Halloween: Are we really that far off?

Okay, so I have a confession to make. I have guilty pleasures like everybody out there and one of them is slasher flicks. The old-school kind with the terrible acting and the screams that last a good 3 seconds before the killer actually attacks the victim. Oh yeah, and the victim or "victims" are usually engaged in a sexual act too right before being their demise. It's cinematic genius!!! I was thinking about it the other day and wondering if there was something else that drew me to these "less than stellar" films. Was I perhaps sadistic? Or just attracted to the excitement of a chase inner-twined with a barage of ridiculous circumstances. Perhaps a little of both, but let me entertain the idea that there is something slightly more important going on. Something deeper that draws me to the idea of a psycopathic killer without feeling or remorse. I'm okay with the fact that many might consider me to be deranged and that is fine. But I believe there is something more, something deeper. "Halloween " is the story of Michael Myers, a boy at age 6, who witnessed his sister, Judith, fooling around with some guy at their house on Halloween. He finds her in her room after the guy has left, grabs a mask, then kills her with a butcher knife. He runs outside to find his parents waiting there for him. They are confused and they pull of his mask and the viewer is left to watch the empty face of a little boy who has just killed his sister and has no apparent emotion. That's how it begins. 15 years later Michael escapes from a psychiatric ward and returns to Haddonfield, Ill to reak havoc upon his home town. Now, I won't argue that the basic premise of the movie is this unstoppable freak-killer who is terrorizing young teens. But the scenes that I find to be the most interesting and disturbing are the ones where Michael's doctor is trying to warn the town about what they are facing. In one scene, Dr. Loomis explains to the sheriff that when he met Michael, he was horrified that a six-year old boy could have no color or expression in his eyes. He spent the next 15 years, watching Michael grow older, but seeing no signs of feeling or emotion in him, only pure evil. He then refers to him as "Not Human". This intrigued me. How far off is this from reality? I'm sure if we questioned some of Charles Manson's doctor's, they might issue a similar statement. Is is possible to be completely void of emotion or feeling? To reach the point of no return where the evil that exists in all of us actually consumes us and makes us "in-humane". There have been countless mass-murderers in our history. While I personally don't believe we can say they reached this place of complete emptiness, is it possible that some did? And let's set aside killers for a moment. What about us? Sufjan Stevens sings a song about serial killer John Wayne Gacy Jr., relating himself to Gacy. "On my best behavior, I am really just like him." "Look beneath the floor boards, find the secrets I have hid. We all have wicked minds that cause us to think some very despicable stuff. How far off are we just because we haven't acted upon some of those thoughts.... yet? I guess my point is we always say whenever something terrible happens, that we could never do that or that it wouldn't be possible for us to commit such an atrocious act. The truth is that we are capable of anything humanly possible, whether good or evil. We should never kid ourselves into thinking we our above anything. All this being said, I am probably trying way too hard to dig some amazing philisophical truth out of a cheap, horror flick. But after seeing the original Halloween about 6 times, I have to believe that there might be something more that draws me to it, other than its cheesyness. I wish I had more readers because I'm interested to see how crazy people think I am. But to the select, chosen few who get the amazing priviledge of reading my posts, I'm looking forward to hearing your pearls of wisdom. On a wimsical note, I plan on seeing the Rob Zombie remake of Halloween soon. I've read mixed things about it. I'm sure it is not as good as the original, but since I enjoyed the original, I want to see the remake. Beware of the Boogie-Man!! Happy Halloween!!!