I was pretty sure that at some point I'd stop being afraid of horror movies. I mean, I study horror-literature, I love monsters, zombies, vampires, the uncanny, the history of horror, the psychology of fear, and so on. But the tragedy of my life (okay, that was slightly hyperbolic) is - I can't watch horror films. I can read about them - oh yes, I have several important looking scholarly books on the subject; I can enthuse about them at length, analyze, dissect, discuss... but I simply cannot watch them.
By 'horror' movie I mean anything remotely visually frightening. That includes, for example, certain episodes of The X-Files and The Twilight Zone, and general mainstream horror movies. But in all honesty has also included Kill Bill (I&II), Sin City, Interview with a Vampire, and (many years ago - possibly the catalyst for all this) the Ewoks movie. The worst one was Seven; I was up nights for about two weeks and didn't like being alone in the house so spent a lot of time at my friend's bar in Kingston while Nas was at work at nights.
But there are exceptions that always tease me with the possibility that I might be getting over it. I've never had a problem with The Shining; I thought The Blair Witch Project was boring; I love Romero zombie flicks and Sam Raimi's The Evil Dead series (even the first one, which Nas assures me was actually meant to be scary). I'm generally better with psychological thrillers and I can usually sit through a Hitchcock film without any consequences. For some strange reason I can also manage OTT slasher flicks. But not Saw. So I just can't narrow down what exactly scares me.
I mention this because last night, before my new favourite Torchwood (a Doctor Who spinoff) came on, Channel Five had 'The Scariest Movies of All Time On'. And I watched it. And Nasser warned me that maybe I shouldn't. But I did. I don't know if it was The Fly or the meat-hook scene in (the original - of course! I'm still a snob about these things!) Texas Chainsaw Masacre that kept me up. Possibly the finale of Rosemary's Baby (tho the commentators they had for that clip completely missed the mark - even the guy from the Church of Satan) got to me at 2am or maybe, this time, I couldn't handle the pasty-faced Avon rejects that are Raimi's zombies.
Anyway, long story short, I couldn't sleep. And I kept Nasser up. And now I'm cranky even though it is a lovely day outside and I handed in a draft of a chapter last week and don't have to see my supervisor until Friday. And I get paid this week (finally!).
On a lighter note, yesterday we went on a marathon walk around Leeds. We left at 11am and didn't get home until 5.30. The clocks went back yesterday morning so it is definitely fall now and dark by 5pm, alas. But our house is cosy and warm and full of kittens.
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