Horror Pride
Over on his blog, Neil Gaiman has posted an essay where he discusses his favorite horror movie. His is Bride of Frankenstein and his essay about it is illuminating and good but it brings up something that I've been thinking about a lot.
People are always tryingto figure out what celebrities favorite horror movie is and I don't quite get why. What is it about the genre that speaks to a person's character? When we were moderating the Women that Kick Ass panel at New York Comic Con, a fan asked Jenna Jameson what her favorite horror movie was and everyone went crazy when she answered: applause mixed with a smattering of "boo" and "yeah!" (She said Evil Dead 2).
It's a tough question to answer. You need to stride the line between saying something obvious and being seen as lame and mainstream and saying something that is too obscure and sounding haughty about it. Do you go with a straight horror piece or something tongue-in-cheek like Ms. Jameson's answer? How come people do wonder what your favorite sci-fi movie is? Or romantic comedy? (Could saying Sleepless in Seattle end a person's career?)
My answer is a movie that I don't know the title of (Now that's obscure) that I watched as a kid and scared the bejeesus out of me. There was a scene where this woman is running from a killer and she's hiding in her bed. She thinks that she's safe and is looking around the room comfortably. The camera makes a pass. She gasps and the camera makes another pass and you see two eyes glaring at her from a man who matches the wallpaper exactly and has been watching her the whole time.
It doesn't seem all that scary reading it now, but I'll tell you, I have hated wallpaper ever since.
I think its because you can tell so much about a person by the movie they chose, and people always wanna get to know famous people.
I agree that you can tell a lot about someone from answering that kind of question. Example being anyone who names a black and white horror film. They're either A) Trying to sound "academic" about it. Or B) It was something that inspired them. Most likely the later for Mr Gaiman.
I say the later for him because I can see the movie inspiring some of his work.
Mr personal favorite horror film is the 80s "Monster Squad" I remember that movie scaring the crap out of me in parts when i watched it first on cable TV. Later viewings it was more of the coolness of the kids taking out monsters then being scared.