Someone recently asked me what I planned to do for Halloween weekend. I told them that I would probably be watching horror movies. They seemed shocked to hear my response.

“You mean you will be watching movies about people getting butchered?” they said, confused.

It made me pause for a moment. No one had really put it that way for me before.

It did seem silly and got me thinking – why do we watch horror movies? Do we enjoy seeing movies about child-eating clowns or killer dolls? Do we look forward to watching films that make us feel uneasy and scared? After hearing my friend’s reaction, I started to dig deeper into my experience with horror films to see why I enjoyed them.

I love horror movies. I used to be scared of many things, such as E.T. – I know, it was silly, but I was a sensitive child. I started to face my fears by watching the movies I was intimidated by and I was immediately hooked.

I’m not sure what draws me to horror movies – I’m a chicken myself. I have never been on a roller coaster – I don’t plan on trying one anytime soon. I am afraid of heights and spiders. It’s insane to think that I like movies that are gruesome and terrifying. If you’re wondering, my favorite horror movies are “Scream,” “Psycho” and the most recent “It” film.

According to an article from Broadly.com, studies have shown that people with anxiety find horror movies “therapeutic.” This made sense to me – as an individual who has anxiety, horror movies do release some negative energy. Think of it this way – if you’re really sad about something, listening to a sad song will make you feel more sad and cry more, but can also help you release the tension inside you. You usually end up feeling better having gotten all of that negative energy out. Horror movies can have the same effect on people – it will scare you, but it will help you get your mind off of your anxiety.

I understand that there are other ways to relieve anxiety, but I thought that this method was interesting. It began to make more sense as I thought about similar examples. People play violent video games to destress after a long day – this is a similar idea to watching horror movies.

As I write this article, I am beginning to see why I love these flicks so much. First of all, they’re entertaining. They might be gory or have lots of jump scares, but the thrill of the movie is what keeps you interested. “It Follows” is one of these movies – its original storyline and creepy scenes really kept me on edge for a while. I highly recommend it.

Of course, there have been some movies that messed me up badly that I did NOT enjoy. “The Witch” was one of these. I stopped watching it after 15 minutes. Even a horror movie fan like me can still be terrified by certain films.

With that being said, I have no intention to stop watching horror movies. I think that it is something that I will explore more – I want to learn about the human attraction to these messed up films.

Regardless of whether you watch horror movies to relieve anxiety or to simply be frightened, horror movies are really fun and will always be one of my favorite things. I’ll always be drawn to why Michael Myers killed his sister, why Freddy Krueger haunts dreams and why Pinhead wants people’s souls. You should watch more horror if you are not familiar with these names!

So yes, I will be enjoying this Halloween weekend watching horror movies. You can probably find me in my bed binging the “Saw” franchise on Netflix this weekend, and I am not ashamed.