Taming Terror: Sliding into Horror

My love of horror started as a toddler.

My dad thought that having me watch creature features and other horror films would keep me from ever thinking there were monsters under my bed.

It worked! A little too well. I’ve been fascinated by horror and terror, monsters and ghouls, vampires and zombies ever since. From an early age, I’ve asked what fear is, why we feel it, and how we can use it to our advantage. Fear is a driving force of many of our lives: fear of losing loved ones, fear of failure, fear of financial instability, fear of the dark and things unseen. Finding others who enjoy horror has been and still is difficult. When I ask people why they don't want to watch scary movies with me, they say “I just don’t like being scared.”

So that's the mission of this blog: to open the creaky doors and blow away some of the cobwebs so more people feel comfortable exploring their fears and finding relatable moments by providing spoiler-free jump-scare warnings and broad content warnings. The goal of each entry is to explain why that piece was included in my blog, how it serves the broader genre, and why I want you to watch.

Please note that the lists of content warnings (CWs) are general, not comprehensive. CWs on this site are intended to inform the viewer of specific kinds of content, not to spoil the fun. Including CWs is one way I can help make the horror genre more accessible to newcomers. Everyone has their squicks and major ews. Don’t yuck someone’s yum, and don’t yum up their yuck.

So why tame terror? Because everyone should feel free to explore fear, from the tamest Halloween specials to the nastiest of terrors. Life is already scary; why not try to enjoy the scares?