CNN
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Some children cling to safety blankets. Others cling to a beloved stuffed animal or lucky charm to feel secure and confident.
The children of Kayla Lopez, meanwhile, have only to put on their Michael Myers masks to feel invincible.
“Honestly, I don’t know anyone who loves horror as much as they do,” she said.
Dominic, 6, and his sister Aubriella, 8, are addicted to horror, running around their house in the mask Myers dons on the ‘Halloween’ series to discreetly dispatch his victims. It’s an even more hilarious sight when juxtaposed against their tiny stature, delicious giggles, and footed pajamas.
Lopez documents their spooky shenanigans on TikTok: Sometimes Dominic hides under beds dressed as Pennywise the dancing clown from “It” or reveals a Jason-style hockey mask from “Friday the 13th” under his beloved Myers facade. Often, Aubriella and her little brother watch their mother under their scary rubber masks. Attempting to scare each other has become a treasured family pastime.
The Lopez kids aren’t the only youngsters interested in the macabre: Briar Rose Beard, a 3-year-old cherub from Florida, recently enchanted the internet by falling in love with a Halloween prop doll named Creepy Chloe and wearing the demonic- look doll everywhere. The Sumner family from Idaho, whose matriarch Kailee posts on TikTok as @sumcowkids, recently went viral when their youngest member, still in the babbling stage of infancy, was filmed grumbling at her older sister in a decrepit witch mask.
Adorable kids and horror props seem like an incongruous couple. But a child’s interest in horror is “almost always a harmless fascination,” said Coltan Scrivner, a researcher at the Recreational Fear Lab at Denmark’s Aarhus University.
“It’s normal for children to want to explore the limits of their own fears and what society considers acceptable,” said Scrivner, who studies horror media and fear, among other “scary” topics. “It’s a way for them to learn about those limits.”
Just as some kids play dress up in princess dresses or Jedi robes, Dominic and Aubriella have fun dressing up as horror characters – usually Myers. It is a daily activity for the brothers and sisters, in the safety of the enclosure of their house.
“Scary experiences are only fun if they’re framed in the context of play,” Scrivner said. “That is to say, we have to be afraid but also be sure that we are safe.”
Getting into scary stuff at a young age isn’t usually alarming, Scrivner said — young horror fans are braver than most kids their age, sure, but they’re just exploring the complexities of their world, which is scary. enough in real life.
“By exploring scary things from a safe place, children can also learn about how they respond to feelings of fear and anxiety,” he said.
Childhood horror buffs aren’t all that different from us either: Frank Farley, former president of the American Psychological Association and professor emeritus at Temple University, said humans are naturally fascinated by horror, both real and fictional. Hence the real crime boom, the continued success of the horror genre and the popularity of authors like Stephen King.
“It’s pretty amazing that we have Halloween,” he said, calling the holiday a “national horror day.” “It testifies, in my opinion, to the deep human interest in the dark side of life. There is no doubt that it interests us.
The Lopez children have what Farley calls “T-type personalities” – the “T” stands for thrill-seeking. While most of us are at least mildly interested in the scary, only “T” types will actively engage in it, whether it’s riding a gigantic roller coaster or racing movie movies. horror. “White bread behavior,” as Farley puts it, isn’t appealing to “T” types, who seek adventure and aren’t afraid to take risks, he said.
Another reason some kids might prefer the company of vampires and zombies to, say, the animated cast of “Paw Patrol” or the Muppet neighbors of “Sesame Street,” is that they earn a bravery badge among their peers. said Glenn Sparks, a Purdue University professor who studies the social impact of mass media, including horror movies.
When a young child overhears friends, parents, or other loved ones discussing how terrifying a movie was, they may try to brave it themselves to prove their mettle.
“Some kids may be more willing to expose themselves to potentially scary things, perhaps because of the satisfaction they think they’ll get from being able to conquer those things,” Sparks said.
Ever since his kids have loved him, Myers has been an irreplaceable member of the Lopez family, so much so that the kids regularly watch his movies — on Wednesday, they had a morning screening in the living room of “Halloween Kills.”
Of course, now that her children’s love of “Halloween” is documented online, some parents have accused her of exposing her children to horror too young.
But introducing kids to horror at a young age doesn’t have to traumatize them — it may even make them more resilient, said Stephen Graham Jones, a bestselling horror author of books such as “The Only Good Indians” and “My Heart is a Chainsaw,” as well as Professor Emeritus at the University of Colorado, Boulder.
When Jones’ children showed interest in the genre, he cast them in “Monster House” and Tim Burton’s twisted fairy tale “Edward Scissorhands,” films that aren’t necessarily scary but that nod to the horror genre. Eventually, they worked their way up to horror comedies and bloodier fare. But the point he imparts to his children, he said, isn’t to take away the negative messages from slasher movies in which the villain wins — it’s to emulate the heroes.
“I don’t want to teach them that cruelty is to be praised,” Jones told CNN. “What I want them to learn instead is that if you’re alert, if you fight, if you defend your crew, then you can get through whatever it is.”
Even the most dedicated cosplay kids have limits: 9-year-old horror fan Coral DeGraves makes regular appearances at fan conventions in impressive costumes inspired by the fearsome Pinhead from “Hellraiser” or some other version. demented Ronald McDonald, among other frightening. Icons. But her mother, Cheyenne, says Coral still isn’t ready to see some of the bloodiest movies she acquiesces. Her parents screen films before sharing them with her, and for some of the more intense films, they will at most share character clips for inspiration rather than the entire blood-soaked feature.
Horror doesn’t define DeGraves’ life as a kid, either: When Coral isn’t playing an adorably spooky Pennywise or possessed doll, she enjoys learning about backyard creatures or meeting her troupe of creatures. scouts.
“I never found it hard to support his interest in horror,” Cheyenne DeGraves told CNN. “In fact, the more she learns and creates on her own, the happier I am to support her.”
It can be isolating for Dominic and Aubriella Lopez to feel like the only horror fans among their young friends, their mother said. (Lopez recalled Dominic’s third birthday, when he shocked his friends by excitedly unboxing a Chucky doll, his favorite gift.) They learned to filter around their pals so they wouldn’t scare the other kids and save it for when they’re home, where their horror habits aren’t in question.
But now that it’s October and the rest of the United States seems to be embracing the same fanaticism for spooky stuff the Lopez kids celebrate all year, Dominic and Aubriella are excited to share their fandom without scaring their mates, said Lopez.
“They know that around Halloween is when Michael (Myers) and Chucky and all the horror things come out – that means it’s okay to be ourselves, to do everything “Lopez said.
For Halloween this year, the Lopez family is still narrowing down a potential list of costumes. Aubriella is considering dressing up as Anabelle, the haunted (and haunting!) doll introduced in “The Conjuring.” As for Dominic, well, you can guess – he’s already asked his mum for a new Myers mask to add to their growing collection.