Snow and Horror Movies

Colorado's schizophrenic weather strikes again!  Yesterday afternoon it was close to 70 degrees and it felt so good to be outside in the sunshine.  Today it's 34 with a steady 23 mph wind that is blowing the snow around like crazy.

The view (if you can call it a view) from my office window

This short video (in which you can see my reflection) shows how tall buildings cause it to snow upward.  You can also get an idea of what the wind is doing.

Last night I watched The Conjuring for the second time.  I wondered if it would be as creepy at home as it was at the theater, and it didn't disappoint.  I didn't jump as much as I had at the theater, but it was still a really well-executed horror movie.  I love horror stories, always have.  I remember in elementary school we used to have a section of the library that had all these books about ghosts, vampires, and werewolves; and I checked out every single one of them.  Even though I've always loved reading and watching horror stories, that doesn't mean I didn't get creeped out.  I had one particular book (I owned this one) where the stories were so scary that just seeing the picture on the front of the book was enough to keep me up at night.  So I used to hide it under my bookshelf so I wouldn't inadvertently see the cover while I was trying to fall asleep.

When it comes to horror stories I have a couple of very specific genres that I enjoy.  I'll watch/read pretty much anything with vampires, werewolves, or zombies.  But I do not like slasher horror films.  I guess I enjoyed Friday the 13th and Nightmare on Elm Street when I was a teenager, but I never liked watching the more realistic-looking slasher films like Texas Chainsaw Massacre or Saw.  I don't like to see people get hurt.  If it looks really campy and cheesy it doesn't really bother me, but if it looks even remotely real I just have no interest in watching it.  (I don't like to watch fighting either, I just really don't like to see people getting hurt).

What I've always really loved is a good psychological thriller type of horror that really gets under one's skin.  The Ring, The Exorcist, The Omen, and The Others are some of my favorites that I tend to re-watch (maybe too often).  Apparently there's just something about giving myself the heebie-jeebies that I've always enjoyed; maybe it's the adrenaline rush and it just manifests differently in me.  At any rate, I slept about as well as I usually do last night, which is to say not very well, but I didn't feel particularly scared, so I think it was just normal insomnia issues.  But this morning when I went out at 4:30 for a brisk walk along the creek that runs behind our house where there are no streetlights, I was thinking about the movie and I did feel just a little anxious.  Obviously I highly recommend the movie for anyone else out there who enjoys a good scare now and then.  Just don't blame me if you get a little more freaked-out than you were bargaining for!