First published through The Paris News on Oct. 24, 2016. The article can be found on their website at http://theparisnews.com/opinion/article_9fa2344e-9a04-11e6-a616-3333df4d8eb5.html and was backdated.

Halloween is a week away, which calls for watching more scary movies.

Growing up, I didn’t really enjoy scary movies because they frightened me. When I was young and didn’t completely understand the difference between reality and fantasy, movies seemed more realistic than they do now.

Of course, I really enjoyed movies like “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown” and “Casper the Friendly Ghost.” These movies showed the innocence found in children. I thoroughly enjoyed how Linus believed in The Great Pumpkin and how he tried to uplift everyone else’s depressed outlook on the Great Pumpkin.

But, as I grew older, I started watching other movies similar to “Friday the 13th” and “Nightmare on Elm Street.”

The thrill I got from watching scary movies amazed me. I spent many nights unable to sleep because I was afraid of the nightmares to come, like being chased by Freddy Krueger or Jason and his bloody machete through the campsites of Camp Crystal Lake.

I asked a friend of mine what was the scariest movie he’s seen.

“It was ‘Jaws,’ and it was awesome,” Michael Malone said. “I was 12, and sharks were eating people. It scared the poop out of me.”

Even though the philosopher Aristotle wasn’t ever able to watch a scary movie back in 300 B.C., people still enjoyed scary stories then. He thought people were attracted to eerie plots and violent, dramatic plays because it gave them a chance to purge their negative emotions, even though studies have shown otherwise.

A recent movie I watched was “Blair Witch.”  Since I enjoyed “The Blair Witch Project,” I felt like I was obligated to watch this sequel.

I went with a group of friends who, I found out, scare easily. While watching the movie, there were times that something was about to jump out onto the screen (it’s fairly obvious when the movie becomes quiet). When something did jump out, it made the experience far better because the people I was with were jumping and screaming because of the sudden scare.

Compared to the films I watch now, the scary movies I watched when I was younger really don’t compare. Since I’ve realized how fake movies really are, it seems like scary movies are just not as chilling. They seem to have lost some of their creep factor.

I still enjoy a scary movie from time to time, regardless of the Halloween season. It gives me an excuse to get scared, even if it’s just a little bit.