First off, I know I am in a relative minority of grown adults who still like the horror genre.  In this post, I will try to figure out, for myself and others why horror films still holds such appeal.  First of all, I think my fondness for horror movies stems from the fact that it brings back memories of childhood, where many kids liked the idea of being scared and the existence of boogeyman, ghosts and monsters went pretty much unquestioned.  Going to watch a horror movie as an adult lets me slip briefly back into childhood for a couple of hours.   I really enjoy the suspention of disbelief that watching a horror movie requires.  It’s a temporary escape from reality that I always get great enjoyment from.  Also, it happens to feel good to get a good scare.  It’s like riding roller coasters, you get to experience “controlled danger.”  On the one hand, you feel like you are in danger, on the other hand, you know you are perfectly safe.  One reason I love both horror movies and roller coasters. 

A second reason I may be attracted to horror movies is that I’ve always had an interest in topics relating to the supernatural, so horror movies with ghosts are my favorite.  I’m not a big fan of the slasher flicks.  I think gore is a poor substitute for psychological horror.  And not particularly scarry, just gross.  It takes a great director to be able to instill fear without having to resort to special effects.  It is often the unseen that is more scary.  In movies, and in real life.  Rear Window, although a suspense movie, is a good example. 

Some favorite horror movies off the top of my head (and in no particular order):

• Halloween
• The Nightmare on Elm Street series (which is the crown jewel of my DVD collection)
• Event Horizon
• The Silence of the Lambs (one of my favorite movies of all times) 
• Rob Zombie’s remake of the original Halloween
• Rob Zombie’s House of a 1000 Corpses, and the sequel, which I can’t remember right off the bat
• Poltergeist and it’s sequels
• Devil’s Backbone (Spanish language film by Guillermo del Torro)
• Three Extremes (3 mini-movies by 3 different Asian horroro movie directors)
• Many of the Asian horror movies, which tend to be more truly “creepy” than the slasher, blood, guts and gore types that the American directors are so fond of
• High Tension (French film)
• The Shining
• The Exorcist and Exorcist III
• Resident Evil trilogy
• Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead, Day of the Dead, i.e. George A. Romero’s zombie movies
• 28 Days Later