Finding Something To Scream About (NAPSA)—If you’ve ever seen a horror movie, you may be surprised that people actually sign up to be victims. But that’s exactly what’s happening across the country. Before you break into a cold sweat, know that “victim”is just a name FEARnet uses for horror fans when they chat online. It’s part of a larger trend creeping into the mainstream that centers on the $1 billion a year horror movie industry. In fact, fright fans now gorge on all-things-gore over the Internet, on TV and even ontheir cell phones. They use Web sites such as FEARnet.com to meet, download films and devour the latest rumors in the horror industry— and they access free films over Comceast’s Fearnet on-demand service, which offers about 200 horror, thriller and suspense films a year, as well as more than 70 hours of horror programming a month. The channel’s collection covers the fear genre from slasher to “J-Horror” for kids and features both Spanish programming and High-Definition content. The New Culture Of Fear Horror movies have changed over the years and horror fans have, too. Today’s fright films now feature A-list celebrities doing battle with demons, monsters and attackers, a far cry from days past, when it was tough to name a horror actor. Credit: Ralph Nelson, Columbia Pictures Gary Oldman and Winona Ryder in Bram Stoker’s Dracula. And as horror fans grow more high tech, they’ve found new ways to express their passion for horror. For instance, if you suddenly hear a blood-curdling scream in the grocery store, it might only meanthe cashier hasa cell phone call and downloaded one of FEARnet’s horror-inspired ringtones. Similarly, people are accessing horror-based games from the Web site for their PCs or mobile phones, and this lets fans search horror databases—in case you want to access a review of “The Werewolf” or you're dying to know whodirected “See No Evil” to settle an argument. Regardless of how it’s used, the site may be a sign that horror is here to stay—and that horror fans now walk among us. For more information, visit www.fearnet.com.
