I've been tagged by Charlotte, the Distressed Housewife, to think of three things that I would put into my own personal Room 101, as part of a meme started over at Stickers, Stars and Smiles.

If you want to join in, the rules are:

• Pick three things/people/whatever that you would shove in a room never to see the light of day again (Room 101)
• Explain why should they go in there
• Tag three bloggers to carry the meme forward (if you want to).
• Display the Room 101 badge (at the bottom of this post) so your readers can find all of the other posts in the meme.

Now there's no way my post is going to be half as funny as Charlotte's so instead, I've decided to base my Room 101 around horror films; hence the cunning title of this post!

In no particular order, here are my three:

One
Turn the lights on! Okay, this isn't exclusive to horror films but it drives me up the wall. If you're going to look around someone's house because you can't get in touch with them and/or think they've been killed, turn the bloody lights on! There's NO NEED for you to stumble around in the dark, trying to make sense of the shadows and guessing about the source of any strange noises. Seriously, it will be much easier to find out what's going on (and spot if there's anyone hiding behind a door/under the bed/in a wardrobe) if you just TURN THE LIGHTS ON!! 

Two
Don't split up! If you and your friends are being picked off one by one by a madman, why oh why would you even consider splitting up at any point? It won't be quicker to find your missing friend/put the lights back on/obtain weapons or help if you take a task each and split up to do it, you'll just be DEAD!


Three
If the lights unexpectedly go out, don't investigate to find out why! This applies even more when your torch is on the blink and/or you're wearing  unsuitable footwear. I refer you back to point 2 above; you know that you and your friends are being picked off by a psycho so why would you even contemplate going to find out why your house/office/other building was suddenly plunged into darkness? The rule of thumb in this situation is ALWAYS run away fast!

To carry on this meme, I am tagging Liz at Margot & Barbara, Avon (who incidentally wrote this fabulous guest post for me) and Mummy Plum. In fact, I'm going to break the rules and tag my sister Laura at Chez Mummy as well because I think she'll enjoy joining in with this.

It would be easy for you to assume I must be a fan of horror films. I'm not. They scare the absolute bejeezus out of me. My brain doesn't seem to accept the logic that they're not real and there's nothing to fear. Instead, it leaps straight to "holy crap, this could really happen, what the hell am I going to do?, I'd better keep all the lights in the house on as a warning to any vampires/demons/evil spirits/mass-murderers etc to keep away".

Zombies are pretty much at the top of my "things that scare me" list. I think it's because they're so single-minded. You can't negotiate with them or appeal to their better nature. If they get you, that's it, game over.

And lets face it, it's not going to be a quick death. They'll rip lumps of flesh from your body using their dull, unsharpened teeth and you'll feel every single bite until you die from shock or blood loss.

It's not like it even ends there. You'll then have the joy of reanimating and trying to eat your family and anyone else that crosses your path.

Overall, it's not an experience that'll ever be going on my bucket list.

So how did I get here? to a point where the reason behind my desire to get fit is to avoid becoming zombie fodder? to a point where I'm having regular zombie apocalypse survival discussions on twitter?

It started when I found out the computer game "Resident Evil" was being adapted into a film. I'd never played the game myself, or had any desire to, but I was really excited about the film, as I'm a huge fan of Milla Jovovich who had been cast in the lead role of "Alice". I even ventured to the cinema on my own to watch it!

Although the films in the Resident Evil series tell the story about how the zombie apocalypse begins and what happens afterwards, they're all about the action rather than the deep thinking so I never thought any more about the subject until I came across what, in my opinion, is one of the best tv programmes to have been made in recent years; The Walking Dead. 

Focusing on the relationships, conflicts, and dilemmas faced by a small group of survivors of the zombie apocalypse, The Walking Dead is very much a programme that asks how you keep your humanity in inhuman times and it makes you question what you would do under the same circumstances.

I'm not the only one that started thinking about how I'd survive in the event of a major catastrophe; the Centers for Disease Control and Preventions also got into the act with their zombie preparedness campaign. It may have been tongue in cheek but it definately helped them to connect with a new audience and as their director, Dr Ali Khan, notes "If you are generally well equipped to deal with a zombie apocalypse, you will be prepared for a hurricane, pandemic, earthquake, or terrorist attack". Good to know.

So like many, my fascination with the zombie apocalypse isn't to do with the zombies themselves, or driven by any desire to scare myself, it's about how I'd survive if society and life as we knew it collapsed. Will I be able to keep myself alive? What will I be prepared to do to achieve that? How much of my humanity will remain intact? What am I willing to sacrifice? 

Am I ready? I've made a start but I've a lot more to do, including a beginner's Archery course in the Autumn. Because no zombie apocalypse would be complete without a woman with a crossbow.

If it's good enough for Buffy, it's good enough for me!

How prepared are you? I'd love for you to share your thoughts with me.