The Thrill Of.... Boo!

The Thrill ofÐ'... BOO!

"Walking into the room you slip on a thick film that never seems to end. Cautious now you take your steps lightly looking for a light switch to illuminate the darkened room now lit only by the screen on your cell phone. As you reach the wall you fumble on the slick floor. As you wake up after hitting you head on the way down you press a button on your cell "02:59AM", you've been out for hours. You look down and you are covered with the thick fluid covering the floor, in the little light from you phone it appears black. As you reach up to get a hand hold to get yourself off of the floor your fingers brush against something, the light switch! When the lights go up you are blinded by their sheer intensity. When your eyes adjust you notice a table in the middle of the room and on it lays your best friend since childhood with all the blood drained from his body and on to the floor..."(Mark)

This scene could have been taken from any number of modern American horror flicks that millions flock to on their opening weekends which gross in the hundred millions, such as the "Hannibal" prequel "Hannibal Rising" which grossed fifty million dollars USD only five days after is international release (IMDb.com). With their increasing popularity, not just with teenagers on dates looking to get lucky, but rather with the mainstream public, the genre of horror is looking to bring more people into its almost fanatic fan base by being more shocking and gruesome than ever. The thrill of the scare, the sight of gore, and the belief that, no matter how implausible, it will happen to you tonight after you leave the theatre, on the drive home, or when you are getting close to your significant other, is what drives the mental engine of the horror movie fanatics to, and many times over, the brink of obsession.

With movies such as the "Saw" trilogy, with the last two being more about the gore than the plot, people are starting to break out of their norm and are looking for something new and shocking. For instance, an elderly couple coming out of the midnight premier of "Saw III" said that they were, "looking for something different. We have never gone to see a movie that had more than a Ð''PG' rating besides Ð''The Passion of the Christ' and we were quite surprised," jokingly they add, "Time to see the other ones." However, John, 82, and Eli Boushley, 79, were not the only ones at the midnight premiere; they were accompanied by many unaccompanied minors, a few parents with infants in tow and members of a now international group of horror movie buffs that sometimes jokingly call themselves the "Blood Bath Bunch", or rather the B.B.B, they also go by such names as "The Society ofÐ'... BOO!" or, to many movie patrons, the weirdoes in the back row who at some of the gruesome scenes in the entire flick.

With its origin in Littleton Colorado the B.B.B. now has chapters in Arizona, New York, Washington, Germany, and Tokyo has grown into a monster of what it was just five years ago. Even though it has grown immensely it maintains an exclusive member ship of just two thousand two hundred and twenty-six, one number of many that randomly and repeatedly show themselves in many horror movies, and their members range from a wealthy CEO, to working college student, to multiple-doctorate philosophers and even a few catholic priests. The main goal of the B.B.B. is to find and or make the perfect horror movie; however, it is mostly a group of Horror movie buffs.

When asked why they joined most members will just look at you with dumbfounded eyes, however the co-founder, Mark as he asked to be called, had a little bit more to say. "Why wouldn't I? It's not like we are a cult and we are all going to kill ourselves at a theatre. It is just a bunch of like minded people who get together every week or so to watch movies some from [Hollywood] and some made by [members]Ð'... watching a good horror movie and I mean a really good horror movie is better than sex, even if the latter is easier to get." Even now the cult film status of some of the movies made or financed by the B.B.B. is seen within the group as a, at least partial, success.

Besides the exclusive B.B.B. there are also many groups where like minded people come