Horror is a genre that reflects thrilling twisting events and evolving terror. It can range from films, books, plays, or the holiday that takes place on October 31st, Halloween. This can be a perfect time for people like Destiny Munoz who has been into horror since she first came across the film Child’s Play the 1988 American slasher film directed by Tom Holland.
“When I was a lot younger I hated cartoons. I never had any interest in them because I found them boring so I’d always end up in the living room with the adults while the rest of my cousins would stay in the kid’s room watching TV. So when my uncle had put on a scary movie hoping to guide me to the kid’s room it instead left me entranced and that’s what started my love with Halloween and everything horror. I started exploring the world of horror with classical horror films mostly like The Shining, Scream, Halloween, and Carrie and I would excitedly wait for Halloween to come around the corner every year. As I got older I became more obsessed with Halloween and loved the idea of getting scared in haunted houses and dressing up while doing it.¨
Munoz obsession has now simmered down as she got older, but she still enjoys watching horror movies, telling scary stories when she has sleepovers, dressing up on Halloween night, and going through haunted houses.
Halloween has become a holiday celebrated by all age groups to express themselves through costumes heavily inspired by today’s pop culture like movies, and TV shows making Halloween a little less frightful than the classic costumes like vampires, ghouls, and werewolves that we have seen in the past.
Though it’s less frightful than decades have been before, we still love to experience the thrill of getting scared by frightful mazes, haunted houses, and ghost-chilling stories. But why are we so drawn to this type of excitement and adrenaline that comes with this holiday? Halloween offers exposure to these emotions. When a person experiences fear the brain reacts and activates the amygdala that’s located in the middle of the brain, which alerts your nervous system and your body reacts releasing stress hormones like cortisol and adrenaline. However, not everyone’s body reacts the same way this is part of the reason why people enjoy more fear than others. For example, riding a rollercoaster releases the same hormones as getting scared yet people enjoy it because it gives them the natural high without the real endangerment that goes with being scared.
“I think it the best way to get people to really bond together It’s so much fun to go through haunted stuff with friends I feel like it’s the only thing that gets my blood pumping but in the best way possible,” said Munoz.
Bringing these hormones out can be very beneficial to people because adrenaline is what gets people’s flight or fight response moving when being faced with dangerous situations so the brain works to get them to develop strategies to escape from it quicker it can often lead a person to be more controlled in these situations if they are confronted with it enough. Fear lets us know how we react to things. Choosing to be scared is what brings the fun rather than the scare being unexpected.
“I hate Halloween, I just don’t like to be scared. I dread when October comes around and I see all the scary stuff on display at stores. I would rather avoid it altogether if I could,” said senior Hadia Ullah
The self-satisfaction of being scared comes from this as we endure October’s spooky season as horror fans can get exposed to haunted mazes, watch spooky movies hear chill thrilling scary stories that get people to push into these experiences.
