judy bloom's works, i was reading and re-reading stephen king's entire works...and laughing my way through them.
the most scared i recall experiencing during a movie was while watching "the exorcist." sure, other movies will startle me or cause me to look behind me a few times; but, this one still gives me the creeps for a long time. the fact that it is loosely based on "true" events only adds to its power to frighten me.
i have noticed that my scareability quotient has been reduced to almost nil in the past 25 years. on occasion, i will go to a movie with the anticipation produced by marketing. "the scariest movie since ______" is a common superlative given to these pretenders. the most disappointing of these was "the blair witch project." you may have also lain down 7 or 8 dollars to watch this blather. sorry. the film was mostly shot with a hand-held video camera with the stability function not functioning. as a result, watching the movie gave me the sensation of spinning in circles while on the deck of a small boat in high seas. i really thought i was going to be ill in the theater, but i couldn't allow myself to leave because this thing was going to get scary. at least that was what i was led to believe. the college-age son of one of my friends had been afraid to walk home to his dormroom after watching the "blair witch project," so i knew there was something for which to wait. when the movie was over without producing anything worth writing about, i was sorely disappointed. it seems the only scary proposition that night was that of me worrying over whether i would get home before vomiting. i had to pull over.
the scariest experience i remember was one of my own creation. i had driven to austin for a basketball game just after my return from my mission. i had gone by myself and stayed for the end of the last game of the night. just after crossing over the bridge on jacob's well road, my car died. it was extremely cold and dark outside, and i had no recourse. these were the days before cell phones, and no one was going to come down that road at midnight, so i lifted my tired ,wet body out of the car and started to walk. me walking home was no big change of experience, i have walked all over wimberley at one time or another...but tonight was different. it was much shorter to take an old abandoned road through the woods, than to stay on the main roadway. i have always been a firm believer in the magic of taking the shortest route to accomplish a task, so my decision was already made. the moon was new, so it was unusually dark out that night. i was very cold and tried to coax my meager wind breaker into doing something miraculous, but it didn't help me much. in the dead of night, dark, cold, and possessing a mind full of frightening images and stories; i was in for a long walk. about 3 or 4 miles of pretending not to hear any creaking, or footsteps, or groaning is enough to whittle away the wits of a twenty-one year old boy from the woods. i couldn't get home fast enough, but i wouldn't allow myself to run...partially from pride and machismo, partially from being too tired from playing hoop all night, but i also didn't want to compel any ghoul in the forest to have to chase me. that would really have freaked me out. it was exhilarating.
i got a new book for christmas that is a modern-day telling of the dracula story. i remember learning about vlad "the impaler" dracula in high school and being fascinated with his ferocity, inhumanity, and unquenchable cruelty. he was a perfect model for the most famous of all horrors. the fact that a real person lived who performed these incalculable acts of depravity was scarier to me than any story about a guy who wanted to bite the necks of pretty young girls. shoot, at the time, i wouldn't have minded doing some of that myself.
so far i haven't gotten very scared reading this new book, although am really enjoying it. the work is also a history and geography book, as the protagonist couple are traversing europe in the search of the tomb of vlad dracula. fortunately, we all know what i should do in case it does start to frighten me - get under the blanket and not allow any part of myself to be uncovered. everyone knows the bogey man is only allowed to attack body parts exposed to the world.
posted by cm at 12/28/2005
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