Remember your earliest horror movie? The first one that scared the shit out of you. Halloween, Nightmare on Elm Street, The Shining, Friday the 13th, or maybe Psycho? No matter who you are, there was something that fascinated you with horror and kept you wanting more. Or got you running into your house late at night to get all the lights on.
I remember my first horror film that I watched. I didn’t know what it was at first till a few years later… The Evil Dead. I remember walking down into the living room when I was 5 or 6 years old and my parents were up late and they had some movie on. The only scene I remember was one of the characters that had gotten possessed sitting there wearing a demonic smile and that CREEPY laugh. I stood there and watched it for a few mins before my parents caught me and told me to get back in bed. But, to this day, that scene has never been forgotten. Even now when I watch Evil Dead 25 years later that scene brings back memories. I don’t remember being more afraid of anything else around that age. I kept coming back for more punishment though. Eventually I would get to the point where I was wanting to watch these movies regularly. Every once in a while I would find something that would really creep me out and keep me awake. Over the years, it almost became a challenge to find something that would have the same effect that the demon girl in Evil Dead had on me so long ago.
More and more it seems society is getting numb to horror movies. Its hard to find a movie that is different or something that is truly made to scare nowadays. A lot of movies rely on insane amounts of gore and torture. Mutilation isn’t really that scary though. When was the last time you had real fear though? Its hard to do something new and improved that nobody has seen. We all know the scenes in horror movies to look for. Music gets creepy, the cat in the closet that jumps out, a strange noise coming for a seemingly empty room, the power goes out. I could go on forever, and we all know them. Us hardcore horror fans out there know when something is going to happen. What’s even funnier sometimes when the movie tries to trick us by throwing on of those scenes and then doesn’t deliver. Remember what happens then?? Something jumps out RIGHT after that.
Know what type of movies scare me? Well, good ones first off. But, beyond that, its movies that show our killer with intelligence and humanizing them. Thinking, sadistic, playful killing machines. That’s what would scare me in a movie. Walking dead, monsters with an appetite for flesh, comedic supernatural, animals, and most horror movies with children as the killers are all fun movies for sure. Just not something that keeps me awake at night. Early Friday the 13th, Halloween, Nightmare on Elm Street, for example, are pretty creepy movies. You start putting that power glove on Freddy, and you’re more likely to find a plush toy rather than a nightmare. I suppose if you lived by an ocean, Jaws could scare you some. But, for me I found that movie far from scary, even when I was a child.
A couple of movies in the past few years had the proper formula to give me the creeps. Speaking of which.. Jeepers Creepers. The Creeper had a lot of human traits and intelligence. He would whistle while he worked, and toyed with his prey. He even dressed the part and knew what he was after. Along with that, adding a little bit of the torture and his Frankenstein type experiments got a little freaky too. The other movie that I can think of that I thought creepy was Dead Silence. The movie had some fairly well placed scares. it’s a guilty pleasure of mine. I’m not proud out it, but, I just really liked that movie. Last but not least, Arachnophobia. I F’N HATE SPIDERS. I even got the chills typing that. I went to the theater to see that movie and ended up getting sick, for other reasons. But, I can’t watch that movie to this day without thinking I got a spider on me.
So what makes you jump? What’s the earliest movie you remember watching that scared you? Does it haunt you to this day?
Everyone has their movie, and everyone is scared of something. Because of horror movies, we know what could be hiding in the shadows.
Cheers.
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