However, around the same time, a strange trend was occurring in both American and foreign horror. Thus, I swore off horror films for the next few years. I couldn’t handle horror films because I felt scared for weeks, months, or even years after watching them. The film was too good it was actually too scary.
My experience with Alfred Hitchcock’s seminal work officially turned me off to horror for a while. So, I watched Psycho with my parents and, for the better part of a month, couldn’t walk upstairs or take showers without feeling like someone was going to rush in and stab me. They left me feeling paranoid and edgy, but I couldn’t seem to get enough of them. However, I had developed a kind of obsession with horror films. My mom felt particularly reticent, as she had seen the film at 12 years old and found it almost too scary to watch. I had convinced my parents, who were very strict about my film-viewing habits, to let me watch Psycho (1960). Thinking about a crazed Renfield laughter still sends chills down my spine.įast forward to my pre-teen years. I had a similar reaction to the original Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1931). Watching it now, I would probably laugh but at eight years old, I was not laughing. I recall staying up all night after watching The Fly (1958), mostly due to my fear of spiders (you’ll understand if you’ve seen the film). That sounds like an extremely obvious and stupid statement to make, but I felt particularly affected by them. As a child, I was terrified of horror movies.