Thrill of the scare

I love scary films. Even the most cheese-ridden offerings tend to appeal to my horror-loving nature. 

However, there's one issue. I jump at everything.

Yes, I am the person who leaps out the seat, spills their popcorn/drink and elbows the person next to me (typically my man not a random stranger!) 

I jump watching scary films, if someone suddenly sneezes loudly or if my boyfriend suddenly pokes his head round the doorframe when I think he's in the other room. 

Key embarrassments are jumping when young as Willy the whale leaps out the water at one point in Free Willy, getting bad cramp in my leg as I jumped at a small girl abruptly appearing in a shop in 30 Days of night and coming out pale and with a slightly trembly hand after Paranormal Activity! 

The film can be gory, jumpy, spooky, based on real events or completely far fetched. I will jump at them all.

Recently I was sat on the sofa catching up on spooky French drama The Returned and something as per usual made me jump and I chucked a load of water over myself (I was stupidly holding a glass at the time). 

When I was young I can remember not being allowed to watch certain types of films until I got a bit older. Funnily enough the older I've got the more scared I seem to get.

Last night we were talking to friends after dinner and the topic of scary films came up. My boyfriend explained how he laughs at gory films (this is why he's suited to working in the health sector/ambulance driving) and my friend said how she doesn't get scary films unless they are related to real life/possible (I strongly insisted she avoid The Strangers as a result). 

I know other people in the past who laughed at films such as The Blair Witch Project (scared me because of my overactive imagination of thinking about what could be there, not anything I actually saw). Others I know think Paranormal Activity is boring and always fail to get spooked at similar cinema offerings.

Last night just talking about some of the films we've seen and discussing certain scenes I had to stop as I was 'freaking myself out'. I just about managed to go to the bathroom on my own before we left and then was wary as we walked home. Well, we did have a 20 minute walk back about 2 in the morning and were around Romford to be fair! 

I've always loved to see scary films - nowadays my issue is embarrassment and I often spend a lot of my time peering between my fingers as I'm so conscious of jumping or screaming really obviously and having other cinema-goers  laugh at me. At home I'm not too concerned about this, but I could never watch a frightening film on my own. 

I can't explain it but I just love to be scared. I get petrified and think things through in my mind for days after seeing the film. Yet it's like an addiction, as soon as I see the trailer (most of which I normally can't even last through) I just have to go see the film.

My issue is jumping, even films I've seen before and I know what's about to happen, they still never fail to cause me to leap up.

My poor boyfriend has many the time been victim to being elbowed in the side or having his fingers crushed if I've been holding hands with him as the scene suddenly gets filled with something loud, spooky or unexpected. 

The build up and anticipation is just as bad, the soundtrack goes quiet or builds up to a tense, creepy tone, you know something is about to happen. Then I start to get a coat/cardigan ready or raise my hand to potentially cover my eyes. When the first Paranormal Activity came out I was getting myself all worked up before we even booked our tickets to go!

I just can't explain it. I don't get it, why do I love to be frightened so much by films, yet at the time of watching them I'm wishing I'm not there or experiencing it.

A week or two ago I saw a trailer for The Conjuring and it spooked me out. Tonight we are probably going to see it. 

One thing I can guarantee is no matter how frightening it is or far fetched and unbelievable it may be, I will get scared and jump! My mind just doesn't accept that it's clearly not real and often not possible, I have a total disregard for the facts when I see this genre of film. Common sense and any reasonable thinking goes straight out the window.

For now I better go before my brain starts going into overdrive remembering all those scenes I've been blogging about. Will I survive The Conjuring? I'll let you know (once I've stopped tremblling of course!) 

Halloween

An owl hoots aloud on a dark and cold misty night
Hard to see around you, where are all the lights?

Tree branches tapping on the windowpane
Your footsteps the only sound as you walk alone down a deserted lane

Looking back behind you through the car window, down a country road
A figure walking along the grass verge, but then where do they go?

