Horropedia

Utterly unremarkable black frame glasses. They come with perks only a fan would notice and an inexplicably high price tag.

This product was only sold during the premiere of "X-Ray Monkeyman". There weren't many buyers, and now there are just 300 prototypes left on the market.

A horse-face mask, its eyes wide with fury. It is said that the interviewee can borrow the power of the underworld messengers through it to suppress evil spirits. A long strip of cloth hangs from its mouth like a tongue. Some might see it and think of tales about hanged ghosts.

"A tongue?! No, it's just some talisman paper. Here, look—hey, don't go!"

A green line cuts through a black-and-white checkered world—just the dash of mania the routine needed.

Not a bad pairing.

A wooden sword, twisted from absorbing too much malice during a certain incident. From a distance, it looks like a rigid tentacle coiled around the interviewee's arm. The dark stains have seeped deep into the wood.

A retro-style automatic targeting and firing system resembling a firearm. It includes various assembly tools and special ammunition components containing liquid or powder, and can be used to create various thriller atmospheres or attack effects.

Bronze bells of all sizes, strung together at random to ward off evil spirits. Around the outside, a loop of hastily written yellow talismans serves to calm the soul during traditional arcane rituals.

"The two aren't contradictory, of course. I need to make sure it doesn't harm me."

People are always seeking new thrills.

Just like plants wanting to draw nutrients from farther, deeper places, we grow tired of the ground we've already tread. However much those sensory stimulants once made our hearts pound and our pulses race, the zest is always leeched out like the flavor from chewed gum. At that point, we take a final taste and then spit them out without a second thought.

The failed researcher, the forgotten horror novelist, and the human who outlived his usefulness were spat out along with them. He lived in a cramped and messy studio apartment and scraped by on fast food and second-hand retail.

"But they were wrong, my clever boy. "

His grandfather—the best in the world, who taught him the beauty of technology and reason and brought warmth into the home—gave him a wink.

"We'll love these awful movies until the day we die. "

"We'll love these awful movies until the day we die! " the boy cheered.

Student Disciplinary Action Form (office copy)

<line-indent=9%>Name: Joshua Gender: Male Age: 5

Date of Violation: December 20, 19■■

Reason for Discipline:

In a random dormitory inspection carried out in Academic Year 1, Semester 1, Week 17, the student was found to have concealed several horror film-themed magazines in his room under his mattress.

Such conduct is prohibited by Article XII: Prohibited Items in the "School of Primary Defense of Mankind Safety Regulations", which reads: "Students are prohibited from owning, carrying, or distributing literary or artistic works espousing ideologies not advocated or approved by the St. Pavlov Foundation."

Proposed Action:

Confiscation of the prohibited items followed by a demerit in accordance with the "School of Primary Defense of Mankind Safety Regulations" and the "School of Primary Defense of Mankind Assessment System".

Pandora Wilson: What made you so infatuated with 80s horror films? From a standpoint of logic and reason—

Horropedia: They're so preposterous and wild that they couldn't possibly happen—they're the antithesis of logic and reason... Is that what you mean?

Pandora Wilson: It sounds like you already understand what I'm getting at then.

Horropedia: Aha! Well, you're dead wrong there, ma'am.

Horropedia: Not only do they have rigorous internal logic, but once its rules are grasped, survival is possible even in the bloodiest, darkest places. It supersedes logic and reason. One could say that logic and reason in humanity were born out of fear.

Pandora Wilson: Do you believe fear is the root of our problems?

Horropedia: No! But very close! Fear is an instinct, like a catalyst that drives us to find solutions to problems, be it logic, reason, or passion... 80s horror films take this truth and display it plainly to the audience.