Fear is very popular right now. In
theaters, horror movies are drawing increasing numbers of viewers. Over the
course of just five years, a company called Blumhouse Productions released
eight hit horror films, including Paranormal
Activity, Sinister and The Purge. Together,
these films made $1.1 billion at the box office. Superstar actor Brad Pitt
starred in the zombie movie World War Z in
2013, which grossed over $540
million. A sequel is due to come out this June.
Television has also been a scary
place in recent years. Turn on the TV and you can see witches on American Horror Story: Coven, vampires
on The Vampire Diaries and zombies on
The Walking Dead. And these are not
just fringe shows — The Walking Dead has
been ranked the top-rated show on basic cable. Zombies are popular, says James
Wolcott in Vanity Fair, because they
illustrate so many of our current concerns: “famine, holocaust, plague, toxic
waste, genetic mutation, unburied furies, borderless chaos, racial warfare,
urban riots, suburban home invasions, [and] soul-less consumerism.” Still,
Wolcott finds zombies to be poor company because they lack basic conversational
skills and have “deplorable hygiene and manners.”1
Easter begins with fear
The surprising thing about the story
of the resurrection in the Gospel of Matthew is that it is so filled with fear.
As the first day of the week is dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary go
to see the tomb. They immediately experience an earthquake, which can be a
terrifying experience in itself. Then an angel of the Lord descends from heaven
and rolls back the stone of the tomb — Matthew tells us that “for fear of him
the guards shook and became like dead men.” The guards are witnessing some true
“Paranormal Activity,” and are scared to death.
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