By: Mike Strong
Kennesaw State University’s Horror Club is back and better than ever this year. New club president Conrad Sims sat down with me to talk about the clubs history and what they have in store for this year.
The KSU Horror Club is a movie watching club for those with a common interest based around all types of horror films. The club meets once a week to hold viewings of horror films ranging from serious to campy. Meetings are every Wednesday and the club is currently in the process of finalizing the meeting room.
“We are trying to get the best space possible and the best time possible, hopefully around 7 p.m.” Sims said. The club will be completely up and running with a set date and time by the end of this month.
“We are also trying to branch out a lot more this year,” Sims said. “I am trying to get involved with Trick or Treat So Kids Can Eat, which is an event where we collect cans to help kids. Last year we did scream on the green, where we had a giant projector and we showed the ‘Scream’ film. So I am trying to do something like that again this year.”
As far as what films will be shown, the club plans out their schedule quite far in advance. Their aim is to show movies that not everyone has already seen.
“We want to show something that people might not have been exposed to,” Sims said. “We try to show different kinds of horror films, not just really dark or really goofy. We try to mix it up every week.”
There was actually a time when the club was not simply known as the Horror Club. They tried to become the Bad Movies club for about a year.
“It was met with mixed reviews, because we were the Horror Club before that,” Sims said. “So we changed to the Bad Movies Club because we wanted to show the ”so bad they are good” types of films, but that can only run on for so long. The name itself kind of added a negative tone, and people who don’t really know about B-films would not get it.”
The Horror Club is a very diverse club, despite appearing to appeal to a very specific audience. All kinds of people are fans of these types of films and joining the club is a great way for anyone to get their horror fix.
“People of all different backgrounds come together through a common interest of horror films,” Sims said. “The club can definitely help people expand and branch out.” Everyone has a different taste in this specific genre of film, so the club is a great way to expand and find new types of horror that might appeal to you.
For anyone looking to get involved with the club, the answer is joining through OwlLife. “We are very active through our Facebook page as well, that is where a lot of our updates come from,” Sims said. “But anyone can just show up, we do not have any fees, paperwork, or documents that we want you to sign. We just really want to encourage people to come and join our club the easiest way possible, just by showing up. And we do not want to be seen as a club that just shows horror movies, it is also a place of belonging for a lot of people. We connect people through that passion. It is so great to me that you can take a genre of film with what is seen as a negative tone and turn it into a positive thing through connections and friends.”
KSU Horror Club will be posting through OwlLife and their Facebook group which can be joined by anyone. Check them out at https://www.facebook.com/groups/ksuhorrorclub/.
