Since his first appearance in the "Halloween" slasher films beginning in 1978, Michael Myers has become a horror icon many people find frightening.
Four-year-old Aria Alvarado isn’t most people.
In a video that has already garnered more than 3 million views on TikTok in 24 hours, Aria is seen celebrating her 4th birthday with her family in West Covina, California, when the "Halloween" theme music begins to play. The birthday girl quickly starts looking for Michael Myers from the movie series.
“I love him,” she shouts as she paces back and forth with excitement, eventually spotting the character across the parking lot.
"Not by yourself," her family members scream to her. But Aria won't listen.
When she sees Myers, she shouts to him, “Michael Myers, I love you!” before enthusiastically running to him and jumping into his arms.
The 50-second video clip has gone viral on social media with viewers amused by the four-year-old's fearless infatuation with a fictitious, murdering serial killer.
“I love ‘spooky’ children,” one person commented. “So wholesome in a weirdly good way."
Another user commented, “This is so cute omg 😂😭 she genuinely loves him.”
Aria’s mother Rose Alvarado tells TODAY she and her husband planned the Halloween-themed birthday party after discovering how much their daughter loved scary movies.
“She’s been loving Halloween ever since she first watched ‘The Nightmare Before Christmas,’” Alvarado says. “She loves many spooky movies including ‘Frankenweenie,’ ‘Coraline,’ ‘Corpse Bride’ and especially ‘Halloween’ with Michael Myers.”
Alvarado says she asked Aria how she would feel if Michael Myers came to her birthday party and that she became very excited. So, her husband donned the iconic blue jumpsuit and white ski mask to surprise their daughter.
“We knew she liked him, but we did not expect her to react like that," she says. "Her reaction was so funny, so I thought I’d post the little video online.”
Having only posted on TikTok once before and not being very active, Alvarado was blown away by the amount of attention the video received.
“I just woke up to all of these likes and comments,” she explains. “And then it was trending on Twitter, too. My friends and family were texting me because they were seeing the video posted on their feeds."
Aria is thrilled to know her video has gone viral. “I told her she was trending," her mom says. "She knows what trending means because of ‘Ralph Breaks the Internet: Wreck-It Ralph 2.' She thinks it’s really cool.”
Some parents have even commented with their own stories about their kids being fans of characters from scary movies as well.
Of course, having a video go viral on the internet has its cons as well.
While most viewers find humor in Aria running towards a scary fictional character, a few negative comments have popped up questioning Alvarado's parenting and if Aria’s interest in scary movies and villains is appropriate.
It’s not that big of a deal, mom says.
“We believe it’s important to let her be her,” she adds. “It’s totally innocent and she’s having fun and she still gets scared watching scary movies.
"If she stops getting scared, then we may want to revisit this.”