Kevin's Watch

The Real World Fears Behind 8 Popular Movie Monsters

OK, I have to admit, I laughed my ass off at this list (especially #1), but it got me thinking....What's scary and why?

Fear itself! HA!

It's strange. Horror is effective because it taps into things so primal we cant try to approach it rationally or scientifically. Fear is a survival instinct, the problem is that our instincts don't really fit the world we live in now. How much of it is social, how much biological? We have plenty of biological reasons to be afraid of the dark, or deformed children, or aliens (I mean aliens in the generic sense, an unknown form of life) What about things like Armageddon? Vagina Dentia? Loss of humanity through technology. (like the fly) Is there a difference between a primal fear and a rational fear? Is fear of the dark the same as fear of the loss of identity? Where did that fear come from?

I have to agree. Vampires just don't scare me anymore. Unless they behave like zombies.

The Unknown has to be the second fear. Even death comes after that. Isn't belief in the afterlife the defense mechanism against the unknown of death?

Cut aside all the cultural trappings, and what's scary to us is what we don't know--or more precisely, what we can only imagine. Fear of the dark, the stranger, death; they are all beyond our control.

But fear of pain is first, firing the imagination to guess where it will come from next. And not knowing teaches us to fear irrationally.

How many of you remember, as a child, lying in bed trying to figure out what the lumpy shadow across the room was, and because you couldn't be sure, your imagination kept you awake?

Don't we all just hate not knowing?

That's the 3rd part of my signature. It's the stuff we can't imagine that always scares the crap out of us.

Have to disagree with the theory on fear of clowns. I've never seen or read 'It', and I don't remember the last time I even saw a real clown. Maybe I never have. There's just something about the forced cheeriness and almost surreal behaviour that unsettles me.

As for #6, "it would be wrong to make a movie about the horror of giving birth to a deformed baby, because it would be wrong to admit that people are terrified of that", I can only assume this writer's David Lynch viewing is very limited.

I also find clowns and mimes to be creepy. It's the hidden face behind the face paint.

Cameraman Jenn wrote:I also find clowns and mimes to be creepy. It's the hidden face behind the face paint.

The old Phantom of the Opera with Lon Chaney is likely the iconic source of the fear of masks. I know I didn't hate clowns at all until Poltergeist, and I have more empathy to the fear of a strange face staring at me in the dark.

CovenantJr wrote:Have to disagree with the theory on fear of clowns. I've never seen or read 'It', and I don't remember the last time I even saw a real clown. Maybe I never have. There's just something about the forced cheeriness and almost surreal behaviour that unsettles me.

As for #6, "it would be wrong to make a movie about the horror of giving birth to a deformed baby, because it would be wrong to admit that people are terrified of that", I can only assume this writer's David Lynch viewing is very limited.

I don't think its a stretch to say there is something *very* wrong with Eraserhead and David Lynch. He is also a twisted genius.

I must admit that the image of John Wayne Gacy in clown makeup sodomizing someone and then strangling them with their own underwear has somewhat prejudiced me against clowns.

Sunbaneglasses wrote:I must admit that the image of John Wayne Gacy in clown makeup sodomizing someone and then strangling them with their own underwear has somewhat prejudiced me against clowns.

Yep, that's understandable.

What was once a vicious blood sucking monster has become a romantic character conflicted because the strength of his kiss will surely kill the woman he wants to love. Anne Rice cut the balls off of Vampires. They are now imaginary gay boyfriends for goth girls.

This is so true. Vampires just are not scary anymore. I think the only vampire movie that is remotely scary is Nosferatu. Something about the ugliness of the monster and the old shaky black and white film that creeps me out.

I fear vampiric type creatures. I fear spiders. They are not only eight eyed, eight legged, spindly, hairy and creepy with mandibles and venon but they sting you with a stinger and paralyze you and then leave you bound and horrified and usually hanging helpless while you await the draining of your bodily fluids to occur at their leisure while you are still alive and conscious. Way more terrifying than vampires scratching at the window begging to be let in. Dolts. What idiot is gonna say, "Sure, come on in?" Spiders also spin practically invisible traps. Ugh. Gross. Creepy. Some spiders are even known to kill their own mates at the point of egg fertilizing. "Oh baby, it's so good yeah, come on, oh oh oh, done? Dumbass! I faked it." and then the bite. SOME even lay the eggs down the thoat of the trapped man and then let the kids eat his body from the inside out. Some freaking child support. Ugh.

It has nothing to do with Chaney's Phantom it goes all the way back to sock-monkeys!

I was scared of vampires when I was a kid, but yeah, Anne Rice did a number on 'em. It was all about being snatched and bitten that was scary to me. The sensuality of them was lost on me then.

danlo wrote:It has nothing to do with Chaney's Phantom it goes all the way back to sock-monkeys!

Okay, you lost me with the clinical jargon. Sock monkeys? And masks?

This is a sock monkey

I just crapped my pants.

Cail wrote:I just crapped my pants.

Now that's scary.