Be Excellent To Each Other

I watched Dead Snow last night with a friend and he was jumping at all the designated times (usually silence than an audible cue). I never do this. He and his wife phoned me after midnight sometime last year, got me to come downstairs and gave me a copy of Paranormal Activity and said "get this out of our house". They were terrified by it and couldn't sleep. I watched it the next day and it wasn't remotely scary.

Other recent "really, really scary" films they've watched are Antichrist and The Rite, neither of which I've seen.

I feel as if may be missing out by not jumping or getting scared by films (or TV, etc). As a schoolchild myself and some friends used to rent X-rated horror films from the local video shop. The manager didn't seem to mind handing over violent films to children in their school uniforms. I guess I became desensitised to violence/gore/scares at an early age.

So, do you get scared/cover the eyes/etc? Any stories of when you've had to run out of the room or turn the film off?

I do jump around..

Presumably that is part of the fun of horror films for most folk, though?

I do jump but not quite as bad as a friend of mine. He's also quite large so it makes it all the more funnier!

We call the jumping at horror films as "Going through the ice" as the first time we noticed him jumping was during "The Day after tomorrow". Right at the beginning some guys fall through a sheet of ice and it made him jump loads!

I don;t like horror films

Antichrist isnt scary its just plain messed up


I sometimes find films scary or disturbing but once its over thats fine, I wouldnt be scared to sleep or something, or need the DVD out of my house.
These people sound like fun folk to watch a horror with (!)

Reminds me of the time I watched the Exorcist with my gf, we were laughing together at the now-hokey effects and swearing.
I go to brush my teeth etc to find her crying under the duvet with the lights all on, and demanding we check the whole house for demons.
Much fun.

I very occasionally jump when something jarringly unexpected happens (like that bit early on in The Descent when one of the characters is having a nightmare), but scared? Nope.. I don't think I get absorbed in a film enough for that to happen.

I imagine part of it is my "fault" as I enjoy cinema and studied film modules at uni and know how to "read" a film, though I try and leave that stuff until after I've watched a film.

The last time I recall jumping at something was the jail scene in Salem's Lot. I cannot recall if it was the first time it was aired on UK TV, but if it was, I would have been nine years old.

I'm broken inside.

Since everything went CGI I've rarely been scared beyond the odd Resi Evil-style jump scare.

The only recent thing was 'Devil' which properly cacked me up. But I was in the mood to be cacked up for that.

Previously the only other times (out of 100s of horror movies) have been;

Prince of Darkness

The opening credits of Amityville Horror (oddly) although the book is way scarier (with that fucking pig thing - argh)

End credits of Children Of The Corn (spooky kid choirs can fuck off to be honest).


If I wasn't completely desensitised to it, I'd imagine that the ending of Terminator would be very scary.

His wife is much worse than he is. I've enjoyed many a horror film viewing with him.


That made me laugh. That rings so many bells where my neighbours are concerned.

Films don't scare me as such, not in a 'zomg, hold my hand while I go upstairs to the toilet' but I do jump sometimes. But I jump when anyone surprises me unecpectedly, they don't have to be scary thingsto make you jump, do they?

There aren't many scary films I can think of that are good, though. They're all full of idiots and follow the same sort of formula. I like thrillers and films that fill you with dread and despair.

I get scared by films, although it's getting rarer and rarer that a film does it. In fact, going by memory:
Devil
Paranormal Activity
The Omen (200x)
Blair Witch

Baby Geniuses scared the shit out of me

With most films I can get sucked in & go along with them & feel stuff. Weirdly I don't get that with horror films often I've put that down to them being a bit shit. I do jump though, which always makes me chuckle.

The most scared I get watching films is when a scene triggers my vertigo & I cover my eyes on occasion while watching Dirty Sanchez or the Dudesons mutilate themselves.


Poltergeist put the fear in me when I was a wean though!

I don't think I ever fully recovered from The Mist, Invasion of the Bodysnatchers 1971 or the ending of Don't Look Now.

I'm more prone to psychological terror than 'Eurch, blood!' - though I do feel sick whenever wrists or throat are involved.

I don't like scary films, as sometimes they do scare me. However jumpy films have no effect, i'm pretty much unshockable for some reason, much to the chagrin of Mrs T who tries to shock me at every given opportunity
Mrs T on the other hand is the most jumpy person I know, i'm surprised she manages to walk anywhere without the shock of her foot hitting the ground each time turning her into a quivering wreck...

hmm so two people say Devil is scary...colour me interested.
Even though its M Night Shitefilmalan....

I thought that when my friends suggested it but it was good for the most part. Some parts were a bit lame but the fear/scariness was good.

