Old Monster Movies

It's the witching hour.  You're on the couch with the curtains pulled tight against the dark, windy night outside.  The lights are off and the living room is illuminated only by the gray-blue, phosphorescent flickerings on the TV screen.  If there's popcorn involved, you've hit the jackpot.  I like some new monster movies, but the old ones are much more gratifying.  They often start slowly, so slowly you forget you're waiting for some horrible creature to appear.  And just when you're relaxed, even a little bored, spooky things start happening.  Because special effects were in their infancy and budgets were low, directors back then had to imply scary things more often than showing them.  Much of fear is what's in our minds anyway, so some old movies end up being genuinely creepy without showing a single evisceration.  And the music is lush and symphonic, lending extra drama to the proceedings. On top of all that, there's the wonderfully gratifying sensation of getting away with something--probably a holdover from the days when you snuck out of bed and turned on the TV with the sound real low to watch things like this when your parents thought you were sleeping.