{"id":2628384,"date":"2026-07-11T05:20:02","date_gmt":"2026-07-11T09:20:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/horror-movies-cant-compete-with-an-active-imagination\/"},"modified":"2026-07-11T05:27:39","modified_gmt":"2026-07-11T09:27:39","slug":"horror-movies-cant-compete-with-an-active-imagination","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/horror-movies-cant-compete-with-an-active-imagination\/","title":{"rendered":"Horror movies can&#8217;t compete with an active imagination"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">16<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fhorror-movies-cant-compete-with-an-active-imagination%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2628384&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The article features a conversation between the author and a friend about inventiveness and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/9-horror-movie-cliches-that-need-to-die\/\" title=\"9 ... Cliches That Need to Die\">horror movies<\/a>.The friend claims the author lacks imagination, but the author passionately argues or else, describing a vivid and frequently enough terrifying imagination. The author explains that they frequently envision realistic dangers, such as bridge collapses and car accidents, which are based on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/white-house-spreads-fear-of-vladimir-putin-invading-ukraine-in-days-as-biden-leaves-for-camp-david\/\" title=\"White House Spreads Fear of Vladimir Putin Invading Ukraine in Days as Biden Leaves for Camp David\">real possibilities<\/a>, unlike supernatural horror scenarios that rely on clich\u00e9s like ghosts or masked killers. They point out that horror movies tend too alert viewers with music and suspenseful cues, whereas real-life dangers arrive suddenly and without warning. The author emphasizes that their imagination is selective and discriminates against the amazing, making it a high standard rather then a lack of creativity. Ultimately, they assert that everything except horror movies is within their realm of vivid, plausible imagination.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<article class=\"fn-body\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cYour problem,\u201d a friend of mine said to me recently, \u201cis that you have no imagination.\u201d<\/p>\n<section class=\"explore-more-section\" id=\"wex-recommended-widget\">\n<div class=\"magazine-container single\">\n<h1 class=\"magazine-title mt-2\">Recommended Stories<\/h1>\n<p>             <i class=\"fa-solid fa-play icon\"><\/i>         <\/div>\n<div class=\"explore-grid\">\n<div class=\"explore-card\">                         <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/entertainment\/4644392\/prince-harry-family-meet-king-charles-security-denied\/?itm_source=parsely-api\">                             <\/p>\n<div class=\"explore-thumb-wrap\">                                                                                                                                  <\/div>\n<h3>Prince Harry and family meet with King Charles for the first time in four years<\/h3>\n<p>                         <\/a>                     <\/div>\n<div class=\"explore-card\">                         <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/entertainment\/4643997\/taylor-swift-reimburse-new-york-city-police\/?itm_source=parsely-api\">                             <\/p>\n<div class=\"explore-thumb-wrap\">                                                                                                                                  <\/div>\n<h3>Taylor Swift reimburses New York City for police overtime during wedding: Mamdani<\/h3>\n<p>                         <\/a>                     <\/div>\n<div class=\"explore-card\">                         <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/4643218\/apache-helicopter-pilots-suspended-after-south-carolina-beach-air-show\/?itm_source=parsely-api\">                             <\/p>\n<div class=\"explore-thumb-wrap\">                                                                                                                                  <\/div>\n<h3>Apache helicopter pilots suspended after South Carolina beach air show<\/h3>\n<p>                         <\/a>                     <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/section>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We were discussing <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/movies\/\">summer movies<\/a> \u2014 <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/horror\/\">horror movies<\/a>, in particular \u2014 and because we are both in the <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/entertainment\/\">entertainment industry<\/a>, we were talking about the box office, which lately has been very <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/its-happening-trump-up-7-points-in-final-selzer-iowa-poll-latest-states-poll-has-trump-up-322-to-216-for-biden-in-national-electoral-college\/\" title=\"IT&#039;S HAPPENING: Trump Up 7 Points in Final Selzer Iowa Poll -- Latest States Poll Has Trump Up 322 to 216 for Biden in National Electoral College\">good news<\/a> for the kind of <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/movies-and-films\/\">movie<\/a> I\u2019ve spent my whole career championing. The latest horror releases are doing well, people are coming back to the theaters, and I\u2019m happy about it. I\u2019ve been a genre-bore for years. I have told anyone in Hollywood who will listen \u2014 and to their great shame, no one in <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/movies\/\">Hollywood<\/a> listens to me \u2014 that genre movies are the way to go. Crowd-pleasers. Raunchy summer comedies. Spooky horror pictures. Give the people what they came for.<\/p>\n<div class=\"wex-inarticle-ad wex-inarticle-ad-art-dsk-inart-1\">\n<div class=\"wex-ad-wrap wex-ad-art-dsk-inart-1\" style=\"min-height:90px\"><span class=\"wex-ad-label\" hidden>Advertisement<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-3182201-15\" data-wex-ad=\"art-dsk-inart-1\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The only problem is that I don\u2019t <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/opinion\/3198053\/not-a-horror-freak\/\">really like horror movies<\/a>.<\/p>\n<div class=\"article-paywall\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And this isn\u2019t an aesthetic thing, or a taste thing. I just don\u2019t find them scary. I don\u2019t buy them. I don\u2019t think there\u2019s going to be someone chasing me with an axe, or some supernatural, superpowered something infecting my brain. I\u2019m not afraid of ghosts or ghouls or psycho killers or Jason Voorhees from <em>Friday the 13th<\/em>. Horror movies just aren\u2019t plausible to me.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And that\u2019s when my friend resorted to the <em>ad hominem <\/em>insistence that I don\u2019t have an imagination.