ssues & ideas EDITOR NICO HERNANDEZ THE VOICE, THURSDAY, OCT. 27 , 2016 7 Horror: the sum of all fears Films turn soctety’s biggest phobias into scary entertainment for horror aficionados 4 God watched me in Phobias Inspire movies Real life fears have driven horror films to scare audi- ences and share messages By JESSICA PURVER splattered dolls and possessed children are popular themes in horror movies that were influenced by phobias found in real life. The concept of fear is complex, and not just manifested in horror films be- cause it can be acquired from the un- known. What is in the shadows can lead to a fear of the dark and seeing ghosts and spectres induces a fear of paranormal activities. These phobias are well documented in real life, and then adapted for people to see on the big screen. Gregory Holditch, a Langara English instructor who teaches Modern Novel, Poetry, and Film, believes a dynamic horror film functions on two levels. “T think that’s what makes horror ex- citing - it has that duality,” said Hold- itch. A horror movie will entertain and engage its audience on the surface lev- el and the hidden messages that it contains. 2014’s It Follows, about a young woman being followed by a supernatu- ral force, and 2011’s The Cabin in the Woods T: fear of sinister clowns, blood- a DARRYL GASBARRI Netherworld Col- lectibles owner about five col- lege students in a remote cabin, are good exam- ples of films that allow the audi- ence to both re- act to and ex- 66 The human plore their imagina- greatest social . F and superficial tion ts fears. much more “There are of . course the films distrubed that I just watch than the and enjoy on my ° own, then there movte are the films [where] there’s something deep- er and more sig- nificant that would make really good fodder to discuss in class,” said Hold- itch. Darryl Gasbarri, owner of Nether- world Collectibles in Burnaby, said that people choose to be frightened in hor- ror movies because they can experi- ence their instinctual reactions of fear in a controlled environment. He com- pared watching a scary movie to sky- diving because it is cheaper and safer than experiencing an adrenaline rush “Everybody wants to be scared at some point,” said Gasbarri, who is also a film aficionado. “We want to be scared knowing we’re safe.” For Gasbarri, what you don’t under- stand and cannot see are the most uni- versally terrifying factors in a film. “The human imagination is much more disturbed than the movie,” he said. “Your mind will fill in the blanks.” SEAN HITREC photo Basel Hussein is covering his face as he recreates his bad trip when he first smoked salvia. Everyone experiences fear differently; some have fun, while others don’t By SEAN HITREC cary movies are too frightening for him, but potential hallucino- genic-drug-induced near-death experiences are just fine for Ba- sel Hussein, a first-year psychology student at Langara. “T went up to the sky and then God punched me in the face. So he punched me down to hell and then I just had hell for 20 minutes,” Hussein said of his first salvia experience. “In the trip, I just completely forgot about life. I al- most thought I was dead. I thought I was in hell. Then when I woke up. I didn’t believe it.” “For the next hour I didn’t speak a word and I was just looking at my hands.” For some people, experiencing a bad trip of God punching them in the face would be too terrifying to accept, but screaming to a scary scene in The Con- juring would be fun. According to Sheila Woody, a psy- chology professor at UBC, fear is for survival, and there is no line that sepa- rates it from being fabricated and being in actual danger. “At the brain level, fear is all the same... The fear response is a fight-or- flight response and it basically pre- pares the body for serious action,” Woody said. “And so if you are in a situ- ation that requires action, like you are hiking and you see a bear and her cubs then that’s very, very functional. It’s healthy fear because you’re in an ob- jectively dangerous situation.” By contrast, many people love Hal- loween and the fear of ghosts ghouls and monsters. “Some people find the sensation of scary movies or roller coasters, they find that to be appealing. They really enjoy the energizing feeling of that,” Woody said. “.. You have your increases in adren- aline and increased heart rate and oth- er kinds of physiological responses.” COMMON phobias CLAUSTROPHOBIA Fear of small spaces AGORAPHOBIA Fear of open or crowded spaces MYSOPHOBIA Fear of germs ACROPHOBIA Fear of heights ARACHNOPHOBIA Fear of spiders AEROPHOBIA Fear of flying Source: http://www.fearof.net Cult classics aren't dead Old horror movies are still alive, thanks to remakes By CAITLIN O’FLANAGAN into the eerie spirit with their fa- vourite cult classics and modern remakes being turned into stage pro- ductions. Combining fiction with realism to provide a hearty dose of fear is what makes viewers appreciate these films over many decades, and inspires direc- tors to make remakes of it. Mark Carter, an artistic director at Down Stage Right Productions (DSR), appreciates the nostalgia of a classic horror film. He has made a career of re- making cult classics for the Vancouver stage, such as Evil Dead and The Rocky Horror Show. He directed CBC Studio 700’s live production of Night of the Liv- ing Dead on Oct. 20-23. “A cult classic endures because it’s familiar and it’s something that made an impression on people,” said Carter. “People want to revisit something they love.” “People may not have ever seen a classic but have heard of it, so it’s a bit of a curiousity perhaps to find out for themselves what all the fuss is about.” There have been multiple remakes of the 1960 thriller Psycho, most recently the spinoff television show Bates Motel. Justis Greene, the show’s producer, jokes that remakes in the film industry stems from a lack of new ideas. “The originals tend to be so incredi- ble that there seems to be an audience for them,” Greene said. “We’re lucky in that we have phenomenal writers with incredible imaginations to make the show contemporary.” Despite the lack of originality that comes from remakes, fear is the most essential part of these classic films. Pe- ter Babiak, a Langara English profes- sor who teaches Modern Novel, Poetry, and Film, appreciates the psychological aspects of these older films, and feels that gory effects overshadow original writing in newer horror movies. “T think it’s important to be scared every once in a while. There’s a theatri- cality to fear and to horror, and that hasn’t changed since Shakespeare,” said Babiak. Hive. enthusiasts are getting Courtesy of DOWN STAGE RIGHT PRODUCTIONS Poster of the Night of the Living Dead live production.