Each year, Handsome and I pick our top four movies /tv shows for Halloween.

We list them out and then number them.

Then, we roll dice to see which one we watch. After each viewing, we cross it off the list.

My list—full of fun, lighthearted spooky movies—tends to drive Handsome into mocking mode.

He takes his Halloween movie choices very seriously. If it isn’t true horror, he doesn’t consider it an actual Halloween movie. The first time we watched Saw, I spent half the time glued to his side, clutching his arm, and the other half with my hand over my face, peaking through my fingers.

The first time we watched Saw, I spent half the time glued to his side, clutching his arm, and the other half with my hand over my face, peaking through my fingers.

Since we’ve been together, I’ve seen movies I’d never even dared watch. Why? Because I am a visual person, meaning anything I watch, I can see again and again in perfect HD clarity.

Plus, living alone tends to lend itself to all kinds of fear and paranoia after watching a scary movie.

Some friends and I once watched The Shining in a cabin. Afterward, my so-called friends left, and I stayed…alone…in a cabin…by myself. I remembered and replayed every scary moment from “Here’s Johnny!” to “Redrum” to “Come play with us, Kenny.”

Never again! I swore to myself that night as I sat in bed, wide-eyed and unable to sleep, jumping at every sound.

But since being with Handsome and knowing his love of all things gory and gross, I’ve been willing to watch movies I never thought I would, plus a few I always wanted to see but wasn’t sure I’d like.

I felt brave thanks to the knowledge that if I have nightmares, I have someone to grab onto in the middle of the night.

Hee hee, Handsome is not so thrilled with this justification/arrangement, which is probably why his list was pretty tame this year.