Fear of Scary Movies

“Is it very scary?” I asked my horror-buff friend, who knows my tolerance for fear better than I do myself. She knows that, even though I insist I’ll be fine, that stupid short horror video will keep me up all night.

I suffer from fear of scary movies. Which is unfortunate, because I love a good suspenseful story! I believe that Psycho is in my top three favourite movies, along with The Shining, and of course An American Werewolf in London. All very suspenseful, and very scary. These movies have taken simple yet chilling concepts and turned them into stories that draw me in and leave me cautious yet dying to know what happens next. However, whenever I go into a scary movie now, I’m scared of being scared by the movie more than I am of the movie!

My main problem is that movies today seem to rely too heavily on the, to use my very scientific term, “poppy-outty scares.” In case that wasn’t clear, I’m referring to that moment when it’s quiet and you just know something’s about to jump out at the camera.

I think the worst experience I’ve had with a “poppy-outty scare” occurred while I was watching Rec, the original movie that inspired Quarantine, which was reviewed on this website. There is one part, and I don’t want to spoil it, but having seen Quarantine before, I knew exactly what was going to happen, but the poppy-outty scare still got me so badly, I full-on screamed when it happened. I seem to become more scared of being scared than I am of the actual movie.

After seeing too many scary movies that rely on these poppy-outty scares, I have now developed a fear of scary movies. I plan on watching one on Valentine’s Day, as a celebration of…not being killed by zombies yet? And since my aforementioned friend has not yet seen it, she cannot warn me about the poppy-outty scares that I know are coming. I guess it’s time to face my fear…