Happy Halloween!

I hope everyone has a fun and thrilling Halloween! I went to Boone Hall's Fright Night two weeks ago for a bit of a scare. I wasn't very scared, but I nearly peed my pants laughing at one of the girls I went with. She loves violent, gory movies, but cannot take people jumping out at her. Well, guess what they did at Boone Hall...they jumped out of her, in spades. It. Was. Hilarious.

I did, however, get the hell scared out of me by that movie Paranormal Activity. Holy Hell. I have never been more terrified in my life. I planned on going to see it this weekend with my sister, but my friend Sarah was going to be out of town then, so I thought I could go with Sarah and her boyfriend on Monday, learn where all the scary bits are, and then seem really brave and unaffected when I went with my sister. Little did I realize that Paranormal Activity is not your typical horror film. It relies on the creepiest of tactics: the unknown. No gore, no frightening theme music (no theme music at all, in fact), and no oozing/ghoulish monsters. Just the knowledge that something is there, you can't see it, but you know it's evil, powerful, and does not like the main characters in the film is all you're given. And it's presented in such a way as to seem like a real-life documentary.

So, I went and saw the movie on Monday. It scared the crap out of me. So scary that I refused (for a while) to see it again, even though I knew where all the scary bits where. I couldn't do it again. That night I stayed up quite a few hours past my bedtime, with all the lights on, watching happy things, because I was too afraid to go to bed. Sarah and her boyfriend turned up the ringers on their phones so that if I called them, terrified out of my mind, they'd hear my call and come get me. From Summerville. Yeah, I was that scared. It wasn't until I put on my crucifix and said a half-dozen Our Fathers that I could even try to go to sleep. With the lights on. Last night (Tuesday) wasn't so bad - I read from the Bible for a bit and then went to sleep hugging it (The Bible) to my chest. But I managed to sleep without the lights on, and that is an accomplishment. I have finally read up on the movie and am trying to convince myself that it was just that - a movie, a work of fiction. We'll see how tonight goes.

But for now, I am going to brave it again on Saturday. My consolation is that this time I won't have to go back to a dark apartment, alone, listening to all the bumps in the night that my neighbors may or may not be making.

Happy Halloween!