Blaugust 1 - Horror Movies Are Best Shared Socially

Aug 14, 2025

Well this is my first Blaugust post after spinning my wheels on what was meant to be my first post.

So - Horror movies. I watch a lot of horror. There are a few reasons for this: I like seeing unhinged shit I've never seen before. Stuff like Mad God. I like getting insight into modern societies anxieties. Or anxieties of past decades: Jason from the Friday the 13th franchise is the Reagan Administration's social policies turned into a ghoulish mass murderer. Fitting for a guy that let the AIDS epidemic rage believing it was god striking down the sinful. Fuck Reagan. Anyways where was I? Oh right. Horror. But here's the thing, horror isn't best experienced on your own, in the dark. That might be the best way to be scared but it's a social experience.

The best way to confront these anxieties is with people, like-minded freaks who also want to peel back the scabs of society and see what squirms beneath. There is an energy to a crowd, especially an appreciative crowd. It's not super different from the crowds at a midnight showing of a new blockbuster. Its fun to talk about the movies afterwards, it's weird: each death becomes it's own character; each one says something. These aren't just about societal anxiety, they're morality tales. That's why the kids who do drugs or have sex die. That's why strangers are "dangerous". That's why the other is portrayed as the villain. It works both ways too - there is a lot of queer horror out there. Everyone has anxieties.

Lately I've been introducing my kids to classic(ish) horror. They're 16 year old spooky bitches and on Thursdays I've been dragging them to a local movie series called "Spook-o-Rama" where we watch sometimes amazing horror (Event Horizon) sometimes... not so amazing horror (Seed of Chucky). And they've been enjoying the hell out of it. So far we've seen:

  • Event Horizon

  • Night of the Creeps

  • Pet Sematery

  • Jennifer's Body

  • Carrie

  • Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)

  • Seed of Chucky

  • The Hills Have Eyes (2006)

  • Eight Legged Freaks

Jennifer's Body was the only one not new to them and they've absolutely loved them. Event Horizon and Carrie were favorites of theirs. The remake of The Hills Have Eyes was a bit much which like yeah fair, the new french extremity isn't for everyone. It's not even really for me. But spending time with them, sharing my love of horror with them it's been fun. I'm also getting an eye into their anxieties and the generational differences are really interesting. They've got some pretty strong stranger danger which I think comes from consuming a lot of true crime media. I was more concerned with natural disasters when I was a kid... cause I lived through the Northridge earthquake maybe? Nah, it predates that. No idea why I was concerned with that as a kid.

The next one we're going to see is likely going to be Night of the Demons (1988) and I'm trying to convince them to show The Keep (1983) which is an utterly insane movie with a plot that is at best vestigial but it's so damn stylish. Peak Michael Mann. I'd highly recommend sharing your love of horror (or cinema in general!) with your kids if you think they'd be in to it. It's a great way to bond.