The American horror movie genre is so influential that many people can’t help but see a horror movie in particular situations. How many people have come upon an abandoned house on the outskirts of town and envisioned a scene from a horror movie they’re seen in the past? How many people have walked through the woods hand in hand with a loved one and felt an eerie breeze sweep through the trees, sending leaves and moss fluttering, and making heavy tree boughs moan? How many people have driven through the desert and have stopped at the one single gas station in 100 miles and felt that if you encountered an ax murderer, no one would hear you scream? Yeah, the American horror movie can be seen, felt, and envisioned in the most innocent of circumstances, but that doesn’t stop most people from seeing boogeymen and knife welding, mask wearing, bloodletting psychopaths wherever they go…hence this tale.
The gas station in the desert is one of the most popular settings for horror movies, thrillers, alien abduction films, and the occasional fallen angel battle scene. Though gas stations are meant to feel welcoming and offer their visitors refreshment and respite after a long grueling journey, there are some that only offer dust, dry heat, suspicious glances, and gruff mechanics who care more about the condition of their 10 year Ingersoll rand compressor parts than they do about your need to get back on the road swiftly. Honestly, you could probably cover yourself in compressor oil and set yourself on fire before they’d deign to put down their jug of rotgut and toss a bucket of stagnant water over your head. After which they would kick your smoldering body and get back to cleaning their air compressor filter.
The key to escaping the gas station horror movie is to fill your tank before you leave for your destination, and fill two extra gas cans for the just in case. That way, when you’re driving down that dry, dusty road in the middle of nowhere and see the shimmering of white and chrome in the distance, you can choose to pass the place by rather than stop and take your chances. Sure, horror movies are just that, made up stories meant to entertain and terrify, but we all know that most movies have a basis in fact, or supposed fact.
If you want to live a horror movie, you probably actively seek out that creepy dilapidated house, find your way into dank underground sewer tunnels, or ask around about the ghosts in people’s attics. If you would rather live your life without the fear and sweat and blood curdling, you can prepare prior to venturing out, and always be sure to carry Ingersoll Rand compressor parts, and a spare air compressor filter in the trunk of your car. You never know when you’ll need to bribe a crazy gas station attendant for your life. Happy entrails!