Scary Movie

A neighbor of mine who wishes to remain anonymous shares a memory of a night at the Denis:

"There is not much I remember about that night at the Denis Theater. Other than the fact that I went to see a movie that I was assured was very scary. I cannot remember the day, I cannot remember the name of the movie, but I do remember the Denis Theater.

"I love a scary movie. In my mind, there is nothing better than sitting in a dark theater, scrunched down in your seat, eating popcorn, and being scared out of your wits. I grew up watching scary movies. You name, it monsters, horror, suspense. My mother loved scary movies, but she didn’t like watching them alone. From a young age, she would let me stay up late so we could watch scary movies together. One could say I was baptized in blood and gore, which in and of itself would have been a scary movie.

"But, back to the Denis Theater. There I sat, in the Denis, watching what really was not a scary movie. Despite claims of the movie being groundbreaking, based on a true story, terrifying…, it was not. It was, in my mind, boring. Although, I did stay through the end credits. When I got up, I realized I was alone in the theater, getting up to leave as a few late night patrons crept in. Should I warn them, tell them to sneak into another movie? No, maybe they would enjoy the movie.

"I left the Denis headed for the short walk home. That is the thing about a neighborhood theater, you can walk home. You can meet your friends there and then go for dessert afterwards. But, tonight, for some reason, I was alone…, and it was dark, and the wind was blowing just so that I felt the brief harbinger of fall upon my shoulders.

"A ten minute walk, after a not so scary movie, on a pleasant late summer evening. I began the quick walk home, straight down Cedar, regretting that I had not gone to see a different movie, disappointed that it had not been a scary movie at all. Without my ever present headphones, I listened to the cicadas and crickets, and footsteps? Did I hear footsteps? I looked over my shoulder, but no one was there. I shrugged it off. Simply an auditory hallucination or my own footsteps echoing off of the apartment building, and well, I was almost home, and the movie was not scary at all.

"Turning on to Baywood, not a person around. No joggers, no dog walkers, nobody. Just me, but if it was just me, why did I feel like someone was following me. This time, instead of a quick glance over my shoulder, I spun around, but there was not a soul around me.

"There is a spot on Baywood, if you live in Mt. Lebanon and walk, you will know the spot I mean. This one spot, near the intersection of Baywood and Mabrick, that feels at least five degrees colder than the rest of the street. Tonight, that spot is freezing. And suddenly, I start thinking that maybe that movie was scarier than I thought."