Eight- thirty in the morning is an odd time to watch horror films. But my formative years of watching them have mostly been at this hour when temple bells are ringing, joggers are jogging, school children are getting off buses, in the morning shows at Blue Moon and Blue Diamond in Brigade Road in Bangalore or in Excelsior and Filmistan in Chandni Chowk and Karol Bagh in Delhi. I would be waiting outside the hall furtively to let the crowd get in first, tentatively go to the ticket counter and quickly get it tendering exact change as the notice instructed. I would leave the theatre about 10 minutes before the film ended to make a quick getaway to the nearest bus stand, before any friend or a relative spotted me. Though chances are they were doing the same, and the reason I never came across anyone known was perhaps because they were in as much of a hurry to leave the premises.