<\/p>\n<div class=\"wex-inarticle-ad wex-inarticle-ad-art-dsk-inart-2\">\n<div class=\"wex-ad-wrap wex-ad-art-dsk-inart-2\" style=\"min-height:90px\"><span class=\"wex-ad-label\" hidden>Advertisement<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-3182201-16\" data-wex-ad=\"art-dsk-inart-2\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Which is a wicked lie, and I told her so. \u201cI have a very vivid imagination.\u201d I sniffed. \u201cA very <em>vivid<\/em>, often terrifying, imagination.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignright size-large is-resized\">(Getty Images)<\/p>\n<p>&#8221; data-large-file=&#8221;https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/\/2026\/07\/localimages\/LA.Longlife.071526.jpg?w=696&#8243; height=&#8221;658&#8243; width=&#8221;1024&#8243; &#8220;https:><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">(Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cFor instance,\u201d I elaborated, \u201cI have never driven over a bridge without being absolutely certain that it\u2019s about to collapse. And I have never been behind one of those car-carrying trucks without noticing that the cars seem to be bouncing around a little too freely, a little too loosely, as if the person tasked with securing them spends his lunch hour taking full advantage of America\u2019s basically nonexistent marijuana laws, and is just a little too relaxed to make sure that all of those cars don\u2019t come sliding down and onto my head.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I went on: \u201cI <em>imagine<\/em>, in other words, what it must be like to free-fall off of the Delaware Memorial Bridge. Falling, falling, screaming, falling, and then \u2026 lights out. Just like I <em>imagine<\/em> the sensation of being bombarded with brand-new Kia Sorentos at 70 miles per hour, suddenly losing control of the wheel, flipping over and over, fire and crunching metal, and <em>not<\/em> dying instantly. Experiencing every terrifying moment of that. I <em>imagine <\/em>the whole thing every time I pass one of those trucks.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"wex-inarticle-ad wex-inarticle-ad-art-dsk-inart-3\">\n<div class=\"wex-ad-wrap wex-ad-art-dsk-inart-3\" style=\"min-height:90px\"><span class=\"wex-ad-label\" hidden>Advertisement<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-3182201-17\" data-wex-ad=\"art-dsk-inart-3\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cOK, OK,\u201d she said. \u201cI get it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cNo, no,\u201d I said. \u201cHere are some more nuggets from my no-imagination imagination: When I\u2019m at the doctor, getting blood work done, I <em>imagine<\/em> a <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >tiny air bubble racing<\/a> its way to my heart. I <em>imagine<\/em> plane crashes, deadly amoebas, slipping off the subway platform, elevator cables snapping, and forgetting to blow out a fancy candle, falling asleep, and incinerating myself to death.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAll of those things are imaginable,\u201d I wound up, \u201cbecause all of those things are <em>possible<\/em>. A guy in a hockey mask, a supernatural being who infects your brain? Give me a break. But that tiny bubble of air? Those <em>exist<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And here\u2019s the other thing horror movies get wrong, the thing that gives the whole game away: They announce themselves. There\u2019s the music. There\u2019s the slow build, the creaking door, the hot girl who shouldn\u2019t go into the basement but goes into the basement. Horror movies are obvious that way. They give you a full orchestra\u2019s worth of warning that something bad is about to happen.<\/p>\n<div class=\"wex-inarticle-ad wex-inarticle-ad-art-dsk-inart-4\">\n<div class=\"wex-ad-wrap wex-ad-art-dsk-inart-4\" style=\"min-height:90px\"><span class=\"wex-ad-label\" hidden>Advertisement<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-3182201-25\" data-wex-ad=\"art-dsk-inart-4\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But nobody composes a score for your actual life. The genuinely frightening stuff arrives without a soundtrack \u2014 in a sudden snap of bridge cables, on the freeway behind a logging truck, in a phone call at the wrong hour, in a sentence that begins, \u201cThe doctor wants to run a few more tests.\u201d No mask, no machete, no fog rolling across a summer camp. Just a Tuesday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">So, yes, I have an imagination, but it has standards. It\u2019s a snob. It will not work for free, and it will not work on a premise it doesn\u2019t believe.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/premium\/4620148\/catching-up-old-friends-surprise-new-vocation\/\">AN OLD FRIEND\u2019S SUPRISE AT A NEW VOCATION <\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<div class=\"wex-inarticle-ad wex-inarticle-ad-art-dsk-inart-5\">\n<div class=\"wex-ad-wrap wex-ad-art-dsk-inart-5\" style=\"min-height:90px\"><span class=\"wex-ad-label\" hidden>Advertisement<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-3182201-26\" data-wex-ad=\"art-dsk-inart-5\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cSo, <em>everything <\/em>is a horror movie to you?\u201d my friend asked.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cEverything except horror movies,\u201d I said. <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Rob Long is a television writer and producer, including as a screenwriter and executive producer on <\/em>Cheers<em>, and the co-founder of <\/em><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/ricochet.com\"><em>Ricochet.com<\/em><\/a><em>.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Friend claims I lack imagination; I disagree<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2050,"featured_media":2628385,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/LA.Longlife.071526.jpg?w=696","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33651],"tags":[5466,82561,82562],"class_list":["post-2628384","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-western-journal","tag-fear","tag-horror-movies","tag-imagination"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/LA.Longlife.071526.jpg?w=696","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2628384","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2050"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2628384"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2628384\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2628388,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2628384\/revisions\/2628388"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2628385"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2628384"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2628384"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2628384"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}