It’s a wonderful life? Sure! But scary season still rules in the Stangland household.
Sean Stangland 
Follow @SeanStanglandDH Updated 12/17/2021 11:41 AM
Christmas is on deck, but spooky season is still at the plate in my household.
My wife and I spent five weekends beginning in early October working our way though all 12 “Friday the 13th” slasher flicks. It was her idea, just more concrete evidence that we were made for each other. We both picked the same one as our favorite, even: 1989’s “Jason Takes Manhattan,” the much-maligned eighth entry in the series that has more scenes aboard a junky cruise ship than New York City.
One would think we would next pivot to the “Nightmare on Elm Street” series with Freddy Krueger, given that the eleventh “Friday the 13th” movie is “Freddy Vs. Jason.” But no, my wife chose Michael Myers as her next scary boyfriend, and this week we made it to his franchise’s seventh installment from 1998, “Halloween H20: 20 Years Later.” It’s great! And over in less than 90 minutes! (But a Creed song plays over the end credits, for shame!)
So while the weather outside may not be frightful so far, the stuff on the TV inside most certainly is. Here it is, Dec. 17, and “It’s a Wonderful Life,” “A Christmas Story” and “Die Hard” (so there’s my answer to that question) have yet to deck our halls. I did watch the John Hughes-penned remake of “Miracle on 34th Street” on HBO Max for some reason, and my opinion of that movie is that you should watch “Planes, Trains & Automobiles” instead.
Why have we shunned the usual holiday fare this year in favor of mute, masked psychopaths wielding sharp objects? I think it’s because horror films make us feel alive. We have it bad, but at least we’re not that poor girl in the sleeping bag who got thrashed against a tree by the dude in the hockey mask! Scary movies for scary times. (And yes, times are still scary. They’re going to be for a while, aren’t they?)
Confronting middle age and its painful experiences is only making those times scarier, and lonelier. A feel-good family Christmas movie is likely to remind me of all the wonderful times we haven’t had the past few years, and all the wonderful times we might never have again. Nostalgic tears can be cleansing, but I’ve had enough of them. I want to live the wonderful moments, not watch them.
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Like last weekend, when we hosted my side of the family in our home for the first time, a sort of Thanksgiving/Christmas halftime pizza party. It’s a memory I’m going to hold onto forever. And when they left, and the cat mustered the courage to come out of hiding, we screamed as Michael Myers tried to skewer future four-time Oscar nominee Michelle Williams.
And we felt alive. It’s a good feeling.
• Sean Stangland is an assistant news editor who resisted the urge to mention the “Krampus” movie in this column. Ah, but there it is.
