For those wanting to get some last-minute scares before the spooky holiday, Booth Library was the place to be as they put on a screening of the 1982 horror/supernatural film “Poltergeist” on Sunday from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Members of the Eastern Illinois LAB committee, a student advisory organization for Booth Library, hosted the event with popcorn and candy for those who attended the film.
The film tells the story of a family who discovers their house is haunted by ghostly spirits who begin to terrorize them.
Christopher Redmon, a second-year business management major and president of LAB, said the idea behind the event was to connect students during the holiday in a productive and enjoyable way.
Redmon also said the film screening is a nice alternative way to celebrate Halloween.
“I feel like sometimes everybody likes to party,” Redmon said. “You know you don’t have to go party or drink or be under the influence to have fun so it’s a good thing.”
But Redmon is not a fan of the horror film genre.
“I’m actually afraid of all scary movies,” Redmon said. “I will never watch a scary movie by myself, but my favorite genre is action.”
While Redmon prefers action movies, the event also hosted a guest who more than enjoys scary movies.
Eastern Illinois television and video production professor Drew Britton, who came to speak about why he loves the horror genre and to promote his class “The Branches of Horror.”
“I believe it’s a very cathartic genre in which you can process a lot of things that you might be going through either internally or externally as well as just allow you to feel kind of safe and scared in a safe environment,” Britton said.
As well as teaching, Britton also writes and directs his own films in his spare time with his recent film “They Want Me Gone” coming out last year.
In “The Branches of Horror” class, he will be teaching students aspects of horror from various cultures and how they relate to American films.
He said seeing students on campus coming together to celebrate the holiday is great to see as a fan.
“I love it and I think it’s the best season of the year,” Britton said. “So, we have to celebrate it and it makes me appreciate that we can because I know we have a tendency to celebrate it more than other cultures, which makes me really happy. I like the lore of it. I really like that time of year and I really have that feeling that encompasses and embodies that holiday.”
Junior geology major Steven Burkhard went to the screening and said horror movies are relatively new to him.
“I’ve been getting into it more recently,” Burkhard said. “But I tend to prefer slashers because they’re not as scary but like they still have a sense of fear in the audience because you never know when the killer is going to show up.”
Events like these are good for students to connect even if they are from different years or majors, according to Burkhard.
“I think it’s good knowing that people are able to come together because you don’t get to meet new people in classes,” Burkhard said. “Because like, especially as you get higher into your major, you just kind of get less and less people to meet.”
Drew Coffey can be reached at 581-2812 or at akcoffey@eiu.edu.
