Have you ever had a nightmare so real and vivid that you woke up scared and had to make sure there were no monsters under your bed? Or maybe you’ve been in a haunted house or watched a scary movie that terrified you so badly that you slept with the lights on for a week? 

It’s no secret that many people have an infatuation with horror films, and with Halloween just around the corner, spooky media is all that’s on anyone’s mind. People who like scary movies love the thrill that it gives them with a bowl of popcorn, a blanket to hide under and the lights turned down low.

“The biochemical inside our bodies also changes when we consume horror,” said Haiyang Yang and Kuangjie Zhang, writers for the Harvard Business Review. “Fright can trigger the release of adrenaline, resulting in heightened sensations and surging energy.”

However, what if those hypothetical situations turned into a reality, and your traumatic fantasy of running away from an ax murderer or being haunted by a supernatural doll became real? 

Think about it. What’s your favorite scary movie? We all know iconic horror movies like “Scream” or “Halloween.” They have some pretty gruesome fatalities, and you lose characters along the way. Sometimes, the main protagonist makes it out in the end just in time against all odds. What if you were in that situation? Would you survive that horror movie? 

“No, because if I was in a life or death situation, my fight or flight reaction would just not kick in,” said Kennedy Welker, a junior English major. “I would just accept my fate because I would panic, so I would know that I just wouldn’t make it because I wouldn’t fight back.” 

I think it’s funny to think about what I would do if I were in a situation like the kids from “It” where a killer clown was terrorizing my life. I would simply leave. I would stay away from the sewers and move towns. 

Why do people in scary movies feel the need to stay in their house when, for example, a paranormal being says “get out” or “go away”? Personally, I’m out. My bags are already packed, and the only traces left of me are some tire tracks and dust in the wind. Fortunately, some other sane GCSU students agree. 

“I think I would survive because I would run away the first time something happened,” said Andrew Carey, a junior business major. 

Now, thinking about it from the perspective of being chased or attacked, I do think I would fight back. Perhaps I am delusional, but I feel as though I would think of some clever way of getting out of a situation and defending myself. It truly is all about fight or flight. 

I don’t really watch a lot of scary movies. I don’t dislike them, but when I watch them, I think about them way too much and get really paranoid. 

I like to think of spooky movies more like “Scooby-Doo.” I love the spooky and mysterious aspects, but the life-threatening aspects. Although thrilling, fear is not very enjoyable to me. I like the idea of the monster just being some guy terrorizing civilians in a costume but once unmasked is revealed to be a random car salesman named Bob, not some knife-wielding maniac who turns out to be a true psychopath.  

So, during this spooky season, consider while watching your next horror movie how you might feel if the things you saw on screen were actually happening and if it still just seems just like spooky, scary fun.