<–Question of the Week: 10/16/16 Question of the Week: 10/30/16–>
The Question of the Week is posted every Sunday and will consist of a question followed by my answer and explanation to the same. Some questions will only require a simple answer that could potentially be followed by an explanation. Many questions will be writer oriented, but not all. Everyone is encouraged to answer in the comments and discussions/follow up questions are more than welcome!
What’s the scariest movie you’ve ever seen?
*******SPOILERS FOR THE RING*******
I’m trying to think up Halloween type questions I haven’t already answered in my Halloween Fun Time post hehe. While there was a question about scary movies, it didn’t get specific, and also while I did ask favorite Halloween/Halloween type movies, that doesn’t necessarily mean the scariest. The scariest movie I’ve ever seen, the movie that made me stop watching scary movies is The Ring.
Hell to the no
I saw this movie back in college with a bunch of friends. Our university had a theater that would show fairly recent films (which is how I first saw Titanic), and we figured why not. This lackadaisical decision would cost me. I hid against my one friend’s shoulder through the majority of the film.
The horror started when the one girl Katie was found dead in the closet with an absolutely horrified expression distorting her gruesome corpse. She looked as if she’d drowned and started to rot in water (…), but I said my “Nope,” at the part with the horses. When animals are that terrified of something, you know it’s bad.
The worst this is even though I wasn’t watching it, the sounds and noises were equally frightening. When I was a child I used to watch scary movies with my hands over my ears, and when questioned about it, I insisted, “It sounds scary.” My auditory memory has always been…weird.
I remember I slept in my friend’s room that night, because we were all too terrified of being alone…with the TV on, which I know makes no sense, but we were all afraid it would switch on in the middle of the night and Samara would come crawling out D:
The revelation of what “the ring” truly was absolutely horrified me. It was the ring of light Samara saw after her mother threw her down the well and sealed it off. She comes for you after seven days because that’s how long she herself survived. There’s never an explanation about how or why Samara mentally tortures her parents (or where she originally came from as she was adopted), and while I can…understand why her mother did what she did, it’s still a terrible way to die.
I didn’t sleep for a long time afterwards, and several people in my dorm talked about the nightmares The Ring gave them. I wouldn’t even allow it in my apartment/townhouse years later when I moved in with other roommates, and any unlabeled video tapes I found were objects of terror (nor did it help that death would come for you in seven days) One time when I was home for summer or winter vacation, the music on my Winamp program became disjointed and cacophonous, and it reminded me of how the people who saw the video tape had distorted reflections.
I’m not really afraid of monster movies e.g. Frankenstein (which I can say a great deal about), Dracula, werewolves, etc. insofar as having that fear linger (I’m not a fan of jump scares or being chased), because when it comes down to it, they’re corporeal and can be destroyed, but how do you defeat a vengeful spirit? The only way death from the Ring could be avoided was by sharing it with someone else, therefore spreading the curse. It was a horror film without a resolution. You couldn’t defeat the “monster.” It could only be appeased. The Ring turned me off of horror movies to this day. While I still like the genre and continually find myself entrenched in it in one way or another, I can’t bring myself to watch another film in similar vein. It’s the psychological horror of having nothing to defeat that terrifies me…and makes me want to write Cosmic Horror.
What movie scares/scared you the most? Are you still frightened of it? Did it turn you off of horror movies at all?
I look forward to your answers in the comments!
<–Question of the Week: 10/16/16 Question of the Week: 10/30/16–>
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My favourites are the classics like Evil Dead and Nightmare on Elm Street. But the horrors that scared me the most are the remake of Invasion of the Body Snatchers (I was too young when I inadvertently saw it) and, for similar reasons to you, The Grudge. The sound in that movie…the clicking noise… Ugh.
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I’m a fan of Evil Dead and Army of Darkness. I didn’t really watch horror movies growing up being a big wuss puss, but now I do like the Halloween movies and I’m not averse to the Jason ones…before they became ridiculous. I also am not averse to watching a campy horror movie (or a campy movie in general).
