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Brian Lehrer: Since it's Halloween, we're going open up the phones for the end of the show for your favorite scary movie recommendations and to ask, "What do you think your favorite horror movie pick says about you?" Tweet @BrianLehrer or give us a call now at 212-433 WNYC, 212-433-9692. What's your favorite horror movie and what does it say about you that that is your favorite horror movie? We know that there are many different genres of scary movies out there, right from monster movies to psychological thrillers to slasher films.

Since we want to get a broad set of recommendations, we're inviting you to pick a genre and your favorite movie within that genre, if you can go that far. What are you drawn to and why? 212-433 WNYC, 433-9692? Are you the type of person who can only watch a scary movie if it has some underlying social message? Maybe you're a big fan of the 2019 South Korean dark comedy thriller Parasite about how class structures hurt the poor, or 2017's Get Out, which is social commentary on racism in the United States.

Do you find that scary movies are only palatable to you when they're satire? If that's you, what's your pick and why? 212-433 WNYC, 433-9692. Not every scary movie has to be totally scary. What about comedy horror movies? Do you consider the 1996 teen slasher movie Scream and its parody of horror movies to be a comedy? Was it also scary? What about the 2004 zombie comedy film Shaun of the Dead? What do you classify as comedy horror? If you love that genre, give us a pick. 212-433 WNYC.

Some people like to be scared, but don't like to see any violence. If that's you, what is the psychological value of scary movies to you? Why are you drawn to them? Do you have any recommendations for films that are not violent or gory, but are downright scary, or maybe you're finding that you're processing fears through watching horror flicks? This weekend, our colleagues at On the Media did an interview with a science writer, Nina Nesseth, who recently wrote a book called Nightmare Fuel, the science of horror films. We're going to play a 20-second clip from OTM, where she explains why scientists believe that some people are drawn to these types of films.

Nina Nesseth: You want your body to react even before you're aware of what's going on because sometimes that split second can mean saving yourself from that threat. Once you get your thinking brain back in, and you recognize that you're not in a real threatening situation, you're able to transfer all of that energy into enjoyment. That's known as excitation transfer theory.

Brian Lehrer: Excitation transfer theory. That was a new one to me. In that interview, Nina went on to tell Brooke Gladstone that people who have recently experienced loss are also drawn to scary movies sometimes because a lot of movies deal with grief. Richard in Mahwah, you're on WNYC. Hi, Richard.

Richard: Morning, Brian. 1983's The Hunger with David Bowie and Susan Sarandon. You recall that one?

Brian Lehrer: I never saw it. I recall that it existed. Why The Hunger?

Richard: It's a story of vampires in New York in the early '80s. The sublime moment caught in time when goth and emo clubs were a thing. The starting shot of the film features the band Bauhaus, mainly Peter Murphy, the frontman. The vampires, they go to these nightclubs and they lure victims to their homes and just do their business. Like I said, it's just a nice sublime moment caught in a cinematic history of New York and for this time of year.

Richard: Richard, thank you very much. Some New York context there for that one. Rosie in the East Village, you're on WNYC. Hi, Rosie.

Rosie: Yes, hi, Brian. My scariest movie is The Shining with Jack Nicholson. It's a Kubrick movie from the early '80s. I don't know if you're familiar with it.

Brian Lehrer: Was it scary for you? Some people can watch scary movies and detach from it. Like, "I know what they're doing. They're making a film. I'm not actually scared." Some people really get scared. Which were you in The Shining?

Rosie: I'm the one that really gets scared. Also, sometimes even as not a kid anymore, hold my hand in front of my face, when you only want to look through a few fingers. Especially when the little boy writes the word Red Room on the door, and it's the reverse of murder. That is, oh, just talking about it gives me the creeps.

Brian Lehrer: [chuckles] Why for you-- different answer for everybody, why do you go to see movies that will scare you that much? What do you get from it?

Rosie: No, I don't go to see to get scared. It was a movie I wanted to see because it's a Stanley Kubrick movie and Jack Nicholson. I didn't know what to expect, but usually, I avoid it. I don't see-

Brian Lehrer: Avoid those.

Rosie: -any horror movies. Yes.

Brian Lehrer: Thank you, Rosie. Thank you very much. All right. Allan in New Canaan is going to go way back. Allan, you're on WNYC. Hi, there.

Allan: Hey, Hi, Brian. I'm going to go way back to a time when we were worried about being nuked by the Russians. The movie was The Blob. It wasn't a direct reference to be nuked, but The Blob was this red object that got bigger and bigger, consuming people and people couldn't get away from it. At the same time in 1958, my father had died. I was very vulnerable to both that and also having to hide under my desk at school because we were about to have a nuclear attack. The Blob came out, tied everything together.

Brian Lehrer: Do you go to see horror movies to this day?