I like films where the subjects can't escape their protagonists. Like Alien or Devil. Not where they could have escaped ages ago but fall over or go for another look or can't get their car started.

MrsP insisted on sleeping with the lights on after watching Paranormal Activity. I personally haven't been scared by a movie in years, save for a few cheap jump scares.

The last time I was truly disturbed by a movie was the American remake of The Ring. I watched that alone in my bedroom, in the dark, with some high quality headphones. There are some freaky sonics in that film, especially during the full run through of the curse video.

He didn't direct this one, though.

Sometimes I jump, as I am easily startled.

Blood and guts type horror doesn't scare me though

Psychological type thriller/horrors are the ones that stay with me for a while. They sometimes make me react to small noises when I am alone in the house.

I used to and will still jump at a sudden shock in a film. It's only a natural human reaction to jump at a sudden loud noise. Most of what scares my customers doesn't scare me. When they ask me for a scary film I find it hard to suggest one.

I once literally jumped out of my seat and went "ahhg!!!" during deep blue sea, unfortunately it was in front of many witnesses and I have never lived it down. I regret that it wasn't a less crappy movie.

Jump up, jump up and get down.

Alien is the only film that I've ever found properly scary.

Yes, I let myself get scared by suspending my disbelief. I'm sure I could completely deconstruct films as I watch them, but where's the fun in that?

Never scared but I do jump at times, mostly down to surround sound hijinks though.

You are the anti-

Don't know - I've never liked Horror films*, so never watch them.

* Unless you count Evil Dead 2 as a scary film. In which case No, I don't get scared. I can't understand how one of my old flatmates girlfriends was scared by that. It's a positively chucklesome comedy.

I couldn't sleep properly for a week after watching the Exorcist for the first time. Yup, I'm officially a wuss.

Show me some blood and guts and I'll just chuckle though.

Zombus films and gore are where it's at for the comedy.

Something like Hostel just made me wince.

I like proper jumpy stuff when you're least expecting it, or psychological stuff that you can't get out your head, like The Ring.

I love horror films, I just don't get to watch them much because Ange hates them.

I don't get scared when watching films (apart from The Goonies, but that's another story), but do end up with awful zombie dreams if I watch that kind of film late at night. I hate zombie dreams.

I'm loathe to watch anything even vaguely scary at the moment. Pregnancy hormone dreams are the worst and are so vivid.

Devil was ok but not too scary

This reminds me.

I was fucked up royally by The Entity. That said, I was probably no older than ten when I saw it (not recommended). It wasn't the movie that scared me, it was the bit of text before the end credits that said it was based on real events. FUCK OFF. After reading that I didn't sleep right for weeks.

Told my first girlfriend about it when I was 18 and she was like 'oh we must watch that immediately' so we did and I was fucking terrified for the whole thing. Even though it's shit. This leads me onto my main gripe with horror movies. I just don't enjoy them when they are sadistic. That's very much the thing these days, the horror is usually from someone being a horrible bastard to someone else. In this case the person in question is a poltergeist but even so, it's the same sort of thing.

I don't mind someone being chased and then getting got, but when it's dragged out like that I get irritated rather than scared and often end up turning the movie off.

I particularly enjoyed flis' comment along these lines about someone being chased and then 'oh no i can't start the car or fell over my own shoe'.
Hehe.

I'm another who can't stand psychological stuff. I can quite happily sit through gory horror flicks with no effect at all, but as soon as you start bringing ghosts and poltergiests and other, oh I dunno, more plausible stuff (if that makes any sense) into it then I have to start sleeping with the lights on. Or at least sleep with everything but my head under the duvet (because, of course, as soon as you put your hands or arms out of the duvet, something is going to reach out of the darkness and grab you.)
I suppose it doesn't help that I'm terrified of the dark.

Oh hell yes. Do you know how hard it is to get your entire body under a duvet when you're eight feet tall?

That's actually reminded me of a film that scared the crap out of me as a nipper and caused me disturbed sleep for *years*. Here's how my child brain remembers it:



I slept with my arms firmly under the covers for like 5 years. As a teenager, I ran across the offending movie again and decided to brave the horror and get over it.

THIS IS THAT MOVIE

Bloody hell. That scared me watching it now. The opening 'suspense' music as well as the stabby ring (+accompanying special bubbling effects) are bloody vivid.

I'm not surprised you had nightmares. My heart is beating fast after seeing that. You git.

I've just realised the character is called Harry Potter Jr.

And he's played by the kid who was Atreyu from off of Neverending Story

I thought he said Barry. Also, Sonny Bono is in it.

That looks great!

Err... Harry Potter?

I saw An American Werewolf In London aged about, Christ, seven?

MISTAKE.