Amanda McDonald, Horror Club leader and junior 

Why was the club created?

It was created near the beginning of second semester, which was my goal. Unfortunately because I couldn’t really advertise it the way you’re supposed to at the beginning of school, there’s not many people. I really liked horror and I wanted to meet other people that felt the same. There wasn’t already a horror club, so I figured I’d just create it. Horror has so many genres and different parts for everyone to enjoy. Even if you’re not crazy into horror, you can still enjoy some horror aspects.

What does the Horror Club do?

I had many attempts just to have club activities for people who wanted to try origami. The cardstock I got was way too strong. But no one showed up anyways during that meeting, so it was fine. Then we’ve done zombies—creating custom zombie drawings, using the outline of a human being and then adding features and taking away limbs. Next, we just recently drew masks, designing what you’d want to wear if you were to wear a mask like killers do or just to (represent) spooky people in general. They wear a mask around their face to hide their identities, but they’re cool masks, so we want to design them. Also designing our own weapons if you had a weapon of choice, what would its features be? What would be its specialty? What makes your weapons special and tailored to your own fighting style? Finally, I am trying to figure out the showtimes for certain horror movies like “M3GAN” as well as different video-sharing methods because I would like for the members to meet up outside of school and watch horror movies.

What plans does the club have?

I’d like to do lots of research on different horror stories and just spread them around spread the knowledge of folktales you have lots of stories about where creatures originated from. (For example), the banshee isn’t actually from the idea of a creature being able to scream so loud that it pierces the air. I think the mythology behind a banshee’s (scream) is actually to warn the people that death is coming. So when a banshee screams it’s telling the family to prepare for the loss of a loved one. So those kinds of interesting bits of information. I still want to try to do origami. I need to figure out where you get origami papers. I want to try and build the actual masks using paper mache, plastic, wood, whatever method works. Next year, I’d like to attempt a pumpkin-carving event since we didn’t get the opportunity this year. And then at some point I’d like to play games. There are horror games on “Roblox.” There’s “Dead by Daylight” and “Town of Salem.” There are multiple horror games that aren’t too heavy and inappropriate, but they’re still spooky themed and it might be entertaining to play with others.

When and where are the meetings?

These meetings are in Room E136, every Thursday after school.

Who is welcome to join?

Everyone is welcome to join. You don’t even have to really like horror to join. If you just like something that might be considered slightly spooky or unnatural, that still is enough. You might find your place here enjoying some of these topics. I would invite anyone to join that would like to. I’m not picky. I had one person that showed up during our last meeting. I really like meeting people who want to explore horror and stuff like this.

Do you have any favorite horror pieces?

I think my favorite horror movie was “Happy Death Day.” I think that was my first introduction to the horror sequence. I loved it. It was a horror comedy. It’s a story about a girl who is kind of stuck in “Groundhog Day,” but she dies at the end of it. I love dark humor, horror comedy stuff, especially when the female is the main character.

Grant Benefiel, club sponsor 

What’s the importance of horror as a genre? 

The genre can exemplify a lot of different issues within society. So I think of the Gothic era of Gothic literature that will have more underlying themes to it. And obviously, horror can bring out different issues with society as well. It’s a great genre because you can play with it however you want. In the HBO series “The Last of Us,” that zombie genre can really discuss how certain groups sort of would react or how they would handle that situation and kind of also, in a sense, gives us an idea of how society really is. So it’s kind of a mirror of society in that way. 

What has the Horror Club done?

So we’ve done a few little activities. So we’re just kind of getting to know each other. I know we were planning on seeing “M3GAN” in theaters. This week, we’ll kind of bring that idea back up and see exactly where it’s going to take us. 

Why did you choose to be the sponsor of this club? 

I personally love horror. For one I love movies and television, but I also love horror. It’s definitely my favorite genre. Even though some may think, “Oh, it’s just blood and gore,” there are a lot of underlying themes and issues that are brought out to critique and discuss society’s issues. 

Do you have any recommended/favorite horror pieces?

I’m a big classics guy. So I say classics, like “Scream,” “Friday the 13th,” “Nightmare on Elm Street.” I love those classics, but one of my favorites of all time is “The Cabin in the Woods.” I felt like it’s a great film that encompasses mostly all horror films and tries to give it some somewhat of a meaning.