Horror movies and psychosis

Lately I've been teasing my mind by watching DVD's which have mostly been horror movies; I have found a bargain bin at a local store which has them at $6.95 (not all horror, but I have picked them out). I've noticed that some movies from the 70's which garnered an "R" rating are fairly tame by today's more violent and gore-prone films, and would probably only get an "MA" rating today. Films like the Omen trilogy, The invasion of the body snatchers, Carrie and so on. In contrast I've watched a few post 2000 horror ones, like the remake of The amytiville horror, and boy are they scary! I can only watch them during daylight, and even then sometimes with the mute button on. Half the buildup happens through the use of sound, that's what I've found.

I've questioned myself about the wisdom of watching spooky films when prone to having paranoia at times; it's like I'm adding to my memory bank of frightening things which could come back to haunt me when psychotic. It's really only happened in a full-on way once, back in 2003 when I had to go to hospital. I was having florid dreams of Hannibal Lecter at the time; total nightmaes where I would sit bolt upright in bed and be sweating. I had watched the movie Red Dragon and the Hannibal character was torturing me in my dreams. I ended up as an involuntary patient for 6 weeks in hospital, having attacked my mother twice and the police arriving. I don't remember attacking my mum, my mind has blocked it out.

So the Hannibal series is one I choose not to revisit, no matter how well I feel. In contrast the spooky movies I watch these days tend to be a bit hammy and formulaic; after a while you tend to anticipate storylines.

The other thing I'm finding I'm loving are sci-fi movies; you know the typical thing where somehow from outer space a being comes to earth then gets inside a human and acts as a parasite, becoming destructive and seeking to colonise the earth. One of the best ones like this I've found was The Faculty, with an honourable mention to the 80's classic The Hidden. I'm kind of hoping the Alien quadrilogy will come up cheaply at the DVD store; I love the whole Ripley character, it's great for women.

So today, with rain softly falling outside in a typical winter's afternoon, I will curl up on the couch with the gas heater on and a horror movie going and have an enjoyable spooking. Strange maybe, but definitely fun.