Horror Dimitri Is a Fifteen-Year-Old

Horror

Dimitri is a fifteen-year-old boy whose parents moved to the United States four years ago from Russia. I selected Dimitri for this interview because he plays a lot of video games, and also watches a lot of film and television. I asked Dimitri how he defines "horror" and his answer was quite complex for someone his age. He did not know the German term das Unheimliche, but he gave me the Russian word, which is something like "Strashni." He explained to me that Russian culture likes to address the darkest themes in human consciousness, but that his parents find many of the movies he watches and the games he plays to be too disturbing. Dimitri says that the scariest things for him are the unknown, which does have some connection to the concept of Unheimliche. Dimitri said that he does not find his games to be scary even when they have rough imagery in them, and that he is not afraid of things like murderers. What is scary to Dimitri is dying without a sense of purpose in life.

When asked about the types of mediated horror he is familiar with, he smiled and said, "the usual," as he pointed to some of his comic books and films that he had including slasher flicks. He seemed embarrassed to also have some of the mediated horror marketed to teenagers, claiming that his girlfriend liked it. He admitted that his favorite horror genre used to be zombies but now he liked the "vampire thing," because his girlfriend "turned him onto it." As far as real-life horror is concerned, Dimiti said, "Just read the news paper! This world is crazy!"

For Dimitri, life is strange and the experience of horror and fear is endemic to the human experience. His fascination with mediated forms of horror highlights the psychological and sociological dimensions to fear, and showcase also the universality of this appreciation. Dimitri has a large degree of self-awareness related to his appreciation of horror, as when I asked if he thought it was a good thing, he said, "I don't know, but I do believe that life itself can be a lot more horrifying than the stories that I read or the films I watch. Those things are just entertainment; the real killings and terrorism, that stuff is real."

Interview 2

Fan is a twenty-year-old college student from a Chinese background. She defines horror as "something that makes the person scream, or want to scream on the inside. It goes to the core of our being." She said she has unfortunately had to experience horror when she was a freshman in college because she was raped. Fan was open about the experience, and said that it changed her concept of what "horror" was and what really constituted fear.

In terms of mediated horror, Fan said that she preferred not to watch horror films. She said that when she was younger, her older brother had an interest in horror and would watch Asian horror movies as well as Western ones. She said that she has seen "bits and pieces" of movies from both Asian and Western cinema but can't sit through a whole movie. She said, "What is the point? I don't want to make myself feel that way. I would rather watch something that makes me feel good." Having no need for meditated horror, Fan simply said, "Oh you mean like Nightmare on Elm Street or something?" when asked about films.

Local legends and urban legends were of more interest for Fan because they pointed to the real world and genuine human need to understand crime and victimhood. As a victim of a crime, Fan said that she felt no matter how good a person is, bad things can still happen to them. It is philosophically difficult to understand, and the most important thing is to not be depressed and get on with life.

Interview 3

Daymien is an African-American gay male. He is 30 years old and the boyfriend of one of my brother's friends. I interviewed Daymien because he is a film buff and I know that he likes "B" and "C" horror films. First I asked Daymien how he defines horror. He smiled and said that "horror is anything you want it to be. For some it takes something grotesque, like in a Clockwork Orange. For others, it takes something more blunt and in your face like Freddy Kruger. For others, they prefer just the suggestion of violence but not the actual violence, like in a suspense film or even in those movies that don't show the actual blood and the audience can only hear the screams. You know, like the Blair Witch Project or like Texas Chainsaw Massacre. These are interesting films because they are frightening and even terrifying but nothing really major happens on the screen. The audience just feels the fear deep down…"

Daymien said that he wasn't that much into true crime or any real life cases. He said that he prefers to get "lost in a fantasy world." He said jokingly that he must "have a sick mind" to be so interested in horror movies, but that he was really just a gentle person who probably needed stimulation in his life because otherwise his life was boring. Daymien suggested that people like horror for the same reasons people like to go bungee jumping. "It makes them feel alive," he said.