What is My Attraction to Rabid Clowns?

I was a die-hard Steven King fan in my early 20’s. I started with “The Long Road” from The Bachman Books and kept reading everything King wrote for years. Having grown up in the era of Freddy Krueger and Michael Myers, it makes sense that horror was a genre that was appealing. I remember reading IT and not being able to put it down.  The book was 1138 pages…I read it in a week. Before you ask – I was working at the time but every waking moment outside of work was spent in that book. That was followed by more books by Steven King and Dean Koontz – Lightning being my favorite.

Fast forward to 2004 when It was shown on TV.  It (being the pronoun and not the title) became one of our families favorite movies.  Oddly enough, our other favorite was Kill Bill. I raised boys. It wasn’t going to be Little Mermaid. Don’t judge. Tim Curry played Pennywise – I remember thinking he was terrifying in the original.  Every time it would come on TV, we would gather around as a family to watch it. Some families go to the Lake, ours watches rabid clowns eat small children. I’m not sure what that says about us.

Eric and I went to see the updated version yesterday. Matt mentioned that the mere fact that the original movie came out in 1990 and it’s now 27 years later is pretty awesome. Pennywise rises every 27 years if you are unfamiliar with the story. Special effects have grown over the years. The new Pennywise (played by Bill Skarsgard) is downright…what’s worse the terrifying…petrifying? He looks like a mix of Michael Myers, Freddie Krueger, and Tim Curry with a side of Private Pile from Full Metal Jacket in the bathroom scene.

What is it the draws us to watching scary movies? It is the adrenalin rush? The fascination with trying to guess what comes next? I’m so unsure but can say that it’s been a while since I’ve seen a scary movie and I felt like a kid…and I’ve seen and read the story before.  I know what happens and I still jumped! The victory came from jumping and not peeing….apparently that only happens with comedies! Now I will be waiting for Part II comes out…hopefully not in 27 years! I’m assuming going to a scary movie in my 80’s would not be conducive to good health.  What are your favorite movies?