Looking for a good scare?

[janradder]

Do you remember what it was like to race down the hallway at night, terrified because you knew that something was lurking in one of those darkened doorways?  How about lying so still under the covers because the monster from under your bed or inside the closet (or maybe it came through the window) was out there (or holding your breath so that it couldn't hear you breathe) beause you knew it was waiting to pounce the moment you twitched a muscle?  That's kind of what The Strangers is like.  There's not a whole lot of blood, there's not a whole lot of violence but the suspense'll kill you.  Seriously.  It was pretty damn scary (and had some damn creepy masks plus an eerie soundtrack as well -- a group of teenage girls actually ran down the aisle and out of the theater about a third of the way in, unable to watch any more).

(As an aside, why do some people actually applaud and laugh during deeply disturbing moments in films?  People who do that disturb me more than anything I've ever seen in a movie.  If you're so upset or scared by what you're seeing that you have to laugh or make some big macho scene clapping about it , don't go to see horror movies.  And if you're doing it because you genuinely find it humorous, please keep your distance from me and all other people -- you really creep the hell out of me, and not at all in a good way.)

Comments

[silk-noir.livejournal.com]

Well--that's kind of how I feel about people going to horror movies in the first place. Eewww.

[st-writes.livejournal.com]

Me too.

[haddayr.livejournal.com]

I, for one, think guys who go to horror movies are TOTALLY HOT. Or at least one of them is.

[pierogi-queen.livejournal.com]

When I saw the trailer for that movie, all I could think of was the Petit family murders here in Cheshire last summer and how incredibly frightened those poor women must have felt when the killers were holding them hostage. I can't watch any of the TV ads for it - just mentally turn it off. Just thinking about seeing the movie makes me feel like those girls in the theater must have felt.

I used to be a huge fan of horror movies. I'm not sure why I can't watch them anymore

[janradder.livejournal.com]

I hadn't made the connection, probably since I don't live there anymore and so it's not in the front of my mind. What bothers me about certain horror movies (of which there are quite a few) is when the people in the story are treated like plot devices rather than actual people. In those movies, it's as if the director is hoping that we'll root for their deaths (which is what the people in the audience at The Strangers were doing by clapping and laughing which is really sick). This movie wasn't like that at all (which only makes the audience reaction all the more disturbing). The couple in the film are made to be very real and believable and you really do care about them which was part of what made the movie good and quite frightening. Thinking about it happening in real life, though, is entirely different -- I don't want to think about what it was like for that family either. It's just way too upsetting.