Yeaaaah I heard about The Grudge. It wounds similar to The Ring. I read about the plot on Wikipedia and knew it was another “Nope.”
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Honestly, I can’t watch horror movies. I don’t do particularly well with jump scares. I know I’ve seen a few Asian ones, but I don’t remember the names. I know The Ring is big though, but I haven’t seen it, which is probably for the best for me,
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I absolutely hate jump scares and any kind of chase scenes. Hell, I watched a LP of Spirit Tracks and Phantom Hourglass, and had to shut my eyes whenever the LPer was discovered by a phantom. I HATE the whole being chased thing. So many nightmares about that.
I do love the concepts in horror though even though it scares me.
Do NOT see the ring if you’re not a horror buff. I’ve talked to so many people who just didn’t understand why I was so scared. They thought the movie was kind of dumb while I’m over here having a psychological breakdown due to it :O
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To type the truth, I’m not really a fan of gruesome horror movies/games/media in general. It’s hard to describe, but I really don’t like the feeling I get when I witness those horrific scenes. I’m not ever seeing The Ring in this lifetime, lol
My big exceptions are: anything Resident Evil, Stranger Things, and The Last of Us. For whatever reason, those didn’t trigger that awful feeling and I enjoyed their stories. The Last of Us was more depressing than scary though… That game still stays with me to this day. Oops, I think I rambled off the question’s topic, hehe
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You sound like my IRL BFF. She absolutely cannot watch torture scenes, and I have a problem with them myself unless I’m able to detach and disassociate that day. I’m super empathetic and so is she so when I see people being tortured/hurt, I can feel it.
Admission time, the one thing I cannot stand is impaling (I know, right?). I can feel it and I hate it. So the scene at the end of Advent Complete where Sephiroth and Cloud have their fight? Yeah, I can’t watch the part where he repeatedly stabs him with the Masamune. I will literally have nightmares about being impaled for weeks and it’ll even run through my head during daytime hours. It. Sucks. Sometimes just looking at a steeple or sharp object will set it off. What’s funny is in nearly every story I’ve written an impaling scene because I like to challenge myself haha.
I kind of feel like Resident Evil and Stranger Things present enough of a story/mystery on top of the horror that it keeps you engaged. It’s not just horror for the sake of horror, though you could argue that about The Ring, but on the other hand, the mystery in that was to find out about the horror. Stranger Things had more to do with finding a lost child and figuring out Eleven’s story (who’s another lost child hm…). I don’t know. There’s more than just the horror elements to sustain you. Another admission: I had to hide my face a few times watching ST, especially when Nancy crawled through that tree to the upside down. Holy lord was that harrowing.
We have The Last of Us!! I was going through all of the games I own to add them to my Grouvee list and I found that lol. I also found a bunch of DS games (I’m currently playing the Mario on that) and I apparently have FFIV for the Game Boy Advance! I’m happy because it means I have games to play in between the Final Fantasies, speaking of which I completely forgot that we own FFXIII so that can actually happen. I’d have to drag the PS3 into the bedroom and hook it up, but I have a means to play it 😀
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I’m also an empath, so that’s probably why I abhor seeing people suffer, even if it is just fiction. Honestly, some days i feel like I’m “in other people’s shoes” too often, and I need to focus on staying in mine, lol
Impaling turns my stomach a bit as well. I can’t even imagine how horrible that would feel *shudders*
I always enjoyed figuring out what the evil Umbrella Corporation was up to. It was so thrilling to hunt down clues about their overall shady operations. The part in Stranger Things where Eleven is in a pool, and finds out the horrific fate of a certain character haunted me. That brief image really sickened me and shook me up a bit… 😦 But yeah, Nancy’s time in upside down tree land had me on the edge of my seat. I would NEVER crawl into a tree where a monster just dragged its prey into.
I highly recommend you drag that PS3 out and play those two epic games ASAP! I noticed you mentioned Grouvee in your State of the Gamer addresses. I created an account last Sunday, so expect a friend request soon.
