Okay, now how many of you read that
and immediately heard the killer from Scream?
I figured since today is Halloween
it would be a good time to write about my feelings on scary movies. I think
when we use the word “scary” we take it to encompass both horror films and gory
films, and I do think there is a difference. Gory films are all about how many
people can we kill and how gruesome can we make it. Horror films make you jump
at every little noise afterwards and wonder how you’re going to go to sleep
that night. So, Mr. Killer From Scream, if by scary movies you mean horror then
I would have to go with yes, but if you mean gory films I have to go with no.
Please don’t kill me.
If you’re going to scare me, you
need to mess with my mind. It’s not that I mind blood and guts and gore. I
enjoy The Walking Dead and my favorite show Supernatural does love its blood
spatter. But grossing me out is not the way scare me. It’s the unseen that
causes my heart to race and my shoulders to tense up. I like that moment where
you know something is about to happen but you don’t know what so you sit there getting
more and more tense until finally BAM! I also like twists and turns. Surprise
me. Make me guess who the killer is and then show me I’m wrong. SCARE ME!
Perhaps if I tell you the few scary
movies I enjoy you’ll get where I’m coming from. I've already mentioned Scream.
It’s clever and every time you think you know who the killer is it tells you
why you’re wrong. And then why you’re right. And then why you’re wrong again.
Now, this may not exactly fit my category of what scares me because it definitely
veers in to the gory category, but it still is included on this list because of
its cleverness. The Blair Witch Project is another on my list. I know it’s cool
to hate this movie but I was one of the ones who was scared by it. You never
saw anything. It was all in your mind. The imagination can be scarier than
reality and I think it really captured that tension of not knowing what was
coming and being scared when it showed up. To keep with the theme of “found
footage” I have to add Paranormal Activity next. I saw that in the movie
theatres and I legit was jumping and screaming and grabbing the person next to
me. Those commercials didn't lie. Again, you knew something was about to happen
but didn't know what or when so when it did….. (Although I must confess a
second viewing a couple years later at home did not scare me as much. Perhaps
because my brain was frantically trying to remember the scary parts so I was
able to mentally prepare myself before I could get too scared.) And finally I
add The Cabin in the Woods. Oh Joss Whedon how I love you. I love that it takes
the “scary movie” archetypes and twists them in a way that only Joss can. I
can’t even describe it. I can only say you must watch it. If I could buy you a
copy I would.
By now you might be saying, “But
Summer, haven’t you left off the ultimate scary movie?” I have not. I must of
course finish this post by including the grandmother of those movies I
mentioned: Halloween. If you haven’t seen it then what’s wrong with you?
Perhaps it’s nostalgia. My mother loves this movie and watches it every year.
(Or at least she used to.) I finally bought myself a copy and my plans for
tonight include a bowl of popcorn and cuddling with the kitties to watch it.
It’s iconic for a reason. So on this Halloween 2014 I hope you get many more
treats than tricks and I hope you are able to enjoy a scary movie, whatever
that may be to you.
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