I'm a huge fan of movies, as anyone who knows me could tell you. I love every genre, whether it be a hysterical comedy or a thrilling horror movie. I love film so much that I decided to minor in it when I got to college.

Therefore I'm currently taking a few classes towards the major and the one I'm in now is called "History of Horror Films". The class is extremely interesting, as we learn about the biggest names, films, and moments in the most famous horror movies.

But I've noticed something in class that has left me, disturbed honestly. When we sit in the dark and view classics like "The Exorcist", a film that is known for leaving audience members so unsettled that they ran out of the theater, some of my classmates laugh and simply don't take the content seriously.

Perhaps they have a weird sense of humor, or they just don't understand the true genius of horror films. I'm sure if anyone was in the situation of Regan or her mother, they would not be laughing.

This brings up a bigger issue, in fact. It seems as though we live in a world so consumed with horror in our everyday news streams. Shootings, bombings, fatal accidents, etc. are regular in this generation. So much so that we hardly bat an eye when another school suffers a devastating shooting.

This is dangerous because, if we don't consider how serious these issues are, we aren't going to take any initiative to prevent them. I know it's a huge stretch comparing horror movie reactions to factual news, but it's a starting point.

It's almost as if we've lost our ability to feel terrified. Horror movies used to leave audiences so scared and unsettled, which is part of the reason they gained such momentum when the cinema was breaking ground.

Now, it's like if we don't see 3D renderings of blood, guts, and severed body parts, we aren't scared. Tell me what is not scary about a possessed 12-year-old shouting obscenities and physically fighting adults.

All in all, I think we just need to re-evaluate how we view the simple things like horror movies, in order to understand how we feel about the horror that encompasses our society in real life.