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It’s one of the many reasons I have to ration my social time. If there are too many other opinions floating around my head it gets hard for me to hear my own voice. This is not to say I don’t relish other points of view, because I’d be a REAL narcissist if that were the case, but I need my quiet. The empathy thing is so strong that I even feel bad for people who piss me off or are mean to me. I’ll try to see why they’re acting that way. This is great for when I want to defend particular villains, but in real life, you can feel bad for someone’s situation and still not accept their poor treatment of you.
Justice for Nancy! The Duffer Brothers promised in next season it would happen. I’m holding them to their word.
I got it and added! I hope the laser on the PS3 still works. I think it does. It would be a pain trying to wrest control of the PS4 away from my husband lol.
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Speaking of being overly empathetic… This just happened to me a few hours ago: I was out and made a stupid driving error that resulted in damaging someone’s parked car. I could have easily sped off since no one was around, but I could never live with the guilt if I did, lol. I waited for the guy and gave him my number. I apologized about 10 times but he said not to worry about it. I can’t wait for him to call and tell me how much I owe him so I can put the whole unpleasant situation behind me. I’ll be beating myself up about it all weekend probably… I’m usually a good driver and I’m very upset with myself for making such a careless mistake that damaged someone else’s property. My car didn’t even get a scratch on it from the incident, but he has a pretty nasty dent on his car 😦 Sorry, I needed to vent about that… *sigh*
We better get justice next season! Everyone cared about Will and ignored her completely, lol
One of the good things about being chronically single: Everything is mine! 🙂 Hopefully the PS3 laser holds up. No excuses for shoddy console construction Sony…
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YES. You know what though, things like that keep me honest. I frequently get into an “I hate humanity” mood, but it’s weird because I simultaneously hate humanity, but want to better it? I also don’t hate individual people, and if I do someone wrong, I want to remedy it. I once accidentally backed into someone’s car oddly enough one year when I was voting. As I sat there scrounging around in my car looking for something to leave a note with, they came back out and drove away. Either their car wasn’t damaged that badly or they didn’t notice it. I felt bad, but rationalized I couldn’t do anything about it, and I had sat there trying to remedy the situation.
Even if he doesn’t get back to you because he doesn’t think it’s a big deal, you still did the right thing! But I replay situations in my head all the time, so I understand what you’re going through. You want closure.
You know what sucks? Being mad at someone, but feeling bad that you’re mad at them because you know they’re upset that you are. It’s. So. Annoying. I can’t just have simple emotions.
My PS2 can run all night without any problems, and it’s a what 15 year old console?? No reason indeed.
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You definitely share my views on humanity! I keep wishing I could personally vanquish all the terrorists and other evils rampaging in our world… That’s why I enjoy video games I guess. I can actually save a world, most of the time, lol
I would be an emotional wreck if my guy had driven away like yours did. I was going to pull through into a parking spot (bad idea I know), and another driver charged in. I immediately backed up in response, but foolishly didn’t pay attention to the proximity of the car next to me. When I turned, the front of my car crashed into the back side of his car. There’s a HUGE dent in the side of his bumper so I’m expecting a costly repair bill. Oddly enough, there’s not even a scratch on my badass Chevy Cobalt. But yeah, I probably won’t be buying any new games for awhile, but that’s actually a good thing for my backlog problems. C’est la vie! There are unfortunate people out there dealing with infinitely more worse problems right now. I’ve got to let it go and focus on becoming a better driver because of it. That being said, it will probably be Monday before I stop replaying it and am able to forgive myself, lol You are so right! I need closure. Anyway, thanks for your supportive words! I feel better now that I’ve rambled about this to you 🙂
That being mad at someone paradox happens to me a lot! For example, if a waiter messes up my order, I empathize with their situation and can’t get mad at them, to their relief, lol My emotions are so complex and I can only describe them as chaotic, even the happy ones. I felt so blessed when I found out I was INFJ. It made me realize it’s just my personality type, and I’m not completely insane…
My PS2 actually had a laser defect that caused it to scratch games, and not work. Sony fixed it for me free of charge, even though it was years out of warranty. I still have it to this day and it works perfectly. Sony redeemed themselves in my eyes by taking ownership of the problem.
