Horror movie actors live beneath a façade of fear.
The good ones create ghouls, monsters, zombies, vampires and ax-wielding murderers devoid of emotion and soul — and guaranteed to produce a hug for a high school jock in a movie theater or a sleepless night for a kid.
They live to create misconception, to capture the imagination of scared moviegoers.
Enter Ron “Reaper” Jones Blair of Rileyville — a man behind the mask.
Working as a video store clerk as a teenager drew Reaper to the macabre. For him, spending time with B-list actors and like-minded horror junkies provides the perfect outlet for his over-the-top personality.
But looks can be deceiving.
“These people think they see the whole me, but it’s only a small part,” Reaper said. “My family (members) are the only ones who know who I really am.”
True, but even the family — wife Michelle, and children, Caleb, 8, and Mackenzie, 11 — cannot escape the clutches of Reaper.
The husband and father watches horror movies, acts in them and writes scripts for them. His emersion in the genre created a family bond. They attend horror-based conventions together. Stars from movies such as “Dawn of the Dead” and “Texas Chainsaw Massacre” know the family.
The Reaper’s avocation helps pull the tight-knit family more tightly together. The family is extremely close but also extremely extravagant, a product of being into the scene and their personality.
One wall in the family’s modest home is covered with pictures of the kids at an array of different ages, while posters by actors who attended conventions cover the others.
Money seems tight for everyone these days, but spending for Reaper and his family can flow like blood from a beheaded behemoth on special occasions, including when Halloween approaches.
For them, horror isn’t scary. It provides an opportunity for love.
