This entry was written at the request of my son Miles, previously referred to here as the Monster Kid for privacy reasons (Miles is just a few months older than Monster Librarian, and inspired our Monster Movie Month project in July 2012. A  little kid doesn’t need his name out there on the Internet) There are some really cool blog posts in the July 2012 archives for this blog) At 20, he is no longer a kid and while he’s home from college he wanted to share how important it is to him that the two of us share the experience of watching and talking about horror movies together. We’ve each written a little about it here, first from my point of view and then from his. Mine is a bit wordy, but make sure to read what he has to say. It’s so cool to see what he thinks about the time we spend together sharing this interest! If you’ve ever wondered how horror-loving kids turn out, mine is kind, curious, loving, generous, and enthusiastic about his interests.

Kirsten: 

I am more of a horror reader than a horror movie watcher. Being married to a horror movie lover made movie nights challenging, to say the least. But my son has not just followed in Dylan’s fandom footsteps but has even gone further, majoring in media production and screenwriting, and working on short films for Radiance, Ball State University’s immersive learning experience in filmmaking. Since Miles was a kid, he has had an interest in monsters and scary movies– in fact, one year, Dylan helped him shoot a short monster movie during his birthday party. As a teenager Miles read about and took classes in screenwriting for horror movies, learned to write film criticism, connected with people online, and even to conventions.

I have learned that if you want your kids to spend time with you, it makes a difference if you take time to share their interests, so I watch and talk about horror movies with Miles. I love getting to share the experience with him, and because it’s interesting to him, he makes it interesting, and even exciting, to get into it with him. I probably text him now with more horror movie related content than I do cat videos (college students apparently need a steady diet of cat videos). I owe many thanks to James A. Janisse of the Kill Count, who has made it possible for me to talk about movies intelligently with him even when I haven’t watched them through.

Almost all of the movies I’ve seen in theaters in the past year have been with Miles, and this actually was a great year for watching horror movies in a theater. I’m probably not representative of the general moviegoing population, but in addition to Sinners, four of the five movies I saw in theaters were horror movies, and worth the ticket price (28 Years Later, Weapons, The Long Walk, and Frankenstein). I really think that they are a lifeline for movie theaters. I saw the first three with my son, and watching a movie on the big screen in a movie theater is a great experience to share with someone who really is interested in being there and enjoying it.  I love Guillermo del Toro and everything Frankenstein, and although Miles was at school, I could go back and forth with him about cinematography, directorial choices, special effects, storytelling, and all the other things I’ve learned from him about filmmaking, especially horror, even though we weren’t able to see it together.  I saw del Toro’s Frankenstein with my mom, who loves the book but doesn’t like violence or horror, and there is a world of difference in the discourse when you are sharing the experience with someone who isn’t open to it.

Since Miles is in college now, we mainly watch movies when he’s home on break, and this year we’ve watched It Follows (a favorite of his), Pearl, Get Out, Psycho, Cure, and Black Christmas together.  We also watched Night of the Living Dead and Dawn of the Dead again, because we learned that the Monroeville Mall, where parts of Dawn of the Dead were filmed, will be demolished later this year. We actually intended to visit this weekend while he is on spring break, but then I discovered there’s actually going to be a final farewell there in June, with original cast members in attendance, so I think we’re going to wait for that!  I watched them casually in the past, but now horror movies mean more, because they’re something Miles and I share.

Miles: To me, this whole experience has been getting to do something that I love with a person that is into and enjoys the same genre as I do. We both have different specialties in regards to the horror genres, across multiple mediums. I enjoy movies more then I do books and for Mom, it is vice versa.

I specifically enjoy watching horror movies with my Mom because I have always been fascinated with movies as medium and horror as a genre ever since I was incredibly young. Plus I also think that it may help that it is something we do together, to varying degrees of enjoyment.

I find that with these movies we watch, it helps us bond and grow closer together. I don’t think Mom would have willingly watched any of the movies that we did with anyone else (maybe except for Daddy, but he was into some pretty intense stuff). And given how unique and special my mom can be with these kinds of things, it is always a treat to do.

In summary, you can dice it many different ways. It could be family bonding, the continuation of legacy, film analysis, criticism and appreciation, or maybe just laughing and screaming at whatever is on our screen for the night (most likely all of the above). But at the end of the day, it is something that I always have found brings me a sense of warmth and comfort in a world that always seems to be getting darker and colder.