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Will your insurance cover a portion of it? Such an unfortunate accident! I think you’re also worried about the price it might be. The not knowing is the worst part! At least when you know you can make a plan. It is odd. I hate people/humanity as a whole, but individual people are great. It’s like what Agent K says in Men in Black. “A person is smart. People are stupid and irrational.” It’s so true. People in large crowds scare me…especially currently blech.
Knowing more about yourself and knowing how you think is so liberating. Now you have an explanation for why you process things in a particular way, and you also have a better idea what to do if you wind up in a tough spot. I still need to take that test. The past few weekends have been so busy! I don’t even know what I was doing. I didn’t go out last weekend…I don’t think. Ah who knows.
Wow I give Sony props for that. I know the 3s have some kind of laser issue. The one we have is one my husband fixed from a friend who said if he could do that he could just keep it.
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I’m not sure what my insurance covers, but I don’t want my rates to skyrocket because of this. This is honestly the first vehicle accident I’ve ever had. Yep, price is my biggest concern! Fingers and toes crossed that it’s not too much.
I’ve never understood “mob mentality” and am also fearful of the crowd state of mind. I can sense that it changes people’s individual identities ever so slightly, making them more open to out of character actions.
Exactly! I can deal with my despairing emotions better now that I know how there is science behind them. I highly recommend taking the test when you can! I blinked and this weekend is almost over… Time is a strange beast and I have why it goes so fast on my days off.
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I have no clue how insurance works in Canada, but generally if it’s your first accident, it shouldn’t cause your rates to go up too much or certain companies offer that like State Farm or something like that. Ugh, I hope it won’t be too expensive. Fingers crossed for you
I went to a Halloween party yesterday and then this morning went to brunch with my in laws for my husband’s birthday. I’m shocked I got as much done as I did. I even managed to clean both litter boxes lol.
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It’s probably the same as how it works in the States. We’re pretty much sibling countries, with a few differences in some systems of course. Still no phone call, but it’s only Monday.. sigh
That sounds like a busy weekend!
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Honestly because things vary state by state you’re right. Something that’s a go in Pennsylvania might not fly in New Jersey. Like in my state (PA) you have to pay to get your car inspected and in includes emissions, but in NJ that’s covered by the state. Oh, and they don’t let you pump your own gas. It’s really weird.
Ugh, I hope he calls soon to set your mind at ease.
It was and I’m still working on the FFIV review. I’m actually home right now in the middle of the day, because I called out sick. I tried to work from home, but I think in the myriad updates perpetuated by Windows 10, the program to do so was moved or deleted. Thankfully my boss was okay with me calling out, and thank god she’s cool with texting. I HATE making phone calls.
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Can’t pump your own gas? That’s a strange one! He still hasn’t called yet… sigh.
It truly makes a workplace so much better when you have an understanding boss! I email or text my boss when needed. I also hate that Phone call thing. I need to physically see a person when I’m talking with them, or converse via written words.
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Jersey is weird. I think it’s some antiquated law from before modern vehicles, but they never took it off the books. There are a few more states like that. Honestly, I don’t even live in a state (technically). Pennsylvania is a Commonwealth, and I think Maryland is, too? There’s some random different things about it, but they all function the same. It’s so odd that I have to almost meta thing about how weird the US is lol. It’s the only country or one of the few that has this kind of system.
Ugh, well…I suppose if he doesn’t call it means he decided to get it fixed himself and not hold you in fault? That would be a good thing, but I know you’ll feel terribly guilty.
Phone calls are the devil. I like to watch them pass by and wave at them when they do. I will answer ones from certain people of course, but if I don’t know the number, it’s not happening lol.
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Oh wow! State laws differ much more than I thought. Provinces in Canada only differ slightly in rules and such.
