Counterpoint: if you are a person of faith and you do practice love and compassion, then is it even a religion?

This was my first time watching the Stephen King classic, and I can completely imagine how if I had seen it as a child - especially one living in the midwest, surrounded by corn - this would've made an indelible impression upon my psyche. Unfortunately, I'm watching it as a 30 year old with a severe case of religious trauma who is currently trying to move away from Indiana and back to Chicago; so instead, this was more like an unsatisfying farce. 
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I found this movie completely on accident. I don't even remember what I was actually looking for, but this came up in the suggested titles and I AM SO GLAD THAT IT DID. After laughing for a solid five minutes, wiping the tears from my eyes, watching the trailer, and then giggling for ten more minutes, I pressed play immediately and my life hasn't been the same since. 
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As a queer filmmaker who was raised in the evangelical church, I have long been dreaming of making a low budget horror that took place at Church Camp, and for this reason, I will NEVER FORGIVE MYSELF for not coming up with the brilliant title of this movie first! That being said, while the title is hardly the best part, it's on a short list of what worked in the film.
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​I am always reasonably skeptical of horror franchise remakes, especially with a classic like Hellraiser. Clive Barker's original was the perfect balance of camp and grotesque, elements that I suspect only worked for me because it was made in the 80's. I generally cringe at the "gritty" aesthetic of contemporary horror (the whole 2000s-2010s era of torture porn is completely lost on me) - so this film seemed like the perfect test of whether or not the magic of the story was contingent on its predecessor's specific niche. And the answer? Yeah, kind of. 
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I've always been fascinated but totally baffled by the kind of people find the horror genre to somehow counteract their anxiety. Despite going through a very devoted goth phase in high school (and college... I'm still a bit goth at heart, to be honest), I just never quite understood the allure of watching horny teens getting slashed to bits. Being raised in a religious home that condemned anything "darkly supernatural" also limited my exposure, and although I've since rebelled against all the other things my Christian household labeled taboo, for whatever reason, I just never got around to checking out the horror stuff.  

Until October of 2020! It was spooky season and the world was on fire, so I figured now was as good a time as any to invest a new hyper fixation. (You can listen to the podcast I made about it here.) My new special interest taught me a valuable lesson: horror is folklore. And now, every October, I make a point of watching as many horror movies as I can. I'm still making my way through the never-ending list of classics, but I make a concerted effort to check out the new ones too - the more niche, the better.
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