Horror films appeal to students for wide range of reasons: Some love the artistic elements, others enjoy the pure fun of the fright. For third-year College student Samantha Mauney, the thrills of being frightened hark back to her childhood.
"I've watched well over 100 horror films, and very few films made within the last 10 years elicit the same feelings I used to get when I began watching them as a child," she said. "Occasionally, though, a film will make me genuinely jump out of my seat, and then I'm a kid again - scared out of my wits and loving every minute of it."
Mauney, one of the cofounders of the Virginia Horror Society, which shows horror films each weekend and seeks to promote the genre, helped start the group in the spring. President Corbin Bond said he, along with A.J. Delauder, Erik Haley and Mauney founded the group after talking about what they saw as an underappreciation for the genre among students.
"There's something unique about being able to be genuinely afraid in a controlled, safe environment," Mauney said.
The group also was inspired by former University student Edgar Allan Poe, who enrolled for a semester in 1826 and set the standard for horror short fiction. Many of his stories have been translated into film. Poe, Bond said, is "an ancestor to modern horror and one of the most famous Gothic American writers."
The students' first step was to create a Facebook group originally called the "U.Va. Horror Society" that more than 30 students joined within the first few days.
"The more we discussed the idea of a club with others, the more we found that there were many other students who shared the same interest," Mauney said.
Bond said he knows of horror societies in other states but is not aware of any at Virginia colleges. The four co-founders decided to change the club's name to the "Virginia Horror Society" and gathered enough support to make the society a contracted independent organization, Haley said.
The group celebrated its status by going to see a remake of "A Nightmare on Elm Street" - one of Bond's favorite films, which he is studying as part of his Modern Studies concentration in Gothic literature.
This semester, the Horror Society, which currently has about 45 members, has been meeting once each week on either a Friday or Saturday night in a University theater. Meetings consist of watching a horror film and then discussing its major themes in-depth.
"We're trying to produce more comfort in openly participating because [the horror genre] is a fun and interesting topic," Bond said. "We're all friends and we don't judge - we want to hear others' opinions."
In celebration of Halloween, the Horror Society held an outdoor showing of the original 1978 version of "Halloween" at Hereford College Oct. 23. After the film, the group made s'mores around a fire and exchanged scary stories.
On Halloween night, the club plans to throw a costume ball for members. Bond said attendees will dress as characters from horror films, and the person with the scariest costume will win a prize.
In addition, this weekend, the Horror Society plans to show a variety of films: parts one and two of Rob Zombie's "Halloween" remakes, "An American Werewolf in London" and the 2007 film "Trick 'r Treat."
The Horror Society is also working with the University Programs Council's Cinematheque to promote its week of Halloween-themed films, including "Hocus Pocus." In the future, the group hopes to expand its membership and bring in professors who are experts on the genre to come speak to the group.
Bond said his admiration for the genre comes out of its historical significance. "[Horror] has a lot of history behind it and there's plenty of historical allegory - lots of major themes that relate to real life at times," he said. "Some movies can be outrageous but they have great central themes"
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