When I was a little kid, I was terrified of a lot of things. I think many of us had some irrational fears, which is perfectly normal. However, I was raised with only brothers. Being the only girl in a household of boys had taught me to act a lot tougher than I actually was. Horror movies were a good example of something that would make me lose sleep for weeks. I will never forget the one time I caught a glimpse of my brother watching Lord of the Rings. For over a month, I was convinced that Smeagol was hiding somewhere in my house. After a while, I ran out of excuses to leave the living room when my brothers were watching something scary again. I was too proud to admit that I was terrified, so I just sat there in silence, sacrificing my nightly sleep. My brothers never letting me watch Dora the Explorer in peace, as a little girl, is what led me to become the biggest horror fan today. While everything scared me back then, nothing in movies scares me now. Which is why I’ve been trying to find a horror movie that will make me feel like that terrified little girl again. So today, I’d like to talk about some of my favourite horror movies, and how much they scared me.
The first movie I would like to talk about is Hereditary. I was told by a friend that this was the scariest movie she had ever seen, which obviously sparked my interest. The movie has a little bit of a slow start, but it is worth the wait. It is hard to talk about the plot without revealing anything, so I am going to keep it very general. The story is about a family that has just lost their grandmother. While trying to deal with their loss, they lose another family member. In an attempt to contact the ones they have lost, odd things start happening to all members of the family. I know it sounds like every horror movie you have ever seen, but trust me when I tell you, this is something else. I think the main reason I loved it so much is because of how twisted it is. It contains some very disturbing scenes, and it might leave you with some questions after watching it. I would not say it is the scariest movie I have ever seen; it did disturb me at some points, which is something. The movie has so many hidden meanings and I had to rewatch it to fully understand it. Which in my opinion makes a movie very interesting.
The second movie I put on this list is Hush. I am not going to lie, when friends of mine wanted to watch this, I was very sceptical. The story contains nothing supernatural, which is usually something I do want to see in horror movies. What made it scary for me was imagining myself in the shoes of the protagonist. The story is about a deaf woman that lives alone in the woods (bad idea). In the middle of the night, a guy in a white mask shows up to her house uninvited. The woman locks herself in her house, but she needs to find a way to escape before the masked man can get in. What made the movie so thrilling for me was the deaf protagonist. The fact that she could not hear the intruder or hear the noises she was making herself, had me at the edge of my seat the entire movie. I would not call the movie scary, but it definitely gave me an adrenaline rush while watching.
The final movie I want to discuss is probably my favourite horror piece I have ever watched. It is called Marrowbone. With all the access we have to movies and series, it is hard for me to really be surprised by the plot. I hardly ever think a movie was unpredictable. This movie however really caught me by surprise. The story is about three brothers and one sister that have just lost their mother. The oldest brother will soon be old enough to be the legal guardian of his siblings. So, they decide to hide in their house and pretend their mother is still alive to avoid going into the foster care system. During their hideout they discover the secrets of their family and the farm they live on. As to answer the question if it scared me, I would not say it did, even though this movie has a lot of thrilling scenes, it was not enough for me to turn the tv off.
In conclusion, I wish I could say that these movies scared me a lot. That they made me want to hide behind a pillow. That they kept me up at night. Unfortunately, even though I enjoyed all of these a lot, I don’t think they were the type of scary that I am looking for. I think I will have to continue my search, or I will have to accept that I am simply not as gullible as my younger self. Which I am not ready to admit. Once I do find a movie so scary that it is going to make me want to sleep in my parents’ bed again, I will surely let you know.
