I know I do. October and the colder, stormier weather always puts me in a fright fest sort of mood, which makes it great that American Horror Story and The Walking Dead are about to return to television. Last night, I had the apartment mostly to myself and decided to do a small marathon with A Nightmare on Elm Street, Pet Sematary, and Poltergeist to hold me over until my boyfriend and I get to delve into the 50 Horror Classics mega-pack he picked up at Walmart the other day. In addition to these classic gems (none of them after 1965, I think), we’ve got a boatload of really, really crappy free horror movies downloaded onto his X-Box, so we’re pretty much set until well after Halloween.
But it did get me wondering: what are your favorite horror movies, and why? I was discussing them with a coworker lately; he likes the slasher films and says he just can’t handle the supernatural, demony, ghosty ones that I love so much (though we both agreed that A Nightmare on Elm Street is pretty much one of the best ones). The Exorcist is one of the first ones that I remember really, really terrified me, and I think Session 9 is easily one of the best psychological horrors I’ve ever had the pleasure of seeing.
Books are fair game, too. I’v got a million books I’m reading, but what are some of your favorite scary books? House of Leaves is required to be mentioned, of course; that had some pretty decent heebie-jeebie moments in it, but, really, I can’t say books manage to freak me out as much as movies do. Perhaps it’s the visual aspect for me? Maybe my brain is too much of a literary critic to effectively feel scared, though I do love a good story with some frightening bits in it. And maybe that’s why I love Stephen King movies, but not Stephen King books. Of course, I did recently pick up the Fear Street Saga books from HalfPric Books, recently…Goosebumps and Fear Street, especially the Saga were just the creepiest when I was growing up (though not nearly as creepy as Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark! The illustrations in there still give me shivers!)
I feel I also should mention scary video games, too, because those, more than anything, have had a strong influence on my horror writing. I remember playing Roberta Williams’ Phantasmagoria back when I was way, way, way too young to be playing that shit. The boyfriend recently played the latest Silent Hill demo (oh, hey, Norman Reedus, how you doin’?), and it brought up all sorts of fond memories of being too creeped out to sleep after that game.
So, let m have it. What are some of your favorite scary things?
L.S. Engler 
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