Gone are the days of the slasher films of our (or more like our parents') youth. We are setting aside the masks and machetes that once were the staple of our beloved villains, and we are instead picking up the types of scary movies that make the villain a little less ... visible.

With some extremely anticipated horror films coming out this summer such as The Conjuring 2, The Purge: Election Year, Lights Out, and The Woods, I noticed that our horror films have taken a slightly different tone than those of our past. Instead of there being a visible evil, like a large dead guy wearing a hockey mask and stabbing people with a humongous knife, we have instead attracted a type of scary movie genre that focuses on our internal fears instead of what's right in front of us.

The horror industry is thriving off of the basic concepts that haunt our dreams at night, the subconscious fears that are the root of our every nightmare. Paranormal activity, the thought of a world without any laws, the dark, and large wooded areas; these are all basic fears that keep us awake, listening for anything that goes bump in the night. In comparison to films such as Friday the 13th (1980) and Halloween (1978), we instead are producing movies that feed off of the secrets locked away in the deepest part of our souls. These modern movies play with our minds and affect our psyche. When did we become desensitized to the gory films that made up the 80s, and instead crave the things that can't be seen?

As a lover of all things dark and twisty, I love scary movies. I personally am very excited for the second Conjuring movie to make its debut, but when I think about the reasons why, I have a hard time coming up with a single one. This begs the question: why do we pay to be scared?

One theory that I thought of is that our society enjoys the thrill of being frightened, and we feed the inner adrenaline junkie that lives inside of us when we experience the feeling of the lights go down in the theater. Another theory, and perhaps the one that makes most sense, is that we watch horror movies to face our fears. We know that we are in a safe environment, and even though we are aware these horrors exist in real life, we are protected from them as long as we're watching the movie. As the credits begin to roll and the lights come on, our fears fade away... until the next time.

Whatever the reason is that we enjoy paying producers and actors to terrify us, the horror industry brings in more than $400 million a year, so I think they know something that I don't. Whether you're chasing a thrill or facing your fear, check out The Conjuring 2 in theaters June 10th. But whatever you do, don't follow the clap..