That’s what I’m hoping! Luckily, time has eased my worries about the issue and the guilt is fading. I did everything I could to take ownership of my mistake. It’s up to him now.
I never answer the phone if I don’t recognize the number (I do have to make an exception to this until that dude decides to call me back though). Even if it’s a good friend, sometimes I just simply don’t want to talk, lol
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You’ve totally done the adult/mature thing in this case. It’s very possible he decided the damage wasn’t as bad as previously thought. I understand guilt though, but I try to mitigate it with what I did to take responsibility, and you certainly did all that!
Most of my friends text me! We all kind of feel the same way about talking on the phone. My husband both texts and calls so I’ll answer and my family like dad and aunts will sometimes call because older generation and whatnot.
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My Mom can only converse the old fashioned way via spoken telephone, but my Dad loves email now, lol. Texting and the internet are the main ways I communicate.
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Texting and the internet (in some capacities) are the best thing to ever happen to me. I can express myself so much better through writing. I have time to think about what I’m going to say and “proofread” my speech.
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When I was little I was terrified of Chucky. If you’ve seen the movies, I think it’s in #3, where he slashes someone’s ankle while he’s under the bed? I used to jump off my bed every time, about 2 feet past the edge so Chucky couldn’t slash my ankles lol. I used to also step far back when opening cupboard doors because I think in one of them he jumps out of a cupboard at someone. Now I love those movies.
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I haven’t seen them in years, but I remember them! I would be in the same boat as you with the bed. Under the bed is terrifying on a good day. Sometimes my cats hide under there, and you know what happens if you shine a light into a kitty’s eyes at night :O
Creepy dolls reminds me of this Twilight Zone episode called “Talking Tina” or it was about her. She belonged to this little girl whose dad/stepdad was really mean to her so she killed him. Cue The Simpsons parodying this later hehe.
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I felt the exact same way about The Ring.
And it was around the same time that I caught The Audition on cable TV late one night. The film starts like a romantic comedy about a widower who stages fake interviews for a job (but is actually interviewing for his next wife). I was an hour into the film before I realized it was horror–and incredibly brutal psychological torture horror at that!
I think it was the misleading nature of the film that caused it to root into my mind all the more…
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Ack psychological horror is the worst. That and things that can get into your head and mind control you. Just such an experience will cause psychological horror and is probably greatly inspired by psychological/emotional abuse and how that can so deeply affect you 😦
I’ve never heard of The Audition. I’ll have to look it up on Wikipedia! This is how I experience my horror now, by reading simple summaries of it. It’s far less nightmare inducing!
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I love horror. 🙂 I think part of the fun of it is all the different ways it can affect us as people. You have your fun horror like Evil Dead and Dead Alive, you’ve got the various kinds that still manage to scare the hell out of you for years even after you’ve finished watching it, and the kinds that make you somehow believe in the impossible even if it’s only when the lights are off and the back of your mind starts to ponder “what if . . .”. Such a fun and spooky genre. I think a horror movie has really done its job when it still manages to creep you out while you’re not even watching it. That’s part of the reason I’m not that crazy about cheap jump scares that merely startle you while you’re watching it. If done right (and in moderation) they can be fun, but I’ve seen a few movies that went a little heavy with the jump scares and it wound up feeling like a cop-out for not being able to write something that was actually scary.
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That’s why The Ring was the “perfect” horror movie for me! Even though I haven’t seen it in years, just writing about it on Sunday was starting to creep me out. I know it will be something that will always scare me, and it’s a big reason why I passed on The Grudge, Paranormal Activity, and others of that kind. I saw The Blair Witch Project, and I wasn’t frightened at all.
Jump scares are okay so long as they’re not overdone I agree, but it’s the psychological that stays with you forever!
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The Blair Witch Project is one I’ve actually never seen. I was getting scolded for that very thing just the other day, in fact!
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I don’t think it holds up very well to today’s standards. It was interesting when I saw it years ago when “found footage” movies were still shiny and new. I’d watch it for posterity’s sake, but I wasn’t even scared, and that’s saying a lot lol.
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