That feeling of being watched, when you are all alone
The floorboards creaking in the night, odd sounds seem like a whisper, or maybe even a groan

Your belongings in the dark, creating odd shapes and shadows
When things mysteriously keep disappearing, where do they go?

You get a call in the evening, but there's nobody on the other end
Is it somebody sinister, or, trying to scare you, just a friend?

Spooky films watched through the gaps in your fingers
Images of scary faces and scenes in the film, for too long they linger

You wake at midnight trying to make out those shapes in the room
Your heartbeat won't stop racing, imagining all sorts of creatures and doom

Remember not to relax as your horror flick gets all quiet and calm
That's when they'll come out, creep up behind you, or suddenly grab your arm

Spiders, ghosts, zombies and killers
Getting frightened senseless, dressing up and dancing to Thriller

Carving pumpkins, trick or treating and telling ghost stories
Competing with one another for who can be the most gory

It's time to face your fears and find yourself in a dark, spooky, scene
Be prepared to get frightened, for tonight is Halloween!....

Frightening film fears

This weekend I am getting set to walk into a darkened room, feel my heart race, hide behind my coat and look through my fingers at a giant screen. I will likely come out and be subject to days of nightmares, feel a bit shaky and run back from my bathroom in the middle of the night. No, I'm not going to undergo some form of torture - well not quiet - I am talking about going to watch a horror film.

I don't know what it is but I have this weird sort of addiction to scary films, even though I jump out my skin watching them I just can't stop watching them. Either at the cinema or at home in front of a DVD, I won't watch them in the dark at home and I try and discreetly watch through my fingers when out. I either end up jumping and smashing into my glasses, so hurting my nose, or I elbow my boyfriend and crush his hand. Not very attractive I know.

One of the most embarrassing things I find is that as I get older I am actually getting more scared when I watch said genre. I often think twice about visiting the cinema and whether to wait for the DVD release, as I worry I might shriek out when freaked out during the film in front of complete strangers.

Gory films make me feel ill, even though in the back of my mind I know what I am watching isn't real, it still turns my tummy. Jumpy films result in me half leaping out my seat, in fact once I jumped unexpectedly at a film and got super painful cramp in my calf! Spooky films leave me getting scared and imaging all sorts of ghosts and ghouls in my home. You'd think by now I'd have got over them, but no I keep going back for more and getting increasingly frightened.

A key reason behind this I think is where I've always had an overactive imagination, possibly because I am an only child. That's why films like Blair Witch worked for me, I got all het up simply imagining what might be there, not what I could actually see! The latest edition to my horror viewing is Paranormal Activity 3, out officially in UK cinemas on 20th October. A lot of people will scoff and argue this film isn't even that scary and is in fact predictable. Not to me. I am a sucker to all the build up. In fact when the first Paranormal Activity came out I almost didn't get to our local Vue to watch it, I got so drawn into the hype. I hate to admit it, but I came out slightly shaking! Shameful!

I did go to the cinema on Sunday last week and saw Don't be afraid of the dark, I got myself geared up for a spooky ghost story and was pleasantly surprised to face a more mystical style of film. Although don't get me wrong I still jumped a few times of course.

One thing I'm not a fan of though are films like Hostel - in my opinion full of unecessary violence and gory for the sake of it. Don't even get me started on that Human Centipede film, even hearing hints of what that involves makes me feel ill. Just no need. To some scary films are rubbish, but at least they are harmless enough. Over the years I've seen tons of frightening films, I own a number of horror DVDs and I can't see anytime soon me tiring of these movies.

I'll let you know if I get up the courage to go see the film and if I survive, let's hope it's one night when my boyfriend is staying over. If not feel free to come by if you're in Hornchurch, for a giggle, I may well end up running out the flat in the night! In fact, scrap that I may well run from the ticket office, have you seen cinema prices these days??