The Definition of Horror

                Horror is a frightening intense feeling of fear.  The progression of horror is insidious. It starts as a minor fright, maybe a scratch at the window, or a noise in a supposedly empty house.  That inkling that something just isn’t right.  As a child, you are safe and whole, cared for in the bosom of family, and yet one incident, one frightening moment can begin that loss of innocence that precludes abject horror.  It the movie, “IT” based on Stephen King’s novel, the children of the town are terrorized by the evil spirit clown Pennywise.  A childhood friend is missing and turns up dead and the trauma of that loss sets off a chain reaction throughout the town.  Seeing this movie myself when I was a kid left me with this insane fear of clowns and all things clown related.  Now that I’m an adult, I can honestly tell you that just the mention of watching that movie again sets the hairs on the back of my neck raising.  Seeing Pennywise eating children and those horrible teeth all yellowed and be-fanged was, in my opinion, the most perverse way to turn the innocence of a child’s party Clown into the very thing nightmares are made of.