'Candyman'

I wonder what our fascination is with the horror or slasher film?

Generally, we avoid otherwordly ne'er-do-wells with machetes, hooks, chainsaws and razors for fingers.

This is especially true if they are incapable of really dying, exist in our dreams or are bitter about dying in the first place.

Living is pretty cool, too.

So, why is it that we keep watching these films? They've existed since the media began (Les Vampires, Nosferatu). To a less-gory degree, Edgar Allen Poe were writing such stories in the mid-1800s.

Still, we keep coming back for more.

I think we like the adrenaline that runs through our bodies as we see other people running for their lives and the sheer orgasmic horror as we try to escape the clutches of a merciless sociopathic murderer for them.

Also, there's always some kind of bit. If it's the Saw guy, he sets up some kind of game or psychological test.

Maybe it's stumbling along in a hockey mask or the skin of someone else. Using a chainsaw or some sort of weapon. Maybe it's their wardrobe or having hundreds of pins sticking out of your head.

Either way, we'll never see another film about a real mass murderer outside of Silence of the Lambs and it ceases to be just weird, a game or even a movie. A Jeffrey Dahmer or John Gacy biopic would never, ever work. People want their horror to be utterly ridiculous.