Scary Movies

I'm a total wuss when it comes to scary movies.

First off, I can't watch them alone. Just can't. I once watched some old horror flick on my own in my apartment and then spent a horrified night jumping at every creak or bump. The hourly police sirens out my window (nothing like living in the city!) were almost a relief, forcing me back to reality as they did. Which has to do with the second problem. It's not your run-of-the-mill slasher flick that really gets to me. Sure, they're good for cheap thrills and jumpy moments, but the ones that stick with me, depriving me of sleep and sometimes sanity, are the crazy, out-there, this-would-never-ever-happen scary movies. Like random zombie flicks or weird supernatural thrillers.

Case in point: The Ring. I couldn't make myself see this one in the theaters. I know myself too well. Knowing the effect they have on me, I was never much of a fan of scary movies. So one time on a visit home, my younger brother had me watch it (and made certain, of course, to leave the room the second it was over, leaving all the lights out and the TV off and me, all alone to clean up the room. In the dark. With that damn TV threatening to turn on any minute so that creepy little girl could crawl through it and scare me to death). People laugh when I tell them how much that movie scared me. I couldn't fall asleep without turning on the TV for at least a week. It gave me nightmares. Another great example comes, embarrassingly enough, from a video game. Anyone familiar with the Silent Hill game series knows what I'm talking about. I played the fourth game, The Room, on my sister's Playstation (as a random note, just in case anyone is noticing a pattern here -- really, I do have time for movies and games outside of vacation. My brother and sister just tend to make me indulge more often. Which is a good thing). Interestinly enough, the game is being made into a movie. In case you're not familiar with the game series, it's scary. There are creepy monsters and psychological twists. I made my sister play the really frightening parts for me. Look, I just can't handle scary media. Laugh if you must. At least I admit to it.

So today. Stupidly, I agreed to see The Ring Two with my brother and sister. It's not as scary as the first one, but it's still pretty bad. Plenty of long, tense screen pans and close-up shots. And of course that terrorizing whistle noise from the first movie. I swear to God the elevator in my building's garage makes the exact. same. noise. Anyway, I saw the movie. And it was scary. And yet... I'm sitting in my room, late at night, alone, and... I think I'm okay. Like, I might actually make it through the night without any unpleasant dreams. I don't want to jump the gun here, of course. But I think I might actually not be struck to the bone with terror. As additional evidence, last night I watched the 1999 remake of The House on Haunted Hill (another one of those supernatural/sci-fi crazy thriller horrors) and slept just fine.

I'm not sure what's going on here. Ever since I saw part of The Boogeyman as a six-year-old I've dreaded any hint of something that might invade my sleep with irrational fear. Is this the dawn of a new era of fearlessness? Or is my brain too burnt out from exams to bother wasting energy on being scared about some nutty movie? I suppose only time will tell. But at least tonight, I will sleep, in spite of myself.