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Do you face your fears or shy away from your phobias?
Freddy Kruger, Michael Myers, Jason Voorhees, Chucky. Do these names give you goose bumps or do they make you want to pull out your huge horror movie collection and have a scare-a-thon? Some people view Halloween as their personal Christmas. Screw presents, they want to scare the neighborhood kids or go to haunted houses. Why do some people jump at the chance to be scared while others just jump away from it?
The emotion of fear comes down to science.
Fear is all about our noggins, says Jonathan Turner, author of Origins of Human Emotions. The emotion is generated in the amygdala, a discrete area of the brain, Turner says. This part of the brain is located below the neocortex which controls functions like sensory perception, motor commands, spatial reasoning conscious thought and language. When you are afraid, neurotransmitters are set into motion, which activate other systems, Turner says.
So why do some people enjoy creepy things when others want to wet their pants? "Some people are able to gain control through the neocortex to fear responses," he says.
Having control eases the goose bumps and profuse sweating. The high that some people experience is a combination of happiness and fear.The addition of fear increases the release of adrenaline.This is the same adrenaline that gives some people a rush when they are on a roller coaster. But for some, the only rush that they feel is the rush of vomit they spew about the park.
People experience fear through various kinds of stimulation. Horror movies, roller coasters and haunted houses are just a few things that keep us up at night. Trey Glapa, Olathe senior, enjoys being scared, especially by horror films. But there are few films that evoke terror in him, Glapa says. "What makes a horror film scary isn't so much what is shown but rather what is not shown," he says. Glapa is a film major, so he pays more attention to the camera angles in a horror film than to the zombies on a murderous rampage.
AndreaLaws,Ottawajunior also enjoys being scared by horror flicks."It's an emotion that a lot of us don't get to experience very much,"Laws says. Her favorite horror film is *Halloween.* "The fact that
the movie takes place in a small town really reminds me of Ottawa, where I'm
from, and that makes it even creepier," she says.
It's the time ofyearforcandy pumpkin carving and bobbing for apples. Those are all of the non-scary parts of Halloween. However, Halloween also means ghouls, witches and haunted houses. This serves as a paradise for that person who is starving for fear. In Kansas City, Mo., there are
plenty of opportunities for free, including the rush of a man is chasing you with a chain saw. Take a fun little journey to The Edge of Hell or The Beast haunted houses and you might experience some hair standing up on the back of your neck.
its name. Vampires lunge at visitors and breathe in their faces, anaconda's eyes follow
The Edge of Hell lives up to
TOP 15 HORROR FLICKS
Psycho (1960)
Alien (1979)
Les Diaboliques (1955)
The Shining (1980)
Aliens (1986)
Faust (1926)
Jaws (1975)
Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari (1920)
The Night of the Hunter (1955)
Bride of Frankenstein (1935)
Nosferatu (1922)
Spoorloos (1988)
Onibaba (1964)
Frankenstein (1931)
King Kong (1933)
(As rated by visitors to IMDB.com)
in the dark and the "Enter at Your Own Risk" sign on the front door contributes to shaking knees. Make sure to take a bathroom break before you enter.
Patrick Neese and David Neff, local film makers, explore the inside world of haunted houses in their documentary, Generation Fear. This film follows three people: one veteran haunter
opening a new haunted house in small town, a 19-year-old who has moved up from acting to opening the doors to his very first haunt and a haunter searching for funding for a haunted house in his own home.
Neese, co-director of Generation Fear, loves to
scare and be scared. "I think we search for
things that get the fight and flight chemicals pumping in our veins," he says. Neese has run several haunted houses in the past. "I get a high from scaring people." he says. However, Neese was not always so obsessed with haunted houses. "As a child I hated them. I refused to go near them. Then I saw my dad jump out of a tree with a mask at some teenagers and I felt instant joy," he says. Neese also loves to see people jump out of their seats at horror films. "As the music swells and the strings hold a minor chord, people stop breathing and their heart races, it doesn't get any better than that," he says.
Neese and Neff decided to make their film because of today's obsession with fear. Haunted houses open earlier in the season than in the past
about mid-September and horror movies are being released throughout the year, Neese says. Also, he notices that retailers are cashing in on the obsession with all things scary. "Halloween has grown into a two-to three-month seasonal period for retailers,
which is the same reason why people hate
Christmas now," Neese says.
For those who can't afford to a horror flick or a trip through a haunted house, a local urban legend can satisfy the hunger for fear. The Stull Cemetery, in the town of Stull, Just northwest of Clinton Lake, is considered one of the Seven Gateways to Hell. Legend has it that the devil returns to Stull only on the Spring Equinox and on Halloween because one of his wives is buried there. "I hear that the pope will not even fly over the site, fearing that his plane will crash," James Pinick, Bonner Springs senior, says. Pinick journeyed to the site with his friends when he was in high school, and the locals literally chased him out of town. "They came at us in cars and followed us until we were out of the town," he says. Although the church at the cemetery has been torn down, the site still offers a good fright for local fear seekers.
Whether you're making fake blood by dying corn syrup red or hiding under the covers waiting for the holiday to pass, have a happy Halloween.
10.26.2006 JAYPLAY <0%