What's Wrong With...

I don't know why so many people have to condemn horror fans. I mean, do you think romance readers are constantly horny? Why horror? One of the things about horror is it be realistic or fantastic or funny or anything in between. It can be mild or extreme. One thing about horror is it is not real.

Like my mom said,'' Actors can wash the fake blood off and go have dinner with their families.'' Exactly. Ever since she said that I really understood why it was okay to watch or read or write these horrendous things.

People want that safe roller coaster and to explore things they do not get to experience. It serves as a catharsis for many where they get to purge these dark thoughts and feelings. And it is a fandom of opposites. We relish the good kills in a horror movie and then we'll see on Instagram just smiling and saying: behind the scenes.

It is a genre made for the fans. It gives many young filmmakers and actresses and actors low barrier to entry and gives them an opportunity to at least build their reel. It's a forgiving genre because it can be good or bad and has a charm to it.

That is not necessarily true for other genres. Horror can be good and fun even if it is not necessarily scary. The other genre that gets a little lee way is comedy. It can be smart or dumb. It can be crude or clean and it will find its audeience and can be fun.

RL Stine and John Carpenter and countless others were criticized growing up for liking the genre. I wrote this article because my dad chuckled after I recognized the name Ed Gale, the midget who played Chucky in the original Child's Play.

Before he has said, ''how do you know that?'' I write horror and am knowledgable. It has been blatantly obvious that he has some weird feeling or resentment toward me liking the genre so much. It is so stupid. It says more about the critics than it does about the fans.

It is imperative to develop a thick skin. Not everybody will understand it and think it is weird but it is so tiring and a stupid game to play. To really look down on someone or get hostile because their tastes differ from yours greatly.

It gets old feeling like I am on trial for liking horror. I remember one Christmas Eve I was watching Halloween four and my dad said: ''It's Christmas Eve, give the spooky stuff a rest.''

It's weird. What really does not make sense is being eleven years old and my dad pulling me into his room to watch The Omen for the first time and being confused by the ending and asking a question only to be hit with: ''If you don't understand it don't watch.''

It is the most infuriating thing to have such inconsistency in a parent and even as I type this I think: it says more about my dad than it does me, but still, it is annoying to be hit with criticism for being who you are.

It is not a problem to love horror. Who cares if it is your preferred genre? Who does it hurt? Ignorance is a Hell of an infection. It harms those around the ignorant person as much as it hurts the people suffering from it. We all work hard be it at school or work or a combo of both and the last thing we need is judgmental people making us feel bad because of the entertainment we choose to indulge in.