Scary Movies, Demons, and Things That Go Bump in the Day
by doyle@doylearanstrom.com on Oct 23, 2021
Though I have seen a few over the years, I have never been a big fan of scary movies. One reason we're the two scary movies I saw as a teenager.
- One movie was "Wait Until Dark" with Audrey Hepburn. Remember the movie was released in 1967 when cinema was much different and directors relied on surprise and individual psychology rather than blood and gore. In one shocking scene early in the movie, my friend jumped, screamed, and dumped all of his popcorn on the similar-age young ladies in front of us. No, they were not impressed, thank you for asking, and after the movie, they felt they were safer walking home by themselves than having our company.
- Another movie was the original "Psycho" with a cast led by Jennifer Leigh and Anthony Perkins. "Psycho" was made in 1960 and I saw it in high school right before leaving for college. Again, take into consideration I was a teenager, and times and movies were different back then. Those who saw the movie during that time period will understand why I did not take a shower for years after seeing it. It was embarrassing taking sink sponge showers during my college years, but one can never be too careful.
Another reason I have never been a fan of scary movies is real life is scary enough. I have never watched any of the many Halloween movies nor will I. I am sure like the above movies from my teenage years, they can be really scary. However, I see no reason to be scared in a pretend movie when real life does it for me.
The second scariest thing that has happened to me in recent years was the January 6th, attack on our Capital. I saw this as an attack on US democracy. It not only endangered our democratic way of life for myself but more importantly, for my grandchildren.
The scariest thing that has happened to me in recent years are the Nationally elected leaders who during the insurrection were running like scared teenagers in a Halloween movie [again never watched any of the movies, but have seen previews], later called the insurrection a peaceful protest. Many of these same Nationally elected leaders, with absolutely no supporting evidence, continue to falsely state the Presidential election results were not accurate. In fact, the Presidential election results have been continually validated, recently in Arizona.
Scary movies, especially scary Halloween movies, often have zombies, goblins, and demons. In today's world, pretty easy to figure out who the zombies are. Zombies are never portrayed in the movies for their intellectual qualities. Goblins, well they were born goblins, hard to blame them. But demons. Demons know they are evil and enjoy it. Even though they know the truth, they promote untruths and falsehoods. Some are demons by choice and others become demons because they are scared of other demons who they perceive as more powerful.
The good news is there are demon fighters like the Congresswomen from Wyoming or the Congressman from Ohio. In movies, the demon fighters eventually win and that will be the case in our real life.
And it is very important the demon fighters win because we as a Nation have lots of challenges. Nothing unusual there, our Nation has always had lots of challenges. I have no doubt that we as a country have the talent, education, and resources to meet all of our challenges. The demons make it more difficult, but I guess they are just another challenge.
And for me, though I am no longer affected by the movies of my youth, I still will not be watching any scary movies. Rather, I will continue to read a good book after a nice relaxing sponge bath.