I love Halloween, but that doesn’t mean we don’t have a rocky relationship.
For me, the marking of Halloween begins when TV or large streaming channels begin to promote scary movies and marathons. That may sound pleasing for some people, but for me, I don’t know whether to be excited that Halloween is finally here or dread the fact that I’ll eventually have to give in and watch scary movies.
It’s not that I don’t enjoy scary movies––the films are fun, for the most part. But sitting down to watch a scary movie that will have my anxiety racing is not an exhilarating idea.
When I was about seven years old, I watched my first scary movie: The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. To say it was gory is an understatement, but I put on a brave face because my older brother and a family friend were so adamant about watching it. The whole time, I had my face half-covered with the pillow I tightly held.
Although I’ve been the same scared seven-year-old ever since, I’ve mustered up some courage over the years to watch several other scary movies.
But it doesn’t help that my boyfriend is obsessed with scary movies.
He has a fascination with the Saw franchise (I’m not too sure if that’s a red flag or not) and has managed to get me to watch all nine films. Being the squeamish person I am, it wasn’t easy to get through all of the gore that the Saw movies are so famously known for. Setting aside my fears, I managed to stomach all nine films and make my boyfriend proud.
I have somehow become more adventurous when it comes to my relationship with scary movies. I’ve been more open to watching them, even going as far as to watch them in theatres. But the usual anxiety still follows.
This Halloween, my boyfriend had the incredible idea of going to Ontario Place’s Haunted Cinema, an immersive drive-thru theatre where employees dress up as actors and scare you from outside your vehicle. Doesn’t that sound like so much fun?
I am no alien to drive-in theatres. I’ve become accustomed to visiting drive-thru attractions during the spooky season. The theatre gives you a choice between the Halloween classics Scream or Goosebumps starring Jack Black.
I have not seen Scream, but something tells me that the employees aren’t going to make it any easier to watch. But like any of the other horror films I’ve seen throughout the years, I naively hope that I will come out in love with scary movies. Regardless of the outcome, I will be discussing this with Halloween during our yearly session.