Never Watch Alone Hollywood's newest horror films remind us why fear loves company

摘要

In her bathroom, a young woman draws the tub water and flosses her teeth. Turning to the mirror, she is startled to see that her mouth has been sewed shut with the floss. As the tub overflows, some power lifts her body a few feet into the air, then smashes her skull against the porcelain sink. She's the latest victim of the demonic forces in Ouija. We go to the movies to laugh, to cry, to fall in love, to enjoy superhero shenanigans and (at least around Oscar time) to feel the social uplift of brilliant, tortured souls. But we also go to be scared witless. The theater lights go down for a horror film, and we are in an old dark house with only a screen full of dire threats to gaze at. Atavistic fear mechanisms kick in as the heroine-poor plucky, vulnerable girl-walks toward the awful menace awaiting her. We share her tremors, feel a clutching of the gut. We'd look away in terror, except that terror is why we're here: for the lure of cinematic roadkill. We can't watch; we must watch. Especially around Halloween, when every sick trick is a movie treat.