Circle Spotlight: Spooky Circle
The Spooky Circle is a place for discussing all things horror. Their meetings revolve around horror stories, books, movies, and art. The circle hosts a number of events, such as movie nights, as well as dramatic readings! The only requirement to join the club is that you need to be ready to indulge in a world of terror and spooks!
Amirah Khan is a full-time junior who has been at OHS for five years. She has always “loved spooky things since [she] was a kid.” Around two years ago, she watched Wes Craven's Scream (1996) for the first time and immediately “fell in love with horror movies.” Amirah has always wanted to run a circle, but she never knew what the topic of the circle would be. Multiple topics were of interest to Amirah: animal science, doodling, and a circle focused on fish. However, when she realized that OHS didn’t have any horror circle/club, she decided to create her own. But, she was hesitant for a number of reasons: “Why would anyone care about my circle anyway? Is it going to be too much work to run everything properly? What if I run out of ideas?” Speaking to her mother, Amirah decided to send in her proposal so that she wouldn’t regret anything. A week later, the circle was approved, and the rest is history!"
A Spooky Circle meeting always begins with some type of spooky question. For example, at the last meeting, Amirah asked everyone “If there were no rooms left at Hotel Transylvania, which monster would you choose to room with and why?” After everyone gets a chance to answer the question, Amirah introduces a “mini-segment for the first 10-15 minutes of the meeting.” Sample segments include “The History of Halloween” or “The History of Halloween Costumes.” Once the mini-segment concludes, Amirah moves on to the main segment. One of her favorite topics covered during a meeting was the history of zombies. In that meeting, members watched the opening scene of a very iconic zombie film: Night of the Living Dead (1967). During each meeting, members always watch some sort of video. In the last meeting, the circle watched “4 different iconic scenes from different horror movies to determine what made them scary.” Meetings always end with Amirah telling her members to “Stay Spooky”!
As this is Amirah’s first year running a circle, I asked her to share some of her experiences leading a circle this year. When asked about the most rewarding aspect about being a circle leader, Amirah wanted to say “everything.” Running this circle gives Amirah “a purpose and belonging at this school that [she has] not been able to get any other way.” The Spooky Circle recently collaborated with Pixelate for a Halloween movie screening, which is the proudest meeting Amirah’s held. The Pixelate and Spooky Circle watched Dr. Terror’s House of Horrors (1965).
For those spooky-loving classmates, Amirah shared some of her favorite suggestions. For classic TV shows, Amirah is currently watching The Addams Family and The Munsters. As for movies, Amirah recommends Night of the Living Dead (1967) and The Shining (1980)! If you want to watch a slasher film, Amirah suggests The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974), Halloween (1978), Friday the 13th (1981), Scream (1996), Deep Red (1975), Dark Night of the Scarecrow (1981), Prom Night (1980), and The Town that Dreaded Sundown (1976). As for spooky sci-fi movies, check out The Thing (1982), The Last Man on Earth (1964), The Crawling Eye (1954), Them! (1954) and Eraserhead (1977). Finally, for supernatural movies, watch The Exorcist (1973), The Evil Dead (1981), Pumpkinhead (1986), A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984), and Suspiria (1977) if you would like to “unsettle your nerves.” Please be aware of a film’s rating and consult your parents to decide if you are suited to watch the movie.
The Spooky Circle meets every other week at 3 PM PST. If you would like to join, visit their Canvas page for more information!