I remember my older brother could watch any horror movie you could throw at him, by himself in the middle of the night and never be fazed by it. I would sometimes sit and watch with him, if it was too much I'd make up some excuse for why I had to go and gtfo there.

One night I sat there determined to follow through and watch one till the end. I think it was House of 1000 Corpses or something like that. Anyway by the end I'm scared shitless and I knew I wasn't gonna sleep that night. He just calmly turns off the TV like he just watched a baseball game and says it's late and he's going to bed. I asked him how does he never get bothered by these things, how can he just go straight to bed after watching fucked up shit like that?

He says that it's just that: a movie. Lights and cameras, actors and makeup. You know what's really truly scary? Some poor kid somewhere just got abducted while me and you are sitting here watching this. That kid might never come back home. Their parents might never see them again or know what happened to them. The real world has enough horror in it, things we couldn't imagine or understand. When you think about it like that, these movies about ghosts and zombies and all that fake stuff aren't as scary anymore.

That put things in a different light for me. I could watch anything since then, actually horror and thrillers are now one of my favorite genres of film. Perspective is a powerful thing.