Photo by: Jessica Szejn

When it comes to watching horror movies, I’m often asked by friends who aren’t into it in the least why I bother to put up with the unsettling, uncomfortable tension that comes with sitting down to horror/thriller/gore. What is it about watching bloody dismemberments on the big screen or bearing witness to the gruesome underbelly of humanity in celluloid form that keeps me intrigued and coming back for more?

"Wouldn’t you rather just go see a comedy? Something more, um, safe?" they ask. For me, horror isn’t exactly safe – and that’s why I watch. Sure, there’s the camp, the occasional comedy; those collective exhales and cinematic punctuations where everyone can take a second to chill. Breathe. And yes, comedy might be "safer," if by volume of arterial spray alone.

But if comedy's all about the shared "feel-goods" and horror’s about the "feel unsettleds," then the genres share an objective: to make me, the viewer, feel something whenever we fork over that $12. I watch horror for the same reason I watch comedy, although it’s usually horror that’ll stick with me for days afterward. Seeing Jack Black in a Speedo may have a comparable effect (key word: “may”).

The chortles that come from watching some chubby man-child pooping himself come from the same twisted place as those shortened breaths and gasps after an exquisite kill, but only horror compels the utmost visceral reactions from me, in ways that even the grossest of gross-out comedies just can’t.

Why? Because horror isn’t only the canvas where all the taboos, sickness and moral depravity are examined: it’s also where I examine what disturbs me, what gives me palpitations and makes me think twice before turning off the last light in a room. It’s also a great excuse to get a couple of friends together and freak out for a good 1 ½ to 2 hours.

In a weird, introspective way, watching the darker side of some director’s imagination play out in front of me means I gain a deeper understanding of myself and to a larger extent, humanity.  My favorite movies usually have to do with zombies, which, more often than not, offer less insight into what would actually happen when the zombie apocalypse finally comes than the evil humans could inflict upon one another when it does.

So, what makes you a horror fan? It is all about the blood, guts and glory splattered across the screen? Or does it go deeper than that?