A normal Friday night of babysitting alone. It's late, the kids are asleep, all is calm and quiet. Doors and windows locked and secure. A rustling wind sends a whistle echoing throughout the house. You're being the responsible teenager you are and doing your weekend's homework while waiting for the kids' parents to come home, when all of a sudden the house's phone rings. Just in case it's the parents or an emergency, you answer it, thinking to yourself that you hope it didn't wake the kids. "Hello?" you say. No answer. "Hello?" No answer. "This isn't funny you know, come on, cut it out." All you hear is silence, a sudden heavy breath, and the line goes dead. You presume it's just some stupid teenager playing a prank, and go on to continue with your homework.
The phone rings again, making you jump. This time, you answer with, "Hey, I don't know who this is, but you've got to stop this, I've got kids trying to sleep upstairs." And then a reply, "Are you sure? When was the last time you checked on them?" and with that you slam the phone down. Every hair on you body stands on edge as you inch your way up the never ending staircase, and down the hall to the kids bedroom. One step at a time, each creak of the floorboard sending another wave of fear through your body. Your hand reaches for the door knob, but you can't quite bring yourself to twist it, not wanting to know what's on the other side.
Is that pretty accurate? Isn't that loosely the story line to every scary movie ever made? Though of course, I can't really be one to judge, because I had not seen a true horror movie that was intended to scare the pants off of any viewer until tonight. My friends decided that enough was enough, and it was time for me, at age sixteen, to finally see my first scary movie. One girl decided we were all to watch one of her favorites, The Haunting In Connecticut, based off of a true story, just to make it even scarier. Now, you must understand, I don't do very well with scary, so I wasn't particularly looking forward to this. I'm a bit of a scaredy-cat; one of those people that freaks out at every noise when left home alone. And I've got to say, if I was watching that movie alone, I would have no doubt been about ready to cry and surely suffered from nightmares for weeks. However, when sitting in my dark basement, making fun of every flaw and fake tear of the movie, I found myself laughing through the whole thing.
However, during some of the scarier parts, and the laughing ceased, an odd silence fell over us all. We all knew it was fake, just actors doing their jobs. But....what is it about a horror movie - as unrealistic as it is - that just has this power over its viewers. The power to make your breath catch in your throat and your blood run cold with the suspense. As the disturbing music rises, and the main character is about to find out what's behind the mysterious door in the basement, you can't help yourself but feel your stomach lurch as the door bursts open as the music reaches its climax.
I will forever be one of those people that tries their best to find the humor in scary movies. Pointing out how the heroine wakes up in the middle of the night with perfect makeup and hair. Making fun of how the fake blood was a weird magenta color. However, I can't deny that tonight's frightful flick had a certain control over my senses at times. And with that, I retire. It is time for me to sleep...however, I'm not exactly sure what my dreams will bring.
"She never sleeps...."
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