Are you afraid of the dark?

A great many people, it seems, are absolutely fascinated with gruesome events — real and imaginary — and the bloodier, the better. That's probably why horror movies have always done so well at the box office.

The early horror movies that Hollywood produced featured characters from classic horror novels — Dracula, Frankenstein, the Mummy, the Wolfman, Phantom of the Opera, and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

The first horror movie wasn't actually a full-length movie. It was a movie "short" that was created in 1896, several years before the first full-length film, by Georges Melies. His "The House of the Devil" is the first horror film, according to most authorities.

Horror movies are broken down into three categories: evil people who elicit horror, evil demons who elicit horror, and catastrophic events that elicit horror.

The movie going public seems to adore horror films, and the movie critics who have a lot of clout seem to be equally impressed. Horror films have gleaned awards — a lot of awards — through the history of movie making. There are many others, of course, but a few that come to mind are "Jaws," "The Exorcist," "Silence of the Lambs," and "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre." Horror films have won in every category, from best picture to best actor to best score to best wardrobe, and all categories in between.

The horror genre is so popular that many actors and directors have based their entire career on horror films. Alfred Hitchcock, Boris Karloff, and Bela Lugosi come to mind.

Because fear is one of the strongest emotions to draw on, the B-movie industry has specialized in horror films from the beginning. Low budgets, poor lighting, and poor filming techniques just added to the horror.

It seems that the popularity of making horror movies within the movie industry comes and goes. Right now a great many horror films are being produced, but the actual "horror" seems be lacking in a great deal of them. Oh well, at least we will always have the classics!