When I was in the middle of writing my proposal for Undead I found out that an author named Matt Mikalatos would soon be releasing a book called Night of the Living Dead Christian
Last week Matt was speaking in Dayton, Ohio only a few hours from me, so I was able to visit and stay as a guest of the amazing JR Forasteros who was hosting Matt’s visit.
It was like summer camp for adults who like thinking about monsters and the meaning of life only it was too cold to feel like summer.
We knew we couldn’t miss the opportunity to film our makeshift monster squad talking about these things that we love to write and speak about. Here is a loose breakdown of what you’ll find in these three clips.
Part 1: The Meaning of Monsters
“There is a real darkness in human nature and we need a safe way to talk about it.” ~ JR Forasteros
Why are monster stories so popular? This video features some fun philosophizing.
Part 2: Our Ghost Stories
Do you remember a time when a movie terrified you? We do.
Part 3: Fun Thoughts on the Horror Genre
Rapid fire questions on our favorite monsters and some movie recommendations whether you scare easily or love being frightened so much you may even “marinate in your own shame.”
We seem to laugh more and more as the chat goes on so if you’re looking for the goofy side maybe start with the third video. For now, here’s part one.
Do you like monster stories? Have a favorite?
11 replies on “Why We Are Attracted to Monsters”
Some random facts:
I thought the “we” in your headline referred to women.
I watched this with my batman wings on. I haven’t donned them since the funeral of Educlaytion, so it’s either a special day or someone’s blog is going to die.
Love the idea of monsters as metaphors.
I didn’t touch the Coffee Crisp that a student dropped off on my desk the entire time I was watching this. Really.
I paused this when my principal came in to see my “wings in action.”
Glee is scary.
A tenth grade boy snuck up on me and made me scream while watching this. He was in costume.
Matt needs a plaid shirt for your next annual pre-Halloween monster mash up. (This will be an annual thing, right?) Should I send him one from Canada? I’m thinking green.
I may have accidentally typed Shirtliffe instead of shirt in the previous paragraph.
Do you think the fact that we (or you three) love to be scared has anything to do with the fact that we’re born to explore and that’s one way we can go to the unknown world (terror) without leaving the comfort of our couch?
The red floating brain freaked me out.
That is all.
And that is the longest comment I’ve ever left on ClayWrites.com
Happy Halloween!
Nice to meet you Leanne! You are an awesome commenter!
Matt is an expert in camouflage.
I love your suggestion that terror is a safe way for us to explore the unknown. I wonder what sort of correlation that has with those who don’t enjoy fear.
Do you have any more of those coffee crisps? They sound delicious!
Hundreds of blogs die every day. If your batwings can bring some awareness to this tragic and over-looked reality, I say wear them EVERY DAY.
Nice to meet you too, JR. The thing about the Coffee Crisp is that I don’t even really like Coffee Crisp but I ate it any way. (I feel the same way about Skittles, but don’t tell Clay). Maybe at the next meeting of Two Plaids and a Dad (?), you can discuss that conundrum. 🙂
We need a picture of the bat wings.
The Bat Wings are legendary. They appear in the second video down of this emotional funeral we had for my last blog.
http://educlaytion.com/2012/05/18/educlaytion-funeral/
Maybe our potential podcast can be Two Plaids and a … well, something. I love that you’re watching this at work!
One random fact: I loved Leanne’s comment and she is awesome.
That was fun, to sit in on your conversation – very, very interesting. I’m with Matt about scary stuff, though, like I’m the Scooby to his Shaggy. But it’s curious to consider what’s scary and what’s not. Ghost stories and zombies and Michael Myers are REALLY scary to me. The Exorcist, not so much. I think it’s about things that are hard or impossible to stop.
Also, JR’s laugh is fantastic.
Fact: people go to movies with me because apparently my laugh enhances their viewing experience.
Also: fascinating that you find demons easier to stop than mass murderers. You should be a podcast guest.
Well, you know, the power of Christ compels them. 🙂 But those other things keep coming and coming. There will always be more zombies lined up behind the one you shoot. Jason or Myers go off the roof and are impaled by the mandatory and oddly close to the house iron spikey thing fence, but when you look down, they’re gone. That is horrifying.
I *was* really scared by The Prince of Darkness. To this day…so, am scared. But that was more than just a little demon possession, so I give myself permission to marinate in that shame.
I never saw The Prince of Darkness. Just looking it up on IMDB now. It’s okay to admit scaredness. This is the tree of trust today.
Are you kidding? I feel like I admit crap on here all the time! I’m beyond trying to save face around these parts. And that movie was scary.