All my life, I have never been able to watch horror films. Prior to this year, I had seen a total of two scary movies. This all changed when I got to college and my friends and I would watch them on “movie nights.” Truthfully, the majority of horror films are laughable.
Hear me out before you click off the story saying, “Ok she’s lost her mind!” I think a lot of these movies try too hard to be scary and it becomes cringeworthy. For instance, when I watched “Annabelle Comes Home,” I’ll be honest, I laughed more than I screamed. I think one of the main contributors to my laughter was the stupidity of the characters. The other thing would be the emphasis on the subtle scares. By that I mean the kind of scares where the camera will pan over and you’ll see a faint face in the dark behind one of the characters.
On the other hand, “Annabelle Creation” was the scariest movie I’ve seen. It had the perfect amount of jump scares and subtle scares. For me, a horror film needs to be constantly indulged in the scary aspect. The movie loses me when they start focusing on plot and character development. That sounds like an uneducated thing to say, but in reality, why focus on the plot in a movie that it designed to make you scream in fear. Don’t get me wrong there obviously needs to be some plot, but I don’t think it should be the main aspect of the movie.
I have limited experiences with horror films, but based on the ones I have seen, I think they need to up the scare factor. Another problem I have is how obviously stupid the characters are. I mean seriously! If I’m home alone and hear creepy music and the sound of a rocking chair rocking, I can tell you what I won’t be doing: I won’t be following the sound and investigating; that’s for sure. In “Annabelle Comes Home,” the friend not only goes into the room that is locked with like six locks, but she also opens the glass case that Annabelle is in which reads “positively do not open.” I feel like the writing was a quite literally on the wall.
If a horror film isn’t scaring me, it most certainly is shocking me. By this I mean, when a movie isn’t scary enough it’s usually because I am in utter disbelief that the characters are acting this way or that the scary thing actually just did that. This reaction feeds into my previous statement about characters investigating creepy sounds or willingly unleashing spirits. Another perfect example would be characters use of ouija boards. Truthfully, those single-handedly scare me more than the entirety of “Annabelle Comes Home.” If you notice it’s almost always the skeptics that open the case or unlock the door. On the bright side though, by the end of the movie I can guarantee they won’t be skeptics anymore.
You might be asking yourself, “Ok so if you don’t like scary movies, then why do you watch them?” The answer is simple. When a horror film is done correctly, the adrenaline rush you get from being scared senseless is more than worth it.