1980's Horror Icon Smackdown

Jason Voorhees (Friday the 13th)

The one question I get asked a lot is, why do people like to be scared? I personally love to be scared, but then, who doesn't? It's a feeling that gets your adrenaline pumping, your senses on high alert. Every small sound, every whisper of a touch, and you're jumping as the sensation of fear assaults you. Fear is the one primal instinct we have never lost. No matter how much we evolve and grow, fear is a constant. Like being afraid of the dark. We grow up, convince ourselves there's nothing in the dark that can hurt us, but we never lose it. It's always there in the most primal part of our brain, ready to whisper to us that something really is in the dark and it's going to get us. I love to get scared and feel that creepy sensation crawling up my spine. We all do. It's why we love to read horror novels or watch a horror movie in the dark.

For those of you who don't know me, I am @AprylBaker7 on Wattpad and I have been commissioned by Wattpad and DC Vertigo to share my favorite horror villain from the 1980's to get all of you guys excited about Vertigo's new title, SURVIVORS' CLUB. I personally can't wait for this! Make sure you guys check out SURVIVORS' CLUB content at @VertigoComics on Wattpad!

I remember the first time I watched Friday the 13th. I was at my cousin's house and we were bored because it was raining outside. We decided to watch a horror movie and settled on Friday the 13th because it was just coming on. All five us crowded around the TV and cut the lights off. The sound of the rain beating against the windows and the echo of thunder set the scene.

For the next two hours we sat and watched Jason Voorhees stalk a bunch of people through the woods, hunting them down with patience and deliberate intent to kill. The whole time, listening to that theme music whenever he prepared to kill. It was the music that haunted me, that chahahahaha. We all huddled together in front of the TV, clutching each other, hiding our faces and watching with horror as the man in the hockey mask took out person after person. It was a defining moment for us all, me especially. I got introduced to a different kind of scary.

I grew up in the mountains, surrounded by trees and hiking trails. The Friday the 13th movies usually took place in the woods. It gave me an entirely new appreciation for being outside, alone in the dark, with the trees hiding who knows what? I learned that scary wasn't just about things like ghosts and vampires and werewolves, scary was about real monsters, people who could come after you with a knife, a hatchet, a machete in Jason's case. Scary could sneak up on you faster than you ever thought. I also learned that slow and steady, someone coming at you, that was scarier than anything I'd imagined so far. I remember watching the people run from Jason, seeing him walking towards them instead of running. It put real terror in them. They'd run and run, but couldn't lose him. In the end, they usually ran right to him. That freaked me out so much, that slow, deliberate stride, knowing you were going to die and nothing could save you. To this day in the back of my mind, I can see Jason in his ski mask and his machete hanging by his side whenever I get out of my car in the dark. It's an old fear that stays with me.

The horror icon that is Jason Voorhees did shape the way that I write. He taught me patience when writing a scene meant to inspire chills and terror. I learned not to rush the buildup of anticipation. I learned to slow down, describe the things in the room that made the character pause and think about why she or he is afraid. As the reader goes along, they begin to get that creepy feeling, they start to look around themselves, wondering are the door locked? What was that noise? Did the floorboard just creak?

By going slow, like Jason patiently stalking his victims, I am able to create a much richer experience for the reader, I can scare them. It doesn't always happen as they read. It's later, much later, when they are alone in the dark, having to get up and look down a dark hallway that they remember the things I wrote. They remember that feeling of fear creeping up their spine and it hits them all at once as they stand there, debating on walking into the open arms of the darkness. It's something we should all think about.

What is waiting for you?