Allan: I really dislike horror movies [laughs]. I don't see-- and all the special effects. The Blob had very little special effects, obviously, because of the time and it was more of a psychological thriller. That I would prefer over all of these special effects, which I just find to be movie theatrics.

Brian Lehrer: Allan, thank you very much. Mary Lou in Manhattan, you're on WNYC. Hi, Mary Lou.

Mary Lou: Hi. The Exorcist scared the excreta out of me. [chuckles] I was raised a Catholic, and I was trying to shake off the superstition and the tenets. I started from a very young age to try to watch it. I would get only a little ways in and then I would have to give up and I get scared. This happened, Jesus, well into my 40s and then, finally, I got through it and I felt like I'd achieved something spectacular.

Brian Lehrer: By getting through the whole movie, The Exorcist.

Mary Lou: Yes. By getting through the whole movie. Yes. Then, I went looking for more demonic--

Brian Lehrer: Yes, you did? You went looking for more like that?

Mary Lou: I went looking for more demonic possession movies so that I could say, "I don't believe in this and I'm free of this." There's an obscure Roman Polanski film called The Ninth Gate, which, yes, more devils, in Paris, no less, which was very cool. [crosstalk] I even watched terrible--

Brian Lehrer: Has this worked for you psychologically or religiously?

Mary Lou: Yes. Well, I think psychologically, I probably crossed that before I actually watched the movie, but now it feels like I'm gloating. I watch and I go, "Ha-ha."

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[crosstalk]

Brian Lehrer: That's okay. You accomplished something, accomplished something by watching The Exorcist, even though it took her several sittings. Mary Lou, thank you very much. Dee in Yonkers, you're on WNYC. Hi, Dee.

Dee: Hi. How are you?

Brian Lehrer: I'm okay. How are you?

Dee: My movie was-- can you hear me?

Brian Lehrer: Yes.

Dee: My movie was actually a Trilogy of Terror, which came out on ABC in the 1970s with Karen Black. That movie scares me so badly. I still remember till this day, the fetish doll that was running after her that subsequently inhabits her spirit. It was a combination of a psychological terror, and actually made me afraid of dolls for most of my life.

Brian Lehrer: Wow. Have you gone to see scary movies of any kind since then?

Dee: No, sir. [laughs].

Brian Lehrer: Dee, thank you very much. Well, there's a trend. A lot of people really, really remember how scared they were at some of these horror movies a long time ago, and it scared them off of horror movies, it seems like. Obviously, not everybody's in that category because so many people go to see them. Debora in Sussex, you're on WNYC. Hi, Debora.

Debora: Hi. Well, I go back aways, too. One of my favorite movies is based on a novella by Daphné du Maurier, who, as we know, is also the author of The Birds and Rebecca. This, this is called Don't Look Now. It's a psychological horror film, also metaphysical about a grieving family who've lost a child and the father goes to Venice to restore some art. All the horror sequences take place in the dark canals all around Venice, where he's being pursued by something. He keeps having visions of things that are happening in the future.

I'm not going to reveal the ending because it's one of the classic surprise endings in a book, and she was a master of that. For comedy, I swear by Young Frankenstein, and for musicals, The Little Shop of Horrors is one of my favorites. I do love horror films, but only if they have substance and there's more than-- I don't like slasher movies. I like things with a real plot.

Brian Lehrer: Thank you very much. Higher movies with a plot and the psychological thrillers from Debora in Sussex. Few coming in on Twitter. Gregory tweets, "Sci-fi genre like Alien, but my favorite is Event Horizon, the idea that a bad entity can come not only from a faraway universe, but from another dimension from that universe." Twitter user Sky Breaker writes, the Iranian vampire movie A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night was so good, featuring a skateboarding hipster girl vampire.

All right. How about, oh, Vincent in New Rochelle is also saying Don't Look Now. That's the only movie that got mentioned twice on the board that I see. Who should we end up with? Let's see. How about, oh, okay. Donna in Westfield, you're on WNYC. You're going to make a mockery of this whole exercise, aren't you, Donna?

Donna: Oh, I'm sorry. Hi, you can hear me?

Brian Lehrer: [laughs] Yes.

Donna: I'm sorry. I find it very scary, but I love Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein. I find it scary.

Brian Lehrer: Was it actually scary?

Donna: Yes, well, you don't know it?

Brian Lehrer: No, I don't know it. I know who Abbott and Costello are, and I know who Frankenstein is.

Donna: I guess you're younger than me, but it was on TV [unintelligible 00:12:39] in the past. It's scary, in the very beginning they were in a warehouse that all these relics from ancient Egypt are. They think it's a mummy in a casket, but it's actually Frankenstein or Dracula. He's starting to lift the thing up and only Abbott-

Brian Lehrer: -and it was Abbott and Costello-

Donna: I think it's scary.

Brian Lehrer: -but it was scary and wacky. Thanks for your calls with your scary movies and scary movie genres, and Happy Halloween.

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