It's scary that I like scary movies

I have no idea why, because I am such a wimp, but I love watching scary movies. I have nightmares for days, sometimes weeks, sometimes even months afterwards, but I keep on going. Am I a masochist? Perhaps. (How else to explain my continued attempts to understand the material in my Biochem course?) But I like to think that watching these scary movies provides a rush that it is worth all of pain. It’s that thrill that I love so much and that has encouraged all the other crazy things that I’ve done (Gaza, India, skydiving, eating my own cooking, etc.)

Tonight I went to see The Exorcism of Emily Rose which undoubtedly had some creepy parts, but the reason why it frightened me so much was not the movie itself but its similarities to a book called The Prophecy. It’s written by one of my very favourite authors, Peter James who is just fantastic at combining science and the supernatural and great thrillers. I have lost far too many nights of sleep from his books, but it’s usually worth it. I was also reminded of The Exorcist which I first saw in grade 6 at a slumber party. I obviously haven’t matured very much in that time because I was just as scared by this movie as I was by that one all those years ago. I was a little jumpy in the movie theatre tonight. And by “little” I mean “massively”, and by “jumpy” I mean, of course, “scared shitless”. I can’t yet say that the movie was worth all this fear, but I can say one thing for sure: I’m sleeping with the